5 ms·

How do you have experience running hundreds of forums? :O

• jefozabuss 9y ago
  Step 1: Run hundreds of forums
• buro9 9y ago
  I've been running forums since 1996 using almost every major forum software that has existed. I'm currently running my own software (which we tried and failed to commercialise), and the largest forum I run is https://www.lfgss.com/ https://www.lfgss.com/ with 250k monthly unique visitors, but the long tail is very long. We actually now survive more on donations from forum users than any advertising. About 2/3 revenue is donations, 1/3 from affiliates. Affiliates work really well, but the rise of cash back sites mean that the revenue per sale is dropping. Affiliates work well for delivering new customers, but cash back is leading to retailers paying out for retaining customers which means the cost is shifting from acquisition to retention, which is traditionally where they make their profit. Hence cash back is leading retailers to make the terms far more strict, shorter cookie periods, lower %, etc. Donations have been the saviour. As I'm running the sites as a platform, the larger sites effectively subsidise the young and growing sites. Also, as a platform: 1 volunteer (me) runs all of the sites. Moderation is by communities, and has proven very effective whilst not requiring any additional cost. Though I did invest in some good lawyers for the T&Cs to make sure that approach kept the platform free of liability from individual sites on the platform.