Hey guys

I've been on the lookout for and trying to think of a new forum to start. I would get a nice idea, but then just forget about it because the thought of having to buy a vB license bogged me down. But that's not important, because I can just start the site on MyBB, and if it flourishes, convert to vB.

Anyways, everytime I think of a nice idea, I find that there are already many sites of the same niche.
How do you guys come up with ideas to start a new site and pursue them?

I guess I just have an ultimate fear of failure.

I really don't believe just because there are other forums in a specific niche, you shouldn't create one.

If you're passionate about the site and the topic then you'll be fine. It may be a bit slow starting off but let it run its course and you can make it just fine. My site is in a very competitive niche and I've managed to make it work with it.

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Camaro Forums & Firebird Forums

I think you should always pick a topic that you know and understand. There's no point in starting a forum on a niche that you don't know. How are you going to build the posts up at the start if you can't post on the topics?

And I agree with Rocket...competition is good! It gives you something to work too, goals to pass...statistics to better, etc. There were many forums the same as my main forum, still are, but I was determined to beat them all (or at least 90% of them lol) and I know I will achieve this.

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Digital Kaos Satellite Forum
Free Web Directory
SEO Talk

That's absolutely right Andy. Imagine how many Disney-related forums there are out there. There are A LOT! But, I came with the angle of really teaching folks about Walt Disney, the man.

If you find a niche that you have a passion for, find an angle for the 'theme' of that niche forum. It's not about the forum, it's about the people. So, if the people can get hooked by your angle, then you've got a successful forum.

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Walt Disney Boards
Walt Disney Buddies
Glam Rock Talk : Under Construction :D

Take a closer look at the competition before you decide not to do a site in that niche. Is there anything those sites are lacking that you could provide?

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Science Chats | Disabled NYC | The Chic Petite

As for using MYBB to start with, I have heard of people having problems converting MYBB to VBulletin. One reason is, the code in mybb is sloppy - the lead programmer is 14 or 15 years old. Last I heard anyway, that was how old he is.

If you know for sure that you will be converting later, you might want to consider SMF instead of MYBB. Or read up on the conversion success rate of MYBB. There was a new version released a couple of months ago, so maybe the code was cleaned up.

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survival gear
digital pictures
team fortress 2

My current forum was started on MyBB and was successfully converted to vB (and that was before the 1.4 release of MyBB) flawlessly.