KickstarterForum.org

[sbriggman]

Hi Everyone. If you don't know me, my name's Sal. Some websites related to crowdfunding I have created: crowdfundingpr.org, kickstarterforum.org, crowdcrux.com, crowdfundingclassifieds.com (early stages).

I feel like this forum has turned into a lot of self-promotion, where people post once saying "Check out my...." or "Can you give me feedback on...."

When I started the forum, I envisioned a place where Kickstarter creators could interact and that there would be a sense of community. People could discuss problems, answer each other's questions, etc. Do people actually want that kind of community? What things do you think need to be added to make that happen? I am open to suggestions.

I get the feeling that a lot of people out there think that there are "backers" just roaming the internet, waiting to pledge to Kickstarter projects. While there are a few on the Kickstarter website, that is not the case on this forum (maybe someday!). I have, however, seen creators back each other's projects because they believe in the mission, the product, or the individual (after sufficient interaction and relationship building).

Basically, people are not likely to pledge to your project if you just post once saying "check out my project" with a link and don't return.

At the end of the day, I think creators need to form relationships with each other, especially when there are a lot of unknowns during the fundraising process and many people are limited by the size of their own social network.

How can we make this happen on the forum? Is this something that CAN happen?

Let me know your thoughts below.

[drlouisechughes]

I check on this forum every couple of days, usually, but would probably be on here more often if I received alerts about when someone have replied to a topic I am interested in or have posted.

It is quiet on here and yes, I also think we need more interaction from backers. It would be both helpful for creators and backers could see some projects that they may not encounter otherwise. I don't know what to do to increase traffic, but maybe have a Google+ or Facebook group that you can use to link to interesting topics/discussions on here?

[sbriggman]

Thanks! I appreciate your response. You can click "subscribe to topic" at the bottom of the forum topic to be notified via email of new posts on that topic. I should probably make this more prominent though. Okay, I'll begin to brainstorm ways to accomplish this .

[MichaelTumey]

I think the General/Introduce Yourself board will continue to get both an intro of new members and "see my project" posts - even I did that. But I've done my best to keep that out of other threads. While I've certainly discussed in detail various of my KS, it's really more a review of what's going on at the moment regarding marketing, making changes to existing setup, etc, and not really as an effort to promote my project as much as reviewing the back end from a creator's point of view (as an attempt to help others who might read the thread.)

You, and every forum out there can expect to get a continuous supply of "see my project" posts - I don't think you can get away from that. However, do you have a FAQ for the site. Perhaps it might be a good idea to suggest avoid posting "see my project" posts in other forums than the General/Intro board. Also your goal of posting a minimum number of posts per week to qualify for your CrowCrux Newsletter - make that more public.

No other big ideas pop for me, though if I think of something I'll post it.