To Freeones credit a lot of those places shouldn't rightfully be considered forums in the same sense this one is. Some are more social networking places or are very connected parts of the main website with some messaging capability than a dedicated messageboard. I bet freeones is growing at a lot faster pace than a large number of the places ahead of it that are getting close to being tapped out, and a lot of those places don't have as big percent of active members. When you take into account that Freeones doesn’t allow a large chunk of people, those under 18, to even join it’s even more impressive considering a lot of the things above it consist of so many kids like the gaming and social networking places. Unlike general cites Freeones also doesn’t get the people that might frown upon what it does because of their morality. Add that all in and the fact that Freeones runs it’s messageboard in a professional manner and doesn’t let itself become a electronic wild west that also keeps some people away and in all it’s position isn’t that bad.
I was surprised to see how far the bodybuilding.com forum has grown though. That’s on the first page.