What, exactly, are clubs for?

[cofee_iv]

This may be a dumb question, but as I debated about setting up clubs, I can't bring myself to do it because I already have forums for the topics. What am I missing?

[opentype]

There are various purposes for clubs and differences in comparison with forums. One advantage is that you can let your users create them—which makes it very different from forums you control. If it works out, it can give your site a boost in activity you might not get in forums. You can get club owners who actively start, manage and promote their own clubs and with that, your platform. 

Another difference is that clubs need to be joined first, especially closed clubs. So their activity doesn’t disturb the rest of the site. You can have niche topics there or even foreign languages, that the majority of you users don’t care about. 

And you can bundle features in clubs. A club doesn’t just have to be more forums. It can also have its own calendar, galleries and so on.