lots of visitors to forum, no registrations

[durangod]

The title is what it is because i am considering adding a support forum to my hosting site. But i am hessitant because i have 5 forums now, i have 3 for my dif software support and two personal ventures.

They all have the same pattern, tons of visitors but rarely any registrations. My first thought was to restrict certain parts of the forums to non members but that didnt work too good as the numbers just dropped off the cliff. And the same with making the forum blind to guests and making them signup to see the forum. Numbers also dropped off the cliiff.

For example, one of my forums the views on some of the threads or 1500 - 2500 views and not one single registration.

I did test the registration and yes it worked, i had added a captcha that was alittle buggy so removed that but this has been happing even before any registration issues which only lasted a few weeks before i found out and fixed them.

So i really dont know about adding another forum to the family for the hosting site only to end up with the same thing, traffic and no members. I do have a knowledge base but i like the idea of a forum just dont want the headache unless i can figure out what im doing wrong.

It really baffles me, heck i post on here just for the heck of it cause im just like that, so why out of the tons of visitors i have had, not one single registration on any of my forums, yes all 5 of them same issue.

[m8internet]

What software is the forum using?
What folder is it installed into?

If it is phpBB and installed in the standard installation directory then the visitors will be spambots and paidposters, looking for opportunities to post spam
Compare the visits to the stats and compare

I have now stopped installing such forums in standard installation directories and this vastly reduces the automated spam
As an example use :
website_name_forum

The URL still ends up in google but by using your google account you can remove this group of URL

Once you've done this, then add the link on your website or within the WHMCS New Customer / Account email

You can then go one step further and issue usernames to customers only, removing the register (files) entirely
You can then add customer / username from the Admin area

I dumped my last forum, I spent (and wasted) more time deleting spam and usernames that were nothing to do with genuine customers

[durangod]

Yes it is phpBB and yes standard install, seems like you have deal the same deal. Thats great i never thought of it i that way and ill look into doing that should i decided to go for it. For now im on the final stages of finishing my poll software to get it on the market so i need to get that done, but thanks so much i really appreciate the help. I think your right though it is all bots taking a peek. I have managed to keep most of them from posting by using the drag and drop answer captcha. It asks you a question and you have to drag the wrong answers to the other box. Its a little funky but seems to work.

Thanks again.