Hi Brian,

In regards to the "clique" question...if there is a forum or site that you feel exemplifies the values that you feel Forum 3 should have, maybe it would be worthwhile to do a detailed study or analysis of your ideal site, and develop a comparison of the two sites. This might help you pinpoint why Forum 3 isn't fulfilling your expectations.

Depending on how detailed you'd want to get, and how much time and resources you have...you could, for instance, distribute a questionnaire to find out more about the backgrounds of both groups. Maybe, for instance, you'll find that a disproportionate number of people on one site are women or men or accountants or engineers or waitresses or graphic artists or...whatever. If this were the case, then maybe that would account for the cliques -- "like" people have found each other. Then, you could trace this back and figure out why these people are all attracted to the same forum. Is it because they've heard about the forum from a certain magazine? Is it because the graphic layout of the site is appealing to that group? Maybe the color of the site appeals to that group? Successful companies spend millions of dollars branding a certain "look" to appeal to certain groups, so this wouldn't be far-fetched.

Or, maybe you'll find it's something completely different. But, until the issue is looked at with a critical eye based upon research, the cause of the problem, and therefore the solution, may be hard to pinpoint.

I realize that a major effort could probably not be undertaken, but maybe a long-range plan with lots of baby steps.

Best of luck with your newest forum project.

Lisa