Hey, this is my first post.

I want to create a "General Interest" forum for people of all ages.

I was thinking that it would contain normal type forums - "Forum Feedback/Suggestions" "Technology" "On the Internet" "In The News" "Education."

The idea is to be very community orientated. What I mean by that is, very approachable forum staff. I think this is where a lot of of other forums fail.

Obviously, initially, the moderation will be up to me (as there will be nothing to moderate) but as membership potentially gets larger I will probably need a moderation interface of some description.

I just want feedback on my ideas and ways to improve them. This is all I have so far, I had this idea just a few hours ago and now I am running with it.

Cheers,
Justin.

It is very vague, I think you will have more luck in a specific niche. This general forum idea might work a bit better I would think if you aimed it at a specific location (country/state) and tailored the forum sections around that.

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HTC Mobile Forums - Pocket PC and Smartphone Discussion

Okay, thanks for the feedback.

I'll think about restricting it to a specific location - Australia.

Hey Justin, welcome to AdminFusion!

You're not the first person to have this idea/desire...It's commonly referred to as a "general discussion" forum, and this is the most common type of forum out there today. There are tons of these forums, and some of them are huge. If you join in, competition is going to be fierce...It's hard to promote this kind of thing, and you're up against a lot of really big forums.

It's not impossible to pull of, it's just not easy...I'd also recommend thinking about narrowing your focus down some if possible. Either restrict it to a certain location or restrict it to a certain topic.

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Just like Ryan said if you can find a certain focus for your site you will have better luck at attracting members. A generalized forum is so diverse that it doesnt attract a core group of members, they can go anywhere to get the info that you have without the hassle of registering for it or trolling through countless topics to find what they are looking for.

Why not make the site into something you enjoy so that you will be more likely to post all sorts of content there and then you have a good connection with your audience.

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