I love your forum! Bye now!

This'll be a short one.

I keep hearing about this sort of situation: You start up a forum, RPG or not, it doesn't matter. You work hard on it. When it's all ready to start, you tell your friends and anyone else you think might be interested, about it.

They ooh and ahh over the graphics, the concept, the layout, the setup. "I love your forum! Wow, great work!" Etc. You have people crowing over your board, which is great news, right? You're going to have an easy time starting this one!

Then, none of them or almost none of them actually sign up. A few might, but even they tend to drop off quickly. What happened to the love? The grand plans to join and become great members?

The truth hurts, but it's simple: They're just not that into your board.

These people are your friends. They'll compliment you just to make you feel good about something that they know you worked hard on. Even if they are initially wowed by it and genuinely might want to join, the actual level of interest just doesn't carry in this case.

But what about the strangers you asked on Helpmewithmynewforum.com? They were all diggin' it too! Well, probably not as much as they or you thought.

The big mistake most people make at this point is waiting for them to show up and follow through. They won't. Cut your losses {if any} and move on. Make sure also that you aren't fishing for compliments when you ask for opinions on your board. Ask for genuine feedback, and prepare yourself to hear things you might not want to hear. What seems perfect and intuitive to you might not be the same at all to prospective members. You need their perspective, not yours. Frankly, your own point of view on your own forum is about as far as you can get from a helpful one.

Your best feedback comes from those people who, in the end, didn't join your board.