What makes a forum die?

[Violette]

Feb 11, 2016 8:38:55 GMT -8 The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW) said:

Feb 11, 2016 7:56:10 GMT -8 Violette said:

Changes in the lifestyle of the admin can affect their ability to keep their forum active. When I started my forum I was laid off from work and had lots of time to devote myself to the forum. Now, I work all the time and the forum is slowly dying. It's my fault, as the admin, because I'm not keeping it active, but real life has to come first. So the forum will eventually die out. Great members and once really active. Sad.

Here is an offer to merge with The Zone, since you go there to play games almost daily. ;-)

Thank you for that nice offer. I'm not quite sure just yet what I will do. And who knows the future. I could be laid off again tomorrow for all I know, and could become real active again on the forum.

[The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW)]

Feb 11, 2016 8:51:37 GMT -8 Violette said:

Feb 11, 2016 8:38:55 GMT -8 The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW) said:

Here is an offer to merge with The Zone, since you go there to play games almost daily. ;-)

Thank you for that nice offer. I'm not quite sure just yet what I will do. And who knows the future. I could be laid off again tomorrow for all I know, and could become real active again on the forum.

You need an active staff.

[Mandoli]

Feb 11, 2016 8:38:55 GMT -8 The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW) said:

Here is an offer to merge with The Zone, since you go there to play games almost daily. ;-)

From experience with merging forums, there's a problem with that. I tried to merge with someone else's board, but there was hostility with members from the other place. Be careful, because not everyone's going to agree to move.

[The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW)]

Feb 12, 2016 12:19:28 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

Feb 11, 2016 8:38:55 GMT -8 The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW) said:

Here is an offer to merge with The Zone, since you go there to play games almost daily. ;-)

From experience with merging forums, there's a problem with that. I tried to merge with someone else's board, but there was hostility with members from the other place. Be careful, because not everyone's going to agree to move.

We share many of the same members already.

[Mandoli]

Feb 12, 2016 12:24:30 GMT -8 The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW) said:

We share many of the same members already.

Still, what happens if there's a conflict between which board people like more? Place X might be significantly valuable because they're comfortable with it more than they are with Place Y.

When I merged with another board, the other party involved was told that everything was confusing to navigate. Both my board and that of the other party were PB-hosted, but nobody really cared (even though my board is clean and organized). There were ultimately a few jumpers, but not everyone was up for the move.

Just to end the story: It didn't work out in the end, and a third forum was made by some of the people who agreed to not move to begin with.

[The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW)]

Feb 13, 2016 7:29:55 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

Feb 12, 2016 12:24:30 GMT -8 The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW) said:

We share many of the same members already.

Still, what happens if there's a conflict between which board people like more? Place X might be significantly valuable because they're comfortable with it more than they are with Place Y.

When I merged with another board, the other party involved was told that everything was confusing to navigate. Both my board and that of the other party were PB-hosted, but nobody really cared (even though my board is clean and organized). There were ultimately a few jumpers, but not everyone was up for the move.

Just to end the story: It didn't work out in the end, and a third forum was made by some of the people who agreed to not move to begin with.

My board is the basic format when a forum is created (I don't know how to code). The only difference between the two boards is I have more boards.

[Violette]

Back to what makes a forum die, I offered the opinion that sometimes the admin is in circumstances beyond their control (perhaps for a limited time) and cannot be as active on their forum as they should be. Even so, ultimately the responsibility for the success of the forum is up to the admin/owner IMHO.

Merging forums might work in come cases, but for me, I prefer to put my forum in Maintenance Mode until I have more free time. That is a solution that works best for me.

[The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW)]

Feb 13, 2016 10:20:59 GMT -8 Violette said:

Back to what makes a forum die, I offered the opinion that sometimes the admin is in circumstances beyond their control (perhaps for a limited time) and cannot be as active on their forum as they should be. Even so, ultimately the responsibility for the success of the forum is up to the admin/owner IMHO.

