folks-

I don't just mean sign up for a username and password, but really join--visit regularly, participate.

Of how many communities are you a regular member? Why those, and not others? Are there communities that you have joined, then left? Why did you leave?

Not many that I actually visit regularly. I'm a member of many, but maybe only 5 that I'm a regular.

What makes me stay are the people and the subject matter, and my own duties. I don't have much time to go around posting on message boards so when I take the time to post, it's on a board where I like the people and have an interest in the subject and/or I'm a staffer there (which usually means the two former points apply anyway).

Depends... it mainly due to the being about a topic I take high interest in, such as vBulletin (a main reason why I'm so active on vBcom) as well as the general community. I mean, who wants to be at a site where you're interested in the topic, but the members flame you? ;)

I'm a member of too many, but there are a select few that I visit daily. I visit about 8 a day, sometimes more. I have to see if I can cut it down. :D

I am a member of 40 or so forums, but I only post regularly on 2 and rarely on about 5.

I only joined most of them as I needed to research something and figured these forums would have the various answers. So I joined to ask questions and read some of the restricted sections. But I don't have the time of energy to post on them all, so I confine myself to vB-Fans and my own forum. ;)

I have a habit of joining a site, and not posting until maybe a year or so later. :p

as said before, content matter.

if something interests me, and i can talk about it with others, that's what hooks me in and makes me stay.

I've left a few communities (sometimes temporarily) because of people being rude to each other.

Friendship, subject and nice people. If I don't like the environment I don't care what I can be there, what can I earn/get from there or how big the community is. First of all, a community member should be nice and kind and the administration must be professional. They must never look users from high.

Mostly subjects, content. And if the users are friendly people too.

It depends if the forum is based on a subject I like or have an interst in.

For me it's all about activity. A dead forum is something I'll steer well clear from.

I tend to spend more time on forums with friendly users. I can't stand forums where some users love to flame people for the smallest breach of protocol. Additionally, there needs to be a real sense of community on the forum. I don't like forums that are very impersonal.

What makes me join a community is without a doubt its ability to hold my interest. If the forum can keep me entertained and allow me to learn alot i will join it.

Going back to the original question, the thing that makes me join - and regularly visit - a forum is how interested I am in the topic of the forum. Of course, I have been known to join a forum just because a friend was there, too.

I am a member of a bunch post on a few,but its all how the people are and the topic to me....

It depends if it has a subject that I have an interest in, also if the community looks like it has very minimal chat speak because I really can't stand that and the size doesn't matter too much if it has those two things but a well-established forum is always nice but not too big to where you can't even meet any new people.

Topic, content and what the members are like.

i only join forums that i like and i can help them