[dawges]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

And that was the question posed by the OP.

If people want 10,000 spam accounts just sitting there in the member's list, more power to them. I have my doubts as to whether that makes people want to sign on. Much easier and more efficient though just to put in a fake number and call it good.

More to the point you were trying to make - "if you build it they will come" really does work almost no matter what, IF you have the right niche as your site's topic.

I just got finished fixing a major annoyance problem on someone else's BIG board - 200,000 members with about half that active, and 1000+ of those, actively posting while I was working. The site isn't what anyone would call "slick" by any measure - they don't use any fancy add-ons or any kind of SEO and it's a 3.8.2 for crying out loud - but its niche topic is huge - boxing!

The advice given so far here is sound for someone just starting out with a new board. But take note: If your topic is way too specialized, like crochet needles for example, prepare to languish with a perpetually slow board.

It really all does start with the board topic and goes from there.

I guess you have all the answers, no point and continuing. I would really be interested in seeing the Alexa rank on your largest forum. I suspect i already know the answer.