Encouraging new threads

[Doug Nelson]

My users love to post, but they'd much rather reply over and over endlessly to existing threads than start new threads.

Do you have any techniques you've found that encourages them to start new threads, in a friendly way?

[Steve Machol]

Close the threads? Electric shock therapy?

[Wayne Luke]

Offer ranks or other widgets on their profile if they start threads. People seem to like little awards, reputation, etc... on their profiles.

[Doug Nelson]

I posted over on .org to see if someone had a mod for just that kind of thing (the ranks, not the electric shocks). Gold stars or something.

But I wonder if there isn't a more social way to encourage this.

[bmc]

Hey Doug,

I'd recommend you head over to The Admin Zone, as they have some wonderful tips and articles over there for community boosting, and much more in relation to forum communities.

[RedTyger]

When a thread moves onto a particular topic for a little while, split off all the relevant posts to a new thread just for that topic. And keep doing it. Perhaps assign a "chat" thread for the kind of discussion you're experiencing and moderate all the others strictly when they go off-topic since there's a specific place for it.