General Would a forum based around the weather be interesting to see?

[Ravenfreak]

This is just hypothetical, but do you think a forum based around weather could work in this day and age? I know forums aren't the primary way people communicate online anymore, but thinking of niches I haven't seen any one really tackle is a community based around the weather. It's such a huge part of every day life and so many people often talk about the weather, heck on almost any forum you see there's a weather topic! Just recently Indonesia had a volcano erupt, there were some nasty storms that made their way through the Midwest in the US yesterday, and weather patterns are always changing. It would be a interesting community!

 

[cpvr]

I think so, yes. There’s a lot of discussion about the weather on various forums and social media & I’m sure a weather based forum could work. It’s a unique concept too.

 

[Al]

It's an incredibly British thing, to talk about the weather, but it intends to be small talk. What would be the thrust of a weather forum?

 

[Ravenfreak]

After making this thread I came across a few weather based forums. One was a forum made by someone who lives in my area too, but unfortunately registration was disabled. Surprisingly, they're both quite active too so I suppose this niche has already been thought about. Makes sense, anything in existence probably has a community already.

 

[joelr]

This is not directed at the OP. These are some thoughts for a framework of discovery not just for a weather forum but for any new forum topic:

1. Your Interest vs Your Specialty: The OP started out with a premise that weather is a huge part of everyday life so a weather forum would be nice. Everyone talks about the weather! That is true, but the people who join a weather forum aren't going to be everyday people looking for idle chit chat with strangers about the weather. The people who join a weather forum are going to be weather enthusiasts. That's a huge distinction.

The idea generation was good by basing it on a personal interest ("I see a topic from everyday life that I think is interesting" ), but there needed to be an assessment of the OPs specialization. What would you uniquely bring to weather discussion? A forum is going to be a specialization of that topic. We should not conflate everyday shallow conversation with the deep knowledge base or passion needed to sustain a specialty interest forum. Are you willing to talk deeply about weather patterns and events every day for the next 10 years?

2. Global vs Micro: the OP talked about weather events from Indonesia to US Midwest. That's a lot! Are you prepared to talk about every single global weather event in every single territory or country? Do you have the systems, support, users, or resources to handle weather reporting from around the world in 24/7 real time?

The web is awash in mediocrity. Especially for new forums trying to find a foothold, I challenge you to not be mediocre by overstretching yourselves and your scope, but to be amazing in one thing first before you attempt, well, literally the world.

3. Pre discovery: the OP did a great job of investigating other forums to see what was already out there. Not enough people do this. You need to conduct a SWOT (strength weakness opportunities threats) analysis to understand what you can bring differently before you launchm You may not need to be the authority or #1, you just need to be different.

One of the awesome and inspiring things about forum building is that there IS room for another forum. The web is big and users can overlap. The question is can you do offer something different and compelling? Even if it overlaps with what already exists.