I had a forum site(I deleted it yesterday). It was a webmaster forumwhich was built because its the easiest way to get regular updated content site. I ran it for 3 months. I came to know that there're no new users in it. So, I started to recruit more users by giving a Free Gift to everyone who registers. But, I came to know that those people registered in my site, took the gift and fled. They dint participate.

Then, I started a new strategy. I put lots of other goodies for download and waited for users. All the people joined the site and went directly to the downloads page and downloaded what they want. But, the forum is idle. Then, I started a contest to give anyone a gift if he passes a required amount of post. Nobody paid attention to it. And, all those lazy rascals fled with the gifts. I had no more money for the hosting. So, I withdrew the site.

Can u tell me the secrets of creating a successful forum site ??

Too have a sucessful forum you need to build a solid community around a specific subject.

It's not easy, and there are no secrets. It's hard work, You have to know a lot about the subject and it takes a long time.

So, does content of the community site have any role in accelerating the popularity of the forum associated ? I mean, I gave quality content but the visitors r too lazy to take part in forums. Is there anyway to make people a little more active ?

Think about what would make you join and participatte in a forum, then apply that to your own forum.

One of the things absolutely necessary in a forum is EXPERT USERS who work actively to answer questions asked by other users. For example, the secret behind the success of Webmaster Talk is the presence of Users like u who r active and experts in the topic. How can get some experts to join ?? All the users I have r morons.

Well for a start calling your members morons isn't going to help.
and at the begining you have to answer peoples questions yourself, So you have to make a forum about something you know a lot about.

Just starting a forum and hoping people join is never going to work.

I'm sick and tired of these "magic secret" posts - although it's nice to see you're trying.

Sorry if that sounds a bit harsh, but it's time you wake up and realise, it's going to take more than giving people free gifts. Learn from your mistakes. Realise that, if they just take your downloads, they don't want to participate in your forums - why? Probably because there's nothing there for them and they're empty.

Nobody wants to join an empty forum - they need to get something out of it. I wouldn't suggest doing a webmaster forum, because you seem to know little about the subject. Do something you know about, not something to make a quick buck. Even if it means you have to pay for posts - or even pay a PHP pro to answer PHP questions, so be it. The users need to get something out of the forum.

As for your promotion, I'd imagine you haven't spent a penny on advertising. Unless you have lots of friends and a lot of link power, you simply can't promote a site with no cash. Learn about marketing, get some money and work hard. There's no other way to make money on the internet.

Look, I'm sorry if that sounded harsh, but it's true - users need to get something out of your site, so give them something. And that shouldn't be a "secret".

I decided to stop paying more attention to forums as they're not that easy. I'll include a forum and do everything that I did before. But, I wont be paying more attention to it. Let the members do it voluntarily. I'm gonna pay more attention to providing quality content.

community sites are the hardest sites to make.

without content and members, no one will sign up
when no one signs up, you won't have members.

the key is to step out of this circle, create a few ghost accounts and pretend your community is active. then when some real members sign up, forget about the ghost accounts. but as i said, it's hard