What makes a forum die?

[Patrick [ASE]]

People are always making threads about a lack of membership or that their forum is dying. One of the options always seems to be to delete their forum.

What makes a forum die in your opinion? Is there anything that seems to lead up to a forum death/deletion? Or do you think that some admins just get too nervous too fast and delete their forums without serious thought?

What advice would you give to admins to avoid forum death/deletion?

[Wolfe]

Sometimes a site just never takes off. You have to have an original board for anyone to really pay any special attention to it. There are a million Harry Potter boards, but only one Chase For the Sword of Chocolate Marshmallows.

Another reason is that your members are not active, which makes new ones feel they don't have to be either.

There are a lot of reasons, but I'll let someone else list them all. A site can, quite frankly, die for any reason whatsoever - from a simple mistake to a long period of wrongdoing.

[Kami]

Mar 15, 2009 11:49:33 GMT -8 @andy2 said:

One is that if the admin becomes inactive then members might be to

Please read the board rules - four or more well thought out sentences per post. Thank you.

[Wolfe]

Mar 15, 2009 12:17:00 GMT -8 Kami said:

Mar 15, 2009 11:49:33 GMT -8 @andy2 said:

One is that if the admin becomes inactive then members might be to

Please read the board rules - four or more well thought out sentences per post. Thank you.

Seems you just broke that rule. =P

This kind of goes hand in hand with the "What NOT to do on a ProBoards Site" thread. It has the same basic things, except this seems to be the aftermath. Being rude and disrespectful to your members will make them leave quickly... Though so too will endless complexity. I don't want to have to name Einstein's theory of relativity every time I post... Nor do I want to explain Newton's Laws, y'know? Sites are here to have fun, so if you're not having fun, it disowns its primary purpose in itself - and that loses members.

[Sic In Principio]

I think what makes a forum die is the inactivity of members (obviously) I always have these members who say "Oh... i'll post after he/she posts" This starts to create a chain reaction of everyone saying, "I'll wait for someone else to go first" and eventually, no one posts because no one posts before them. If the admin doesn't step in and start making people post, or posting themselves, the forum will die, as i saw with one forum i was a Co-Admin at.

Another reason forums die are because the admin just are either stupid or lazy. If the admin doesn't know how to run the board or isn't active enough the forum will surely die sooner or later

[wildmaven]

I see a lot of forums that are created in a state of boredom. "I'm bored...think I'll make yet another forum." Yes, it's fun to make forums, but people sometimes love only the creation part and not the hard work that follows.

However, for those who have put their hearts and souls into the creation of a forum, only to see it dying, they need to take a step back and look at it objectively, or even have an impartial friend look at it. Sometimes you can be too close to see the problem. Are you a rule hog, posting so many rules that it scares members away? Is there a particular problem member who is making it uncomfortable for the others? Are you not providing enough guidance and plots (if an RP)? Are you posting open-ended questions that lead to discussion? How are you advertising? Were you so hot for members that you acquired members just for the increase in numbers, but those were never members who were interested in staying in the first place? Being objective about yourself can go a long way in keeping a board from dying. It's very easy to blame the members. "They're not posting" or "they keep saying they're bored." However, it is YOUR job, as forum administrator, to ensure that doesn't happen. Read through the other threads in this board, there are some wonderful words of wisdom in them.

[andy2]

Ok

Now on my forum, our admin hardly ever comes one, and the forum has been waaay less active now. Another way is when the forum doesn't change, no boards are added, no skins are changed, and that can make members be bored of the same layout, the same colors every day. Another is not advertising, you need to advertise, bump up your thread like once every 90 minutes. Its pretty much it really, change the skin every so often or have a selection of skins, and don't have too many rules, like you cant change display names ect. Let members do what they want without there being a barrier.
Furthermore, make sure you have a few members that are thread makers, if members start to stop making threads, then members who don't often make threads, that aren't very good thread makers, people drift away too. I had this problem on my old forum, members started to reply and not supply, and we lost about 5 good active members due too it. So you need, creative minds, people who like to go round and make posts. Finally, things that also don't help, having a minimum character limit. (Mainly on RP boards) It makes some members board, and some general chat boards that have a 5-10 minimum, to stop members spamming. How will this help if you have counting threads?
So you need, a change every so often, not to many main rules, and just the basics, supply and reply, and more quality in posts

[×[itoshii-rai]×]

^{The admins usually aren't the problem-- Most of the time it's the unoriginality used when maknig the site, like with the millions of other Warriors and Twilight sites. [No offense to either--OK, maybe Warriors because I hate cats like h*ll, but Twilight is awesome...The movie just messed it up.] Either that or the board never getting the one member that'll actually make it worthwhile to keep going with your forum. If the members don't take part in advertising, the site will eventually die, because of the members' laziness. Activity checks kill forums, as well. On every site I went to with an activity check, they died within 2 months at most. People that aren't ready to host a site either never succeed. Everyone learns at their own pace, but you SHOULD know not to make one if you do effing one line posts or things that aren't necessary.}

[DENKI/IMPULSE]

Drama. Lots and Lots of Drama. I've seen so many boards die just because people are selfish and immature and don't realize that its just a stupid rpg board that you really shouldn't be getting all mad about. XD

[rosebud]

It might be a good idea for the admin to ask the members why the board is inactive. I saw an admin do that once and I was so impressed because you could tell she was trying to be a good admin and she was willing to take criticism.

