I bought the domain GraphicsForum.co.uk a while ago. Setup a forum, got it running and then I was hit (like most new sites especially forums) with lots of spam accounts trying to register. I had plugins stopping most and manually removed those that made it in but eventually Google blacklisted it and forums just shut down because of it.

 

With both the default spam protection the forum software (IP Board) offered and additional plugins, they still managed to end up forcing my site to be detected as 'bad' by google and blacklist. How WDF gets passed an issue like this especially as big as it is and using the same forum software I do not know.

 

I like the domain, great for seo and the forum related directly to graphics and web design etc. Just wondered if I should try the forum again or sell domain and what you may think it's worth?

 

Jordan

Edited February 20, 201313 yr by JordanC

like anything it really depends how much effort you want to put into it.

 

Getting a forum/community off the ground is no mean feat and wdf may only survive if the spam is taken care off, the users are happy with the forum and the forum has good regular content driving it.

 

Its a good domain, but you may struggle selling it, if its blacklisted or has any negative history that may prove difficult to fix.

 

Good luck

 

edit:

In its current state you could never sell it. Just tried visiting and got the

"Reported Attack Page!
This web page at graphicsforum.co.uk has been reported as an attack page and has been blocked based on your security preferences." message.

 

I guess if you work on it, seriously hard and put a lot of effort and maybe even some of your own cash to it, you could submit revision requests with google.

Edited February 20, 201313 yr by jamesosix

Personally I would put the whole thing down to experience and move on to something else.

Thanks for the reply guys. I've got the backup of the forum still but for now to remove the blacklist I've removed the whole forum from the site so it's now clear and clean.

 

I want to bring the forum back online and I know it will take a while for traffic to pickup (years) but thats fine with me. I have a main other project (InfluxShopping) but I like to update online with posts, tutorials, freebies etc so running a forum like I have done a while back was my favourite choice.

 

I have time to keep it updated, it's just the spam bringing down my site etc. It's running the same forum platform as WDF and using additional plugins but how some of these spam/bots get registered still I have no idea.

 

Any suggestions on how to keep a forum clean, bring in traffic and any other suggestions?

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

Jordan

Edited February 20, 201313 yr by JordanC

With forum project you have to have a team of the people. Graphic forum especially. I used to have one forum and after 2 year start making some profit.

I've decided to sell the domain, currently looking for somewhere to do so safely. As the domain suggests, most would expect a forum on there but I don't have the time to setup a forum without the help of others to keep it going, would love to do so if anyone was interested but happy to sell right now anyway.

Selling might be your best option, because you don't have the time and the people for it...

 

You might consider keeping the domain inactive and use it later on when you finished other projects

 

Good luck

Jordon, it is worth and domain seems a nice one

 

if not interested you can sell it at a reasonable price to others

 

cheers

JordanC - How much were you thinking about selling it for?