What to do when people don't like the theme?

[senji]

Can't satisfy everyone..but as others are saying, if it's a universal view, then you may as well change it. I guess it depends on what the purpose of creating the forum is, and whether changing it would align with that purpose or take away from it.

[Lizel]

Oh dear! That would be a tough situation, but I don't think that all of the users of the forum would really hate it.

I guess that I would talk to a graphic expert before making my decision due to the theme. 

[queenbellevue]

It depends on what you want your forum to be. If your goal is to attract as many members as possible and earn advertising revenue or something, then changing it is your best bet. BUT, if you want it to be *your* thing then keep it as it is.

[jaybee]

If I were in that situation I will definitely base my decision on the number of members who doesn't like the design. I mean, if you spend a lot of money and time for that, then it's  a waste of resources to just change everything just because a small number of your members doesn't like it. However if the number is really big then I guess you should consider changing it because even if we can't please everyone, it will definitely affect the growth of your forum. As a person who's addicted with designs and stuff on the internet, I do believe that visuals (e.g. web design, themes, colors, etc.) can really help boost the number of participating members/audience.

[WisTex]

When people say they don't like something, usually it is something specific that they don't like. You may want to make some queries and see if they don't like it because of functionality or because of personal preferences. 

For example, if your new theme is hard to read on mobile phones, that is a legitimate issue that you should probably address. If the font is too small and there is no way to increase the size of the font (or users don't know how), then that is something you should address somehow. So their feedback may help you tweak the theme and make it better.

On the other hand, if the complaints are "I don't like dark themes" or "I hate that font" or "I don't like the background image" then that holds less weight since it is a preference and not a functionality issue. If it is a minority of visitors, you probably could ignore this one, or give them alternatives, like a way to switch to a light theme or choose a different font.

Of course, if everyone hates your neon lime green forum with blinking text and purple polka-dotted background, you might want to change it to something at least a majority of members like.

So, it depends on what they are complaining about. You can't please everyone, but you should at least try to please a majority of your users, especially if you want them to come back.

[Martinsx]

If all the forum members don't like the theme which I think would be something rare to happen but should it occur, then I would strongly recommend changing the theme because something is wrong with it in as much as the forum owner think it is a good and cool theme. Remember the forum is being run for the visitors that makes use it and when a particular theme drives them away from posting on the forum, then in my opinion I believe such theme needs to be scrapped and replaced. 

[ion]

I think you should have a suggestion topic and try their suggestions.  We should consider the members ideas to make your forums sites become productive and the members will keep coming back.  Actually themes for me is the one of the important thing to be consider and should focus, because a lot of forum sites using themes which is actually not good in our eyes and could cause of headache sometimes.