What makes a forum die?

[Former Member]

Apr 24, 2015 16:23:18 GMT -8 Celeste said:

Sorry, wildmaven and kronks. I got a little snippy. I know better than that. I apologize to you both.

Getting back to the topic of what makes a forum die, I've been thinking about some of the popular forums of the past that are no longer with us. On many of those, posters quit posting. Every once in a while someone will mention that they miss "the good old days and all the people that no longer post". I've wondered if perhaps the missing members haven't got involved in real life (schooling, jobs, relationships, family, etc) and gotten out of the habit of posting. That in turn means there isn't as much for other posters to respond to, so they don't take part either. If few people post, conversation dies. If enough people are away for long enough, there isn't enough to sustain the board and it becomes a ghost town. Is that too simple?

 

For reasons unknown to me some (,not all) of the more recently created forums die before they live.

Older forums die for reasons.

[Former Member]

Apr 24, 2015 7:29:01 GMT -8 kronks said:

Apr 24, 2015 2:54:12 GMT -8 @womenonly said:

Your wording gave me the impression that your post was and is a pet peeve.

I disagree with you.

Not too sure what you are talking about really "pet peeve", but anyway look you with your sexist "womenonly"
id, attacking 50% of the population for no reason.

Which post are you referring to? The one I made here or the one I refered to in the forum I got banned form.

Speaking of that forum, the person who started the trouble is still having a snipe at me even though I have been
banned, commenting on how the thread which I started has become an "interesting and adult discussion", but of course
thread was always and interesting an adult discussion, at least until she made that childish immature baiting off topic comment.
And of course the mod who banned me joined in the "fun".

Just so typical of what you see on so many forums, an established member starts baiting and stirring up trouble and
the rest of clique join in, including the mods.

All members are equal but some are more equal than others.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Kronks said:

...."Not too sure what you are talking about really "pet peeve", but anyway look you with your sexist "womenonly"
id, attacking 50% of the population for no reason."

Kronks:

My id was and is the name of one of my forums.(*http://womenonly......)

You know what pet peeve and peeved means.

In one statement you labeled me incorrectly and you also incorrectly accused me of something.

Many forums have rules.

Many forum administrators require that members acknowledge and comply with said forum rules.

[kronks]

Apr 25, 2015 4:28:15 GMT -8 @womenonly said:

Apr 24, 2015 7:29:01 GMT -8 kronks said:

Not too sure what you are talking about really "pet peeve", but anyway look you with your sexist "womenonly"
id, attacking 50% of the population for no reason.

Which post are you referring to? The one I made here or the one I refered to in the forum I got banned form.

Speaking of that forum, the person who started the trouble is still having a snipe at me even though I have been
banned, commenting on how the thread which I started has become an "interesting and adult discussion", but of course
thread was always and interesting an adult discussion, at least until she made that childish immature baiting off topic comment.
And of course the mod who banned me joined in the "fun".

Just so typical of what you see on so many forums, an established member starts baiting and stirring up trouble and
the rest of clique join in, including the mods.

All members are equal but some are more equal than others.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Kronks said:

...."Not too sure what you are talking about really "pet peeve", but anyway look you with your sexist "womenonly"
id, attacking 50% of the population for no reason."

Kronks:

My id was and is the name of one of my forums.(*http://womenonly......)

You know what pet peeve and peeved means.

In one statement you labeled me incorrectly and you also incorrectly accused me of something.

Many forums have rules.

Many forum administrators require that members acknowledge and comply with said forum rules.

Ha ha dunno about the USA, but you try setting up a men only organisation in the UK and you will not get very far.
Indeed the BBC has banned all male panel shows, all female panel shows are not banned of course, that is not
the was equality works.
So now they are forced to have woman on even if she was not very good, and the reality is there are
few who are good enough, Jo Brand is one example but most of the rest are just good enough.

You referred to my pet peeve, I don't know what you man and still do not, also
why have you switch to an almost invisible font?

If you are going to switch to an almost invisible font I suggest you go the whole hog
and switch to an invisible one.

Nobody in their right mind reads forum rules.

Also could you be more specific as to what I labelled you, I don't remember I
I don't want to have to re-read all my posts, I waste enough time writing them
I don't want to waste any more.

