Forum Subject to Sun Setting

Almost seven months after its launch SEOSLINGER is sun setting its Forum section due to a lack of adoption. “It’s been a dead zone thus far”, said Emmanuel Rivera founder of SEOSLINGER. The search engine related forum will probably shutdown by the end of spring, 2012. When asked if there’s any possibility of reconsidering not phasing out the forum, Emmanuel replied, “First and foremost, it's not actually a forum until you have discussions. It would have to be a ground shaking reason to make us reconsider. Just think of the resources required for monitoring, user and content moderation, and maintaining such an appendage. It’s very unlikely that it'll get a second thought, but you never know what may happen.” When asked why a forum was added to the site to begin with, Emmanuel answered, “The crew thought the forum would have traction. To give them credit, they are multi dimensional thinkers. Their hearts were in the right place, it was a good effort, but now as our objectives have become clearer, and with clearer sight, the forum is perhaps better for another place and time.”

Forums seem to be a throw of the dice, some make it while many don't. The success of a forums is highly, if not solely, dependent on user contributed content and where there are contributions the quality of the contribution is unpredictable. Forums are also prone to link spamming adding to the overhead of maintenance.

Should SEOSLINGER give its forum a second chance? In your opinion, what goes into the making of an effective forum?

We would like to hear your thoughts.