I don’t want to reveal my forum just yet, but it’s a leftist unity type thing (probably; I’m still working it out and finalizing things).
I may have others pay $2 through Patreon to use it.
I recently lost a day job, and I want to make money on the side while I do this.
It’s a passion project, but I’m also putting in effort
into it.
I’m not sure what else to say at this point, but I hope you can all bear with me; I’m just now doing this, paid money for the full Discourse subscription, and have always wanted to create my own Internet forum.
I want to help bring back Internet message boards, like those from the 2000s.
Tall order, I know, but recommendations and suggestions on what to include, what to avoid, and so on and so forth would be most welcome.
Most likely: I will not make it a paid thing, but I’m exploring the option so I can help make it sustainable.
Launching a new community can have a lot of challenges, asking a subscription fee is reasonable but you may lose many potential members if there is a brick paywall to become a member.
Having supporter tiers above free membership can work so if people want to contribute and then get benefits from being a paying member that can work.
I’m glad that you want to have an online community
However, its not as easy as just creating one, you need to know the costs of running your community etc. Especially if you are asking others to pay for it, you need to make sure that your community adds value to members so they stick around. An easy way to do this is to show the purpose of the community to users so they understand why they are there.
There are also a lot of resources available here to help you grow your community such as the Community category and the Discourse Blog. Feel free to ask for help