[kronks]

Apr 25, 2015 4:06:33 GMT -8 @womenonly said:

Kronks:

I would like for this thread to go back to its original purpose.

1.
solarbronco
Link to page 54 for his entire post.
support.proboards.com/thread/301626/forum-die?page=54

Below is solarbronco's sentence.
"....What is it today with young people not being able to follow directions?"

Link to page 54
support.proboards.com/thread/301626/forum-die?page=54

My original reply was and is a generalization.
wo said: People do not always want to comply.

2.
He said, she said and they said.
Taking wording out of its original context.
Repeating over and over.
Ranting. 

Being peeved about this and that.
Generalizations and so on.

The convention is to quote the post you are reply to, not so whatever you are trying to do.
If they had intended you to do that they would not have gone to effort of making the quote
facility.


If you want to make a post pertaining to the original purpose there is nothing stopping you.

[Tumbleweed]

Please keep on-topic!

This quibbling is getting old. State what you think makes a forum die and let others state their opinion without picking apart every detail. I suggest everyone reread the rules so you are on the same page.

support.proboards.com/thread/28689/read-before-posting-forum-rules

Warnings will be discussed for those of you who have abused the rules. Thanks. 

[Mandoli]

Little arguments between members will drive a forum crazy. I've had people delete their accounts because there were people who wouldn't listen to the rules. I got a little discouraged by that, so I tried to implement a few tweaks in the rules to prevent something like that from happening again.

Let's say, for example, the arguments start up again. If people don't like it, they have two options: Block the member in question, or delete themselves from the board. If I had more people delete their account... Yeah, this isn't going to turn out well. People scanning the board as a guest will see all of the deleted members, and they might not think that the board is very active - regardless of how many members post there.

Point is: If more members delete themselves because of petty little feuds, it will decrease membership. And when that happens, the forum might die.

[kronks]

Apr 26, 2015 0:20:41 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

Please keep on-topic!

This quibbling is getting old. State what you think makes a forum die and let others state their opinion without picking apart every detail. I suggest everyone reread the rules so you are on the same page.

support.proboards.com/thread/28689/read-before-posting-forum-rules

Warnings will be discussed for those of you who have abused the rules. Thanks. 

Well there you go, you can't do anything right on a forum because someone is always complaining about trivial matters
and you have someone yelling at you in bold.

Not very pleasant is it?

Before you know it you have a gun point at your head.

How very friendly.

See it is impossible to discuss anything.

So what is the point in a discussion forum where you can't discuss anything without being threatened?

It is no wonder forum die because they are impossible places for a normal hum being to live in.

The only person being abused is me.

But what does matter?

Not a jot.

What makes forums dies is bad moderation by the power crazy who will tolerate no opinion but their own.

Your rules are ridiculous.


Technically your post is off topic. by the way.

But don't let the rules get in your way, we all know there are different rule for different people.


By the way I note your own forum has been dead for two years.

Too many off topic thread no doubt.

[kronks]

Apr 26, 2015 9:03:54 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

Little arguments between members will drive a forum crazy. I've had people delete their accounts because there were people who wouldn't listen to the rules. I got a little discouraged by that, so I tried to implement a few tweaks in the rules to prevent something like that from happening again.

Let's say, for example, the arguments start up again. If people don't like it, they have two options: Block the member in question, or delete themselves from the board. If I had more people delete their account... Yeah, this isn't going to turn out well. People scanning the board as a guest will see all of the deleted members, and they might not think that the board is very active - regardless of how many members post there.

Point is: If more members delete themselves because of petty little feuds, it will decrease membership. And when that happens, the forum might die.

Sounds like a load of nonsense to me.

No normal person would delete their account.

Why would they?

They would just leave.

It's insane.

If they do not like a member they can ignore them.

Nobody deletes their account, they try and get the offending member banned instead.

If you are banning people it will certain decrease membership that is a given.

Nobody wants to be in a forum where they are not in control of their own destiny they need
a personal jailer like they need  hole in the head.


Anyway it seems I can no longer use this forum as the Gestapo have arrived.


By the way Facebook have introduce a new rule, all posts must be 4 sentences long.

Obviously they have no because they are a billion dollar company and want to remain that way.


There is nothing more off topic than a dead thread.

