Theoretically, 4-ch's simple post system should make it the biggest English-speaking forum in the world. (lol)
So, what makes a forum popular? Let's look at the most popular forums in the world for hints:
#1: 2channel. Popular because it stayed up while other anonymous forums went down; consolidated a bunch of different forums such as Ayashii World. The Live TV forums also probably contributed. There may be other factors which I don't know.
#2: Go-Gaia. Attracted little kids because of its avatar system. But that's not the userbase we want, is it?
#3: IGN+VaultNet. I don't know why this is popular, I don't know much about the history of this BBS.
#4,5: FaceTheJury and Nexopia. These are popular because you can just spam any damn message you want, it's like AIM. Maybe 4-ch should open a bunch of gimmick boards like 2ch has.
#6: Partyflock. Popular because it created a large number of forums to plan parties in different areas of the Netherlands.
#7: Off Topic. I don't know why this is popular, I don't know much about the history of this BBS.
#8: PaintBallNation. Popular because it created a large number of paintball forums and became the number one place to go for paintball.
#9: Something Awful. Popular because the $10 registration fee keeps out little kids, and because of its dedicated moderation team. Not popular because of some inherent superiority; go back to archive.org and see SA in 2002 if you don't beleive me on that.
#10: Fok.nl. I don't know why this is popular, I don't know much about the history of this BBS.
>>2 Now's your chance! Go for the kill!
>>3-1000 Discuss theories of attracting people!
2GET (hopefully)
I think most of the popular forums, 2ch a notable exception, have some draw (usually, only distantly related to the forums themselves) that sucks new people in, after which they stay for the community. Megatokyo Forums, for instance. Most of the regulars (outside of "Story Discussions") no longer care for the webcomic attached, and some openly hate it.
Go-Gaia's avatar system is sorta related to this. IGN has game previews and walkthroughs and stuff. Does PaintBallNation have equipment reviews or anything like that? SA has articles, Weekend Web, Photoshop Phriday and a lot of other content.
Even 4-ch and world4ch have a 'draw' in the attached imageboards. I don't know how popular they would have been without it. I was never on the old world2ch, but my impression is that it was a rather desolate place...
Topics that require very little thought for any noticeable reaction attract more people. See /dqn/. The effort needed to participate on 4-ch is truly minimal, but the contributing audience is generally desensitised to trolling, which, while helpful in keeping discussions mature, also hampers their ability to veer into more interesting and controversial digressions.
The form of trolling that receives most responses here are regurgitations of stolen net memes that have long since lost their impact, which further deteriorates the perceived quality of our openness to new contributors. "Anonymous does not forgive" and other hostile in-jokes of that manner effectively repulse many people who might otherwise consider spending more time here.
> See /dqn/.
Well, exactly. It's fun, it's not really trying to be coherent.
> "Anonymous does not forgive" and other hostile in-jokes of that manner
I haven't seen that specific catchphrase/attitude around here much, it's more visible in 4chan's porn boards and /b/. Posting with the default name doesn't give you super powers.
I still kind of like the theory that the more we build up a "history" of good topics, the more people will just stumble their way here from search engines.
>>4
pwnd
404 - Name Not Found does not forgive.
4-ch's way to stardom is through ownage of random crap in searches.
Don't underestimate the power of random crap! o/
I say we DDoS world4ch and see where it takes us from there.
2ch has so many gimmick boards... the more gimmick boards you make, the more little groups of people hanging out you can have. Let's expand our reach without doing any real work writing interesting posts!
>>9
Having a gimmick board isn't going to attract any attention if no one posts in it. Unless the gimmick is the assurance that no one will directly respond to the stuff you write. Bizzarre.
I think to the end you got that >9 was joking around. Pretty good, keep it up!
RE: What makes an internet forum popular?
Porn, drama and cool people contributing.
>>12
4-ch needs more drama. (We can't do porn except in /ascii/, and I think we have some cool people already.)
Where are the furries and loliphiles?
Better yet, where are the conservative christians or talented trollers?
If only we had some famous drama we would be more popular.
I think the other thing we need is non-American folks posting. If we had some random Europeans, Ozzies, Britishers, and other folks (as well as more happy Japanese in 日本語) I think we would gather a more interesting audience.
>>14 is DQN
>>16 is JISAKUJIEN
>>13
We have porn if you get here via ii/wakachan.
Finally, the last thing I want to be called, is an "Ozzie". It's spelt "Aussie".
>>19
You should set up a stats page so everyone can see these things and be awed. And maybe 4-ch would get listed on Big Boards, which might attract a few more.
It's spelled "Aussie" but pronounced "ozzie" with zeds in, right?