Ideas for TriPHP next competition ?

[Riverwire]

Looking for some idea's to attract new members to TriPHP ive done some in the past that was pretty big in terms of prizes however the 3 winners then disappeared after the competition was over so im reluctant to do any big money comp's until we get a larger member base , but looking for some idea's that could help the community ?

[Unknown]

first off i would remove some of the ads. The are some what annoying, No pun intended
I mean they would be fine for guest user but members shouldn't have to look at them IMO
I know that you need to generate money but im sure it cost little to nothing to host this site and the ads arent generating much revenue from the actual members.
for a contest i would would just save what ever you plan on giving away. You should not have to bribe members to come to your board or i guess i should say pay them. That is pretty much what you would be doing. It would also result it short terms members as you have already figured out.
I'm sure you have heard this a time our to but really the only way to keep a forum a live is to never leave threads unanswered and respond to them in a timely manner.
I know this seem impossible but its not. You are the owner of this board so its your duty to keep it fresh with content until you get a good member base. If you fail to do this your board will continue to stay in the gutter.
I would also suggest that you get rid of that damn rss bot. it dominates the aboard. It looks like at first that its the only one doing anything active here.
keep in mind all its doing is posting content that is already all over the internet so its not helping you any.
If people wish to read random content the will go to places like digg or yahoo news or where ever.
I do wish you luck
take it easy

[jr_sci]

How about these competitions?

--> A referral contest: One who refers maximum number of members in a month wins a monthly price.

--> Best topic weekly contest: One with the best topic of the week shall win a weekly price. The administrator shall decide which is the best topic of the week.

[Riverwire]

first off i would remove some of the ads. The are some what annoying, No pun intended
I mean they would be fine for guest user but members shouldn't have to look at them IMO
I know that you need to generate money but im sure it cost little to nothing to host this site and the ads arent generating much revenue from the actual members.
for a contest i would would just save what ever you plan on giving away. You should not have to bribe members to come to your board or i guess i should say pay them. That is pretty much what you would be doing. It would also result it short terms members as you have already figured out.
I'm sure you have heard this a time our to but really the only way to keep a forum a live is to never leave threads unanswered and respond to them in a timely manner.
I know this seem impossible but its not. You are the owner of this board so its your duty to keep it fresh with content until you get a good member base. If you fail to do this your board will continue to stay in the gutter.
I would also suggest that you get rid of that damn rss bot. it dominates the aboard. It looks like at first that its the only one doing anything active here.
keep in mind all its doing is posting content that is already all over the internet so its not helping you any.
If people wish to read random content the will go to places like digg or yahoo news or where ever.
I do wish you luck
take it easy

Although you are right about replying to threads etc, a good competition can bring some members in which can potentially encourage them to stay, And if the cost of that isnt to high then i can see anything wrong with that.

The Ad's......isnt there alot less ads now than there was when Midi had the forum ? there is because i had the nice job of getting rid of them all. I think there is only 3 through out the whole forum ? One in the header , one in the sidebar and one after the first post, i dont think any of them are intrusive ? although if more members think this is the case then i will consider altering them to be less obvious

Rss Bot , yeah i had been thinking that i might get rid of it, ive blocked it from "new posts" and "unread posts" so its not blatantly "dominating" the forum anymore but i understand where you are coming as i think too it maybe time to remove it too ? Maybe make a post in the Triphp section to ask other members ? then we can keep this thread on topic

[Riverwire]

How about these competitions?

--> A referral contest: One who refers maximum number of members in a month wins a monthly price.

--> Best topic weekly contest: One with the best topic of the week shall win a weekly price. The administrator shall decide which is the best topic of the week.

Two Good suggestions there JR , keep them coming

[a4hire]

I have seen other contests at forums who award a winning prize to the member that makes the most posts. Of course these have to good posts and not just a few words posted in reply to every thread.

[masterweb]

Nahhhh most active posters' contest involves tons of problems for an Admin (i know due i ran several contest on my board), i agree about the "Best topic weekly contest" and the best part is that the hack for it is available for free at vbulletin.org :biggrin:

I have seen other contests at forums who award a winning prize to the member that makes the most posts. Of course these have to good posts and not just a few words posted in reply to every thread.

[goldyweb]

People today are normally looking for hosting. I can provide 1 year of hosting to the people if you wish. The Space and Bandwidth would be reasonable and no illegal activity is allowed. You can launch it if you wish.

[Digger]

Thats a great idea Goldy and very generous of you to offer it. Looking forward to the next competition

[goldyweb]

No problem. I may try some domain give away if i can aswell.