Merging forums might work in come cases, but for me, I prefer to put my forum in Maintenance Mode until I have more free time. That is a solution that works best for me.

Mainenance Mode for an unusal length of time is not a good idea. It's OK, in my opinion, for a few minutes to a couple of hours, but to leave it in that mode for weeks will deter people from coming to the forum.

I think that's why my original account on your forum was deleted. It was in Maintenance Mode for a long time, and I just stopped going there and stayed focused on taking my forum off the life support it's on now.

[Violette]

How long a forum should be in Maintenance Mode might be a good topic for discussion!

There are lots of reasons admin/owners might have to put their forum in Maintenance Mode for a long time. There's always a risk that some members might not come back, but others will, and you just have to build the membership up again.

[The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW)]

Feb 13, 2016 11:12:05 GMT -8 Violette said:

How long a forum should be in Maintenance Mode might be a good topic for discussion!

There are lots of reasons admin/owners might have to put their forum in Maintenance Mode for a long time. There's always a risk that some members might not come back, but others will, and you just have to build the membership up again.

You need to build up the membership again. And since I "stole" ideas from your forum, you can do the same with mine like when you put the music videos I posted into a sub-board.

Also, that banner at the top is really big. You need to shrink it into a rectanglar shape. People don't want to scroll down too much to reach the boards.

[Former Member]

Feb 7, 2016 19:01:10 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

Okay - to those of you who decide that your board is dead and you can't go on anymore - what do you do? Say if you're the only member of your board and you're not getting attention for one reason or another... Do you give it up altogether? There has to be a fine line.

I am the only member of my forums.
They are alive because I continue posting and maintaining.

Many newer forums do not get "attention."
When that happens some of those forums close.
Some forums do not get members.

[Mandoli]

Feb 13, 2016 15:04:55 GMT -8 @womenonly said:

They are alive because I continue posting and maintaining.

Maybe I'm going to come off as a tad bit offensive - but I find that I encourage other members to post topics on boards. I'm not going to make a thread every two seconds and call it a success. Instead, I let my members post in topics that are already out there. I don't believe in multiple topics about one thing.

I don't make a section for every little thing out there as well. To answer the original question, I think that might be a reason why some forums rest in peace. Too many sections and not enough people who want to discuss it.

[The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW)]

Feb 13, 2016 19:40:12 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

Feb 13, 2016 15:04:55 GMT -8 @womenonly said:

They are alive because I continue posting and maintaining.

Maybe I'm going to come off as a tad bit offensive - but I find that I encourage other members to post topics on boards. I'm not going to make a thread every two seconds and call it a success. Instead, I let my members post in topics that are already out there. I don't believe in multiple topics about one thing.

I don't make a section for every little thing out there as well. To answer the original question, I think that might be a reason why some forums rest in peace. Too many sections and not enough people who want to discuss it.

I've tried that, but they either don't post or stay in the Games board.

[Mandoli]

Feb 13, 2016 20:39:35 GMT -8 The Maniac On Wheels (The MOW) said:

I've tried that, but they either don't post or stay in the Games board.

I have a game section as well - but I've made it so that post counts are disabled (mainly so they don't inflate everyone's totals, which is a good idea). Perhaps you could try that and then encourage more contributions to the board in general.

[Former Member]

Feb 13, 2016 19:40:12 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

Feb 13, 2016 15:04:55 GMT -8 @womenonly said:

They are alive because I continue posting and maintaining.

Maybe I'm going to come off as a tad bit offensive - but I find that I encourage other members to post topics on boards. I'm not going to make a thread every two seconds and call it a success. Instead, I let my members post in topics that are already out there. I don't believe in multiple topics about one thing.

I don't make a section for every little thing out there as well. To answer the original question, I think that might be a reason why some forums rest in peace. Too many sections and not enough people who want to discuss it.

There are some forums that are made up of multiple boards.
Some of those boards are repetitive.
Some of those forums have many members.

Posting and maintaining a forum does keep it alive.
A forum with just an admin as the member may not get members.