What makes a forum die?

[ಒ Feather ಒ]

Activity checks kill forums, as well. On every site I went to with an activity check, they died within 2 months at most.

I kind of have to disagree with that. Every single site I'm a member on has an activity check, most've been there for over two years, let alone months. So has mine, I always have an activity check going, and my forum has been there for over 3 years old.

[HoudiniDerek]

May 11, 2009 12:43:07 GMT -8 ಒ Feather ಒ said:

Activity checks kill forums, as well. On every site I went to with an activity check, they died within 2 months at most.

I kind of have to disagree with that. Every single site I'm a member on has an activity check, most've been there for over two years, let alone months. So has mine, I always have an activity check going, and my forum has been there for over 3 years old.

I think it depends on the type of forum as well as how many members you have already. If you have more members, an activity check might not hurt anything. If you have fewer members, it might. I have seen some RPs with none and some General Talk ones with one. Some make it; some fail. it really depends on the situation, the members, the forum, etc.

[CrimsonNightWind]

Typically, I've seen forums die do to either an inactive admin or a change in administration. Sudden changes in administration can upset players, who were either on the site for that particular admin or who enjoyed that admin's rules. It also gets very frustrating to players when there is no administrator around to keep up activity.

Other times, there is just a severe lack of interest or a fanbase which is simply too small to support a large amount of activity. You can be the most active admin in the world with the best "Feminist Alien Llama RPG" site in the world. The fact is, few people want to RP Feminist Alien Llamas.

[Owl]

Sometimes people get tired of a certian forum. Like twilight. how many twilight rpgs are there? alot. So it's like a fight for members.

also, your forum could just get boring./

[CrimsonNightWind]

May 15, 2009 17:48:49 GMT -8 Owl said:

Sometimes people get tired of a certian forum. Like twilight. how many twilight rpgs are there? alot. So it's like a fight for members.

also, your forum could just get boring./

That is also true. It's the same with Wolf RPGs, ect. Many people will join several RPGs of the same type and then weed out the ones which are:

A. Less active
B. Less well-built or
C. Has members who (in the case of RPGS) post too long or too short for them.

Also, some sites are just downright picky about acceptance to begin with. The pickier you are about members, the less of them are obviously going to be in your forum. The less-active your forum is, the less people want to stay.

[Supernatural: Unforgiven]

((Just to note... My experience is with Role Playing Forums))

Hmmmm.... This is tough. Can we define what it means to have a forum die? As to just maybe lull or even a slow paced forum?

Also... It appears that a lot of people blame the admins a lot. In a sense the admin is the leader/owner of the forum and in some sense it is THEIR responsibility. And yes... there are admins that don't really care or know what they are doing. However, there are also admins that work really hard and try to do things that make the site more interesting and it just doesn't pan out. You can't just sit there and babysit your members. They HAVE to take some initiative in posting. I mean, that is what they are there for isn't it?

It's very frustrating to set up plots to get people involved in to try and break the ice and then they abandon them and still complain they have nothing to do or no where to post....

What I'd like to know is... How do you get GOOD members. People that really want to be there and write good stories and such.

[Micko70]

Mar 15, 2009 14:13:28 GMT -8 rosebud said:

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?

I have asked members for their input many a time, yet it's only the very regular posters that ever reply

[Vivalashakeit]

I've seen a forum die before. It was due to lack of motivation in the administrator. He stopped updating the site and providing the members with new features to "play" with. The forum continued with members posting, but eventually people got bored with the forum and moved on because the admin never visited anymore.

I think what creates death in a forum is lack of effort. If members are not willing to help out, and if the admin is no longer willing to put forth effort, the forum goes on just like any other forum with nothing unique to encourage members to stay.

Other reasons that forums may die are inexperienced admins. When people don't know what they're doing, members are iffy about even joining the site, and then they may find out that the admin isn't doing a good job, doing something wrong, not listening to the members, etc. Member input is also important. If the admin doesn't listen to the members, they will leave. I've had some personal experience with this topic, so I do have some knowledge as to how this stuff has happened in the past.

[Artemis]

May 25, 2009 9:34:58 GMT -8 Micko70 said:

Mar 15, 2009 14:13:28 GMT -8 rosebud said:

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?

I have asked members for their input many a time, yet it's only the very regular posters that ever reply

Please check the rules on post lengths. ;]

May 25, 2009 9:20:58 GMT -8 Supernatural: Unforgiven said:

((Just to note... My experience is with Role Playing Forums))

Hmmmm.... This is tough. Can we define what it means to have a forum die? As to just maybe lull or even a slow paced forum?

