[amykhar]

The way I see it, if you want activity, then you need something unique that will make people want to join your site and want to post.

Gaming forums are a dime a dozen. The best game forums I have seen are HIGHLY specialized and full of information. For example, a board specific to Civilization III does extremely well but gaming forums that cover several games seem to lag.

Finding a niche audience is the very best thing you can do to get an active, financially viable site.

But, even niche sites need to work at building community spirit. That way, if your niche topic loses popularity, you can maintain a core membership of loyal board members. (That's what happened at my place when Epinions quit paying much for reviews. We had to really work at redefining who we are and why other people should join us. It's still our biggest struggle)

Amy