Hello everyone I am pretty new to this idea of paying people to post on your forums and really i am just wanting some general opinions on what i should really look for in a forum poster and what sort of price is good.

I have thought on it a lot and while it can possibly give me good results there is the 99% chance that, well for one the paid posters will never come back and two that it won't actually do much to keep my forum active rather than make it seem a tiny bit more attractive to people, but that all depends on how deep my pockets are if I pay for posters.

So I am wondering what is a good way to get people to post in a forum, keep them there and keep the conversations going?

I find that occasionally paying users to post on forums is a double-edged sword. On the bright side, you can use it to jump start your forum with a variety of people coming to post on your newborn forum. However, it is very difficult to use discretion with whom you are paying for posts. Because of this, it is common that people may post spam posts or very short, useless posts. These posts are harmful and detrimental to one's forum. However, this can be countered in some ways. The primary method is to avoid having a very high payout or a very low payout. If the payment is high (especially without an upper limit on payment), spammers will go crazy and simply post every chance they get, clogging up your forums. However, if you pay too little, you won't get very many people interested in the offer. Because of this, you must find the optimal balance to keep people interested in posting as well as not allowing people to just spam.

How about the combination of search engines and forums?  When I need to find an answer to something I'll use Google to search all the popular forums first.  And, if the answer is not found, then I'll find a forum where the topic is at least discussed and post my question as a reply to a thread so that others who know about the topic might chime in with a helpful reply.  This is really one of the most useful things on the Internet today in my opinion.  Getting answer to tough questions has never been easier. Anyone else agree?

The air here is indeed pretty bad.  Having two dry winters in a row and then such hot weather sure didn't help much.  Let's pray for rain early this Fall and then a good healthy dose of rain this winter.  At least the temperatures have finally come down recently.

Does anyone else here live in California? I live right in the middle. With all of the fires that are burning, the air here is ridiculous. We've had so many unhealthy air days, I lost count. On days when it's really bad, they tell everyone to stay inside as much as possible. It get's so bad that at times it looks overcast. Even if it's over 100 degrees, which it normally is lately. The thing I feel the worst about is all of those people who are losing their homes. You work your whole life to buy a home and then as quick as that, it's all gone.

If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. I don't understand why anyone would purposely do a job partway. I think it's a great idea to have to post new threads. That's my favorite part. You really get to express yourself and say what's on your mind, not just elaborate on what someone else is thinking.

I try to spend as much time with my family as possible. There isn't much to do other than watch TV or listen to music. When we move we'll have a backyard and I'll finally be able to garden.

So, this board for forum owners is a bit dead.  To try and kick things up, I'll offer a free quality forum post to the first person who lists a forum posting job here.  This offer will expire after the first person replies to this post indicating that they wish to receive a free forum post on his/her forum.

I can post on your forum that is focused on the topics mentioned in the subject of this post.  I may be intersted in forums on other topics, but a few topics that I won't do are games, sports, and gambling.  I'm not cheap, and I don't have a lot of time to post on a regular basis.  If that's OK, send me a PM and let's talk about your forum posting job.  If the job sounds interesting, I will post on your forum from time to time and ask for payment only after you are satisfied with my posts.  I will accept Paypal payments only.

One way to prove yourself is to first make many selfless forum posts in their forum.   By selfless, I mean that you don't post links to commercial sites, advertise your paid services, or even use a signature to your own site.  Then, once you've proven yourself to be a contributing member for several months or even years, ask for a paid moderator position.