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?
>>19
By USA, are you referring to all domains that don't end in a country code? Have you found some way to determine the country of origin of a .com, .net, .org, .edu, etc. hostname?
>>20
The mods access to (somewhat old) stats, however I nor the other server tech have setup the stats. I'll get around to it eventually. And yes, it's spelt "Aussie" and pronounced "Ozzie".
>>21
Err no. Some of the stats scripts and tools I use resolve and whois IP addresses. For example, I know that you're posting from a Canadian allocated address.
>>20 What's Big Boards, precious?
big-boards.com
Never heard of it.
And it looks like they've never heard of 0ch/futaba/futallaby/wakaba etc.
We wapanese 4-ch users must be more like Marco Polo, telling the rest of the world in awe about the magnificiant world we have discovered in the Far East!
I want to make a joke about Aussie Ausbourne, but I'll hate myself in the morning...
Forums and discussion boards are a tad different.
How so?
A: An apple is different from an orange.
B: How so?
Big-boards.com will never list a 2ch-type forum. It requires a MEMBER COUNT for its database, no exceptions.
lol gay
>>30
I've never seen real-world technical conferences call themselves "discussion boards" before. Forums are generic gathering things that typically involve a presentation element (registered names, major speakers, announcements, formal polls, per-user privileges, and stuff).
>>31
Oranges exist in a non-determined chaotic transposition between a given wavelength of visible light and an edible fruit. Apples are decidedly edible fruits.
> Apples are decidedly edible fruits.
and rather expensive computers.
Needs more criminals:
Pirates! Harrr!
I am bumping this thread in hope for more useful input.
Please forgive me, should my action have been foolish after all.
40 GET
I think the kind of crowd that would post in this kind of place is streched out over both 4-ch and world4ch. Of course a glance at both boards shows not much traffic in either one, not compared to their image board counterparts. Most of the casual discussion that makes up the chatter that fills a forum happens on the image boards. The images spark discussions on things like the latest anime episodes or upcoming shows, sexuality, otaku culture, etc. People come for the "gimmicks" and generally stay there. The discussion boards don't seem to offer much more than a lack of thread expiration and age limits.
>>40
Well, that's true but it's refering to just a very specific situation: The message boards were created after the image boards that inspired them.
It was the other way around with 2channel.
I think it's just a matter of making 4-ch.net an interesting place for discussion for more than just anime nerds.
We've had a few boosts in traffic lately, due to people searching for Densha Otoko and/or 2ch. And that thread in Music seems to be full of people who got here via Google.
Haha, funny you mention people coming here because of Densha Otoko... anyway, I hope more people post more on 4-ch (more more more), and especially the Food board, because it's starting to get really fucking boring in there!
Post count +1!
>>44
Ugh. :(
>>45
I'm sorry... I am just trying to liven up the place!
I guess I failed.... orz
We should think of how to make threads useful and popular.
But... I cannot really think of anything.
>>13
I'm furry, conservative, and christian. Sorry to say, but I'm not a very talented troller. (I don't consider myself a troll at all, but how can I know without much feedback?) I mostly lurk, and don't post much unless I think it's truly worth it and clearly on-topic.
Drama drama drama, drama drama drama.
No forum relies completely on searches and crap like that. All those other boards got popular because someone said, "Hay did u guyz c wat happnd with sumfin oful last week? :link:" Something awful got popular because it had a bunch of stupid crap that you could link to your friends. Gaia's created its own fucking economy and can basically get paid for inviting other people. (that's how I found out about Gaia. Like twelve people gave me a link and said SIGN UP FOR THIS even thought we're all in our 20s and we should know better)
We need to do something stupid like tilt a CNN poll or get someone to mention us in a suicide note. Other than that we're pretty screwed.