Also... It appears that a lot of people blame the admins a lot. In a sense the admin is the leader/owner of the forum and in some sense it is THEIR responsibility. And yes... there are admins that don't really care or know what they are doing. However, there are also admins that work really hard and try to do things that make the site more interesting and it just doesn't pan out. You can't just sit there and babysit your members. They HAVE to take some initiative in posting. I mean, that is what they are there for isn't it?

It's very frustrating to set up plots to get people involved in to try and break the ice and then they abandon them and still complain they have nothing to do or no where to post....

What I'd like to know is... How do you get GOOD members. People that really want to be there and write good stories and such.

In my opinion, forum 'death' is a week or more without any real activity like posts or people logging in. Of course it can come back from the dead, as many forums frequently do, though I like to refer to forums as in a coma or something of that sort if they're around that area. ;P Or a lull, like you said.

I wouldn't really blame the admin and staff unless it was obvious they weren't really doing anything. It's just as equally the 'fault' of the community. I know a lot of people come, see there aren't many posts, then don't post themselves, and it's really a snowball effect from there on. Sure, sometimes the admin doesn't do much by not adding content or change, but it's not solely up to them to keep an entire community alive.

On that note, sometimes it's hard to find good members. They have to be genuinely interested, and a good community that helps them feel welcome is a good thing to. The admins can only do so much before they've done all they can and it turns to the members' job.

[jadw2k9]

My old forum that lasted about a year went inactive mainly through lack of advertising. I used to have about four or five active members and two or three of them had their own PB forums. One of them got big into affilates and I remember he had at least 20 on his board and was getting 10-20 active members a day. I had about about three affilates (all friends' forums though) but I never had new members. I was also advertising my website to the wrong kind of people (who weren't interested), which didn't help.

It also didn't help that I wasn't very active either, nor did it help that there wasn't much room (or maybe threads) to keep general discussion going. I had a mini RP going for about a few months (with 2-3 people including me posting) but I wasn't very good at RPing anyway and we eventually got bored of it and called it a day.

However, the final blow was in Spring 2007 when I let my website and my forum fall into disarray, By May, it was practically dead and forsaken. I think it still had one semi-active member but having lost interest, I let it merely exist (as opposed to live) for three more months before deleting it.

The moral of the story is:
- The admin needs to kep advertising through affilates and contribution elsewhere
- The admin must not lose interest in his/her own forum
- A forum can coome back from the dead if the admin improves it and re-advertises to new people
- The admin needs to keep their forum alive by starting threads and changing things that become outdated (i.e. that's why I'd never make a forum based on a current fad)
- The admin needs to broaden the range of topics to maintain members' interest
- the forum needs good layout, useful (but not excessive) headers/footers, and a selection of colour themes
- The admin should have simple rules and enforce them benevolantly, giving people a chane yet not allowing himself/herself or the forum to be walked all over.

[Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti]

May 25, 2009 9:20:58 GMT -8 Supernatural: Unforgiven said:

((Just to note... My experience is with Role Playing Forums))

Hmmmm.... This is tough. Can we define what it means to have a forum die? As to just maybe lull or even a slow paced forum?

Also... It appears that a lot of people blame the admins a lot. In a sense the admin is the leader/owner of the forum and in some sense it is THEIR responsibility. And yes... there are admins that don't really care or know what they are doing. However, there are also admins that work really hard and try to do things that make the site more interesting and it just doesn't pan out. You can't just sit there and babysit your members. They HAVE to take some initiative in posting. I mean, that is what they are there for isn't it?

It's very frustrating to set up plots to get people involved in to try and break the ice and then they abandon them and still complain they have nothing to do or no where to post....

What I'd like to know is... How do you get GOOD members. People that really want to be there and write good stories and such.

I agree with you on that admins get blamed alot for a forum dying. Admins aren't babysitters you know, so all the blame shouldn't lie with them.
I can see blame for a board dying if it weren't a role-play site and the admin slacks on keeping up new topics and such.
But with a role-play everyone there should help keep the board alive.

I mean whats the point of a forum if members aren't going to help keep it alive too?

Like with one of my forums I have this one member every time she has real life things going on and isn't online for a month or so at a time, its like all of a sudden all my members follow. Then they complain cause no one is posting.

[macadder]

I’ve seen sites die due to over control by admin and moderators. The forum then looses interest and dies a slow death.

[Artemis]

May 29, 2009 13:19:10 GMT -8 macadder said:

I’ve seen sites die due to over control by admin and moderators. The forum then looses interest and dies a slow death.

Please read the rules about this forum, thankeh. ;P

[kisjmsajme]

why can't the admin account log in?

[🎶Sossity🎶]

May 30, 2009 2:57:10 GMT -8 kisjmsajme said:

why can't the admin account log in?

Hi

Please post all such queries on the support board. You'll need to start your own topic and include your board's url.

Thanks.