Darren Rowse, the genius behind the popular blog Problogger has already launched the forum which is more known as the Problogger Community. Although he hasn’t yet made a formal announcement of it in his blog, the community is rapidly growing already with over 3000 members on board . Some of the prominent figures I’ve seen there are the likes of Daniel Scocco (DailyBlogTips), Jim Kukral (JimKukral.com), David Risley (DavidRisley.com) and more.
Although there is no scarcity in blogging forums, the Problogger Community is still expected to surpass all other forums and get to the top in no time. Registration is NOT free but at $1.95, heck it’s a bargain. According to most, this registration fee exists to filter out spammers. The price is set to increase soon so if you’re planning to register then the best time to do it is now.
The forum is going to be big soon and there’s no doubt about it. But on whether it can be different on other blogging forums remains to be unseen. I have been doing some detective works and observing the forums. To be honest, the forum is really good because there aren’t so many categories yet it’s not lacking anything it seems. But still I am seeing a lot of reasons why this forum can be just your another average blogging forum and here are the reasons:
- Experts Are NOT going to lurk there – The main selling point of the forum I believe is that it’s packed with several authorities in the niche. While it can really be exciting (and astounding), it’s still the fact that these bloggers won’t devote 10% of their time in that forum. I mean these bloggers are business guys and they are busy for most part of the day so I don’t see any reason for them to lurk over there. And if I’m correct, then the main selling point is canceled out already.
- New Forum, Same Mindset – People who go to forums usually just go there to make promotions and marketing, both direct and indirect (debatable). Aside from its a paid membership, there is really no difference between it and other blogging forums. The rules are kinda the same. You still see people drop gazillion of links (like me, or Im just joking!), see annoying members, and see a lot of blog critiques with less than 2 critiques! The forums shows leniency and in my opinion I think it needs to be more strict.
- Lurking is Bad – Like what I’ve talked here in the blog about lurking on forums, I think it can still harm people’s productivity. Most bloggers love to lurk and waste their time lurking. Im sure they enjoy it but since they joined the Problogger Community, then I’m assuming they want to be a professional blogger. And hurting your productivity doesn’t help to become a Pro Blogger.
- Getting Bigger – Theoretically there’s nothing wrong on having a large forums, but I always prefer smaller forums. Why? Because a smaller forum can give you a tighter community where everyone really gets to maximize every benefit they could ever gain. It builds better relationship amongst bloggers and it can really help benefit everyone. Digital Point Forums and Warrior Forum used to be a good forum and it only gets out of hand when it became highly populated. You can post a thread asking for something and in the next 20 minutes your thread is already on the third page w/no replies. Big is good, but toooo big is not!
I don’t have anything against the new community. If I have, then why would I join? Why would I care about writing this post? It’s a good forum that can be a future source of awesome content to the right person. But as far as seeing the difference of it to other blogging or webmaster-related forums, I don’t see much. I may be correct and I may not be. And someone can prove me wrong here.
I’m not sure we’ll get to 10,000 members, partly because some members will come and go but also because we will put the price up once we feel the numbers are getting hard to manage.
We’re also not looking at adding advertising to it – I’m not up for people paying to see ads.
.-= Darren Rowse´s last blog ..3 Principles of Effective Communication =-.
Ya priorities does matter. Anyways I wish you good luck with your forum.
Forums needs more attention during its early age afterwards it is self growing if right decisions are being made.
.-= Agent 001´s last blog ..Buy OIO Publisher and Get a Free AD here =-.
Me too. I am not sure if I want to be a member just yet.
.-= Casey @ wptemplates.net´s last blog ..GenM 5 =-.
Melvin,
Interesting viewpoint. I feel that anything Darren touches will be valuable. That being said I feel that forums can be a productivity-sapper. It all depends on what the user does with the experience. If someone does engage I suggest that they time themselves on the forum. When the time is up, see what you’ve learned. It’s easy to get caught up in engaging while forgetting about other critical activities. Productivity is paramount so choose your activities based on the value which you receive from them.
.-= Ryan Biddulph´s last blog ..RBs Keys: Universe, Harmony Quotes =-.
well Darren I really appreciate this lengthy comment. Personally it answered most of the questions I raised and I know the readers of my blog also appreciates it.
Like you said, this post was created to better the community and hopefully address the issues that may come and also to make it clear who’s forum is this for.
My pleasure in promoting the forums and good luck
Do you have forums for specific niches? That could be quite handy.
Darren – I was just wondering about the pricing. You say that you will be raising the price. Does that mean if you register now, you will continue to only pay $1.95 when the price is raised? or will everyone have to pay more?
I have just had a discussion about PB forum on another forum.^^ It’s interesting how this become quite a big ‘topic’ all over the place.
It may have mix reviews,but one can join or not according to their wills and goals. Big forums have advantages of meeting people, plus exposures; smaller ones provide tighter relationship among the members,I agree with that. Keep the forum small by making it a paid one, might not be the ‘best’ idea but I respect that. There’s choice for everyone.
Best wishes to all and happy blogging.
.-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..StumbleUpon Had A Makeover! =-.
I’ve joined the Problogger Forum and I think its a great initiative from Darren to bring together a community of serious bloggers. I love the fact that its a paid forum and I can expect only serious bloggers that are willing to pay. A small active community is more valuable than a large inactive community. And $1.95 is a great value for such a forum.
looks like i am going to follow him on the forum soon 🙂
At least this kind of forums will keep newbie away from doing spamming and you can enjoy it.
About the links drop I am sure this forum will have adequate number of moderators to take care of this issue.
Its too early to say everything. Darren have huge impact on blogsphere and we are waiting to see what he will serve and how he manage.
Yes that what I think
To keep your forum healthy and spam free you will have to hire few moderators as well.
.-= SW@Social Bookmarking Service´s last blog ..Social Bookmarking Service =-.
I love how all the controversy surrounding the PB forum wil only do good things for the forum. I also love the comments that ‘I dont like private forums as I want the SE to find my links’ Man that’s desperate if that is your SEO strategy then your behind the ball already.
The forum is so cheap that it not being free should not even be a debate, but it should keep the low life spammers out as they have such little brains who wants them.
Sure it’s full of newbies but there are also some good connections to be found as well, not to mention other reasons you can use forums full of newbies they have uses as well…
.-= Better Photo School ´s last blog ..Creating the dream like water effect =-.
Just to let you guys know, I signed up yesterday and am truly very, very impressed. I’ve been on other forums but this is in a whole new league. Just reading what others have to say has already taught me loads, and hopefully I’m going to get some good advice to improve my blog.
Definately worth the $1.95 – well done Darren for creating such a valuable resource!
.-= Simon | Teenius´s last blog ..4 Steps To Thank Your Commentators =-.
Hi Melvin,
I had no idea that I would end up spending so much time here reading the post and all of the wonderful comments. This is what blogging is all about!
The discussion just kept getting better and better. I had my mind made up before I even read your post that I was not going to join the pb forum. But after reading the logic from Darren about why he is charging and what the goals are, I might consider it.
Thanks for this. I will certainly vote for it at Blog Engage.
.-= ileane´s last blog ..Introduction: The Blog Engage Community [Video] =-.
i tried to get registered over the problogger forum but it needs the Paypal verified user. That’s the reason which obstructed me to get registered.
Forums are hard to take care of when it’s just a subset of a main website mostly because you have two conflicting platforms. Sure, forums can be a great addition but unless you have people constantly monitoring them they can turn south really fast.
Darren you can still have a private forum but allow the search engines to cache and share link juice. You know I ended up joining the forum after this post but I’m no longer a member because I see no real value in private forums.