Hello, people of /fringe/. I'm the board owner of /x/ and this is a formal invitation to join Operation Golden Age.
The problem
You're probably aware that 8chan's community is small and highly fragmented. This is a terrible combination. Small forums work best when they have a small number of sections. Big sites can afford to have many subforums. While we enjoy the freedom to create and customise our own boards, the current model of infinite boards plus a stagnant community has resulted in a situation where the vast majority of boards are not as active as they could be. This is a pity, because imageboards are a great and versatile medium, and out of all imageboards, 8chan has the most potential.
Unfortunately our growth model so far has relied on various waves of exodus from other communities, mainly from 4chan. By its very nature, this model doesn't guarantee constant growth, and actually makes growth almost undesirable, because when it happens it's so big and sudden that the influx of new users can be difficult to manage. What we want is slow and steady growth.
The solution
We need to start spreading the word about 8chan. The keyword here is "we". The administrators won't do it because they don't make any money from this site, so it's not in their best interest to advertise it. The big boards won't do it either because they already enjoy a good number of PPH (posts per hour) and they're scared that any new visitor might ruin their 'culture'. From their point of view, there's nothing wrong with the current state of things. Most boards on the other hand would greatly benefit from a bigger community, but we have to make it happen. We have to realise that if we don't do something about it, nothing will change.
Now, due to the fact that most small boards represent niche interests, broad advertisements won't be particularly effective. Instead of advertising for 8chan as a site, we want to target people who are already interested in our niche. We can do this for free by mentioning our boards in places where our target audience gather. It can be Youtube videos, forums, blogs, etc. The more exposure, the better. We can create original content that contains a link to our board and share it on as many sites as we want.
Do we really want to recruit from outside of imageboards?
Yes! Remember that we were all newfigs at some point. I discovered /v/ and /b/ through a Pokemon forum around 2008. Where did you come from? Everyone has his own story, but the point is that there's no reason to be afraid of newfigs. We just need to make sure that they understand how things work around here. I'm currently working on a 8chan guide for newfigs. Once it's done, board owners can add it to their boards as a page. I'll post my finished version and you'll be free to modify it however you see fit.
I encourage every small board to participate and contribute to this operation however they can. Cooperation will be key to our success. If you wish to discuss strategy and methods, please it do here >>>/x/28856 so that this information is shared with everyone.