[Celeste]

This is an additional thought to my idea as to why posters quit posting.

I think that content is the primary key as to why some forums thrive and some fade away. If they don't have topics that people want to read and reply to, the popularity fades away. It doesn't matter how pretty the design is or how much advertising is done with affiliates, if the content isn't engaging, you lose the attention of your audience. New content is critical for discussion.

[kronks]

Apr 26, 2015 13:18:20 GMT -8 Celeste said:

I think that content is the primary key as to why some forums thrive and some fade away. If they don't have topics that people want to read and reply to, the popularity fades away. It doesn't matter how pretty the design is or how much advertising is done with affiliates, if the content isn't engaging, you lose the attention of your audience. New content is critical for discussion.

And of course the more treads remain on topic the more new content disappears.

Every person banned is content banned.

Simple as that.

[kronks]

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.

Are you aware your post only contains two?
So two more sentences to go.
Will I manage it?
I think I might.

If you are going to enforce rules the least you could do is abide by them yourself.

Ridiculous rule which are almost impossible to follow sound like a great way to kill a forum.

Where did you pluck the number 4 from anyway?

Some sort of superstition?

Or do you have some some kind of justification which could convince a jury of 12 sane people?

I will leave that open to anyone to answer, what is so great about 4?

[Mandoli]

Apr 26, 2015 18:35:24 GMT -8 @demonbarber said:

Another way to make a forum unappealing is banning signups straight away with no reason in sight.

Ignoring people asking why they do it is also a good way to annoy others.

Good point. I make it so registration is approved on my board, and it's done for good reason. If one tries to register for my board, it used to say "because of questionable users/posts" or something like that.

I don't ban people straight up unless they're a clear spammer or a "problem child".

Although if I attempt to let anyone sign up without staff approval, those people will come back. So there's almost a catch-22 going on. "Do I take the chance, or do I play it safe?" Both come with losing scenarios.

[nariadreaming]

Apr 26, 2015 12:16:28 GMT -8 kronks said:

Apr 26, 2015 9:03:54 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

Little arguments between members will drive a forum crazy. I've had people delete their accounts because there were people who wouldn't listen to the rules. I got a little discouraged by that, so I tried to implement a few tweaks in the rules to prevent something like that from happening again.

Let's say, for example, the arguments start up again. If people don't like it, they have two options: Block the member in question, or delete themselves from the board. If I had more people delete their account... Yeah, this isn't going to turn out well. People scanning the board as a guest will see all of the deleted members, and they might not think that the board is very active - regardless of how many members post there.

Point is: If more members delete themselves because of petty little feuds, it will decrease membership. And when that happens, the forum might die.

Sounds like a load of nonsense to me.

No normal person would delete their account.

Why would they?

They would just leave.

It's insane. 

We've had several members delete their accounts. To me, it's common sense. If I'm no longer participating in a website (and I'm leaving on bad terms) I'm not leaving my posts there for two reasons: 

1) Personal security- I don't want my posts out there for the world to see, especially if I discussed anything sensitive
2) ad revenue- I'm not going to let a business/individual profit off of my knowledge showing up in search results and driving traffic to their site. 

I run a parenting forum. A lot of times members will share photos of their children. I absolutely understand their desire to delete their posts (internet safety) and delete their account as well. 

[kronks]

Maybe it is because there is no wall to stop people leaving?

It is my experience that the most creative people tend to get banned whilst the uncreative rule followers and intolerant types tend
to remain.

So you effectively end up with a police state, then it is impossible to keep your population
without build a wall to keep them in (as some such regimes do).

Building the wall after they have left is somewhat counter productive, and no longer a solution.

[kronks]

Apr 26, 2015 0:20:41 GMT -8 Tumbleweed said:

Please keep on-topic!

This quibbling is getting old. State what you think makes a forum die and let others state their opinion without picking apart every detail. I suggest everyone reread the rules so you are on the same page.

support.proboards.com/thread/28689/read-before-posting-forum-rules

Warnings will be discussed for those of you who have abused the rules. Thanks. 

I would defy anyone to find those rules unassisted, which is probaly just as well.

ProBoards Support/Discussion: Your ProBoard/READ BEFORE POSTING: About This Forum! RULES!