@ Destruction Panda - I so agree with that!

It could also depend on the theme you are making. Are you making one that will be long-term interest?

[~The Truth Seeker~]

Mar 15, 2009 11:54:11 GMT -8 Wolfe said:

Sometimes a site just never takes off. You have to have an original board for anyone to really pay any special attention to it. There are a million Harry Potter boards, but only one Chase For the Sword of Chocolate Marshmallows.

That is a very good reason there. You see so many Twilight, Vampire, Werewolf RPs, and yet no creative ones. People know what attracts members, but is it fun doing the same RP over an over? Then once you make a great original idea, no one wants to join, because there is no members. If an RP is a great idea, then yeah, join the site.

I really get tired of seeing the same site over an over.

What also makes a site die is indeed the typical "Thread starter" and "thread replyier". I myself am a thread starter, and I get tired of always starting a thread and seeing no one reply to it.

What also gets rather bothersome, are the people who have ubteen different character, and they get frustrated because they cant keep up with all their characters. Then you are sitting and waiting for a reply. But they have to reply to this person, and this person, and finally it gets to yours.

~I've been on many sites and observed this~

Or what makes me leave a site and get bored, is when some people spend more time on the C-box, than replying to a thread, but it is kinda rude when you have someone waiting three days for a reply, they know you are on, but you are chatting up a storm on the C-box.

Those are my 2 cents.

[Impish]

I find that if there are no members willing to contribute to the forum, then everyone gets bored and decides to leave. I've seen it happen a few times before, and it's actually pretty sad. An admin can put their heart and soul into creating and keeping up with their forum, and then a couple months later it's completely dead.
Another thing that is just stupid, I think, is when a site dies and then the admins go create a new one to bring it back to life. Honestly, if you've already worked hard, then just do some cleaning up and then send out a few emails to members. Advertise more. Just don't keep on moving the board, because it gets so annoying, going from forum to forum to forum to forum just to find that the most recent one is dying, too!

A lot of things can kill a forum, two of which I've already said. But another one, which I happen to be dealing with on three different forums as we speak, is when admins are inactive for weeks. Soon enough a spammer comes along, and once they see that nobody is going to get rid of them, they bring more of their spamming friends. This ticks off the members, and from there things only go down.
My solution to this problem, which doesn't work all of the time but is still useful, is to find a few members that are always active and are responsible enough to handle a few jobs, then give them the power to delete unwanted posts and spam, and also to update everything once in awhile. That way if the main admin isn't around for a long time, at least there's somebody there to look after things, right?

[Former Member]

Personally, I've seen about a dozen forums I used to be part of all die simply because the admin disappeared or became more and more inactive.

A forum will always run smoothly if you have all of your staff pitching in and pulling their wight. As an administrator for two forums totaling a decade, I found that having a very lenient forum with few rules, and lightly controlled by a mature team of staff is the best way to keep members coming back. The atmosphere is a major part of success.

Also, having a multi-themed forum heps too. Having something for everyone would seem more attractive than just a single-themed...for example...role-playing site on Harry Potter, no?

Or what makes me leave a site and get bored, is when some people spend more time on the C-box, than replying to a thread, but it is kinda rude when you have someone waiting three days for a reply, they know you are on, but you are chatting up a storm on the C-box.

This is something to this day I never understood. The C-Box should be for a quick hi-or-bye if someone else is on, not a chat room! They are dooming themselves by doing this.

[Sic In Principio]

Mar 16, 2009 0:06:51 GMT -8 dinoson2 said:

Or what makes me leave a site and get bored, is when some people spend more time on the C-box, than replying to a thread, but it is kinda rude when you have someone waiting three days for a reply, they know you are on, but you are chatting up a storm on the C-box.

This is something to this day I never understood. The C-Box should be for a quick hi-or-bye if someone else is on, not a chat room! They are dooming themselves by doing this.

idk, my forum is able to have chats in the C-box and keep the forum alive. I think its just the members that you have. What i hate sometimes is members who don't even bother using the C-box to even say a quick hello.

[abattista]

I think there are tons of factors that have to do with a forum dying.

• Admin's lack of experience. I had an old proboard. I had no experience coding, modding, or even running a site. The colors were awful, the members just came to spam, and it was a complete disaster. I eventually abandoned that site, because I knew I'd never pick it off its feet. I started a new one, and that one is going great. On average, I get about 6 people a day visiting and joining, and everyone is so nice. I even hired a graphic's manager to help me with things like that.
  
  
  
• Another is bordom. If members don't have anything to do, they won't stay. I think members like active sites, so they go there more often. A few of my older members really took it upon themselves to make the forum become active, and thats the reason why its doing as well as it is today.
  
  
• Lastly, probably repeats. A forum could be beautiful, and the admin could be the best there ever was, but if its one of the MILLIONS of Twilight Roleyplays, they might migrate to somewhere else. You need unique things.