What makes a forum die?

[Slowpoke idda Best!]

It's not always about the layout y'know. I'm on a forum that has no codes whatsoever yet it has nearly 3,000 people on it (only an eight of that are active though as the admin doesn't do activity checks XD). On my forum one person joined made half a bio an then didn't come back. I had to delete them as really, let's face it, only having one inactive member- sucks.

[Crystal Pisces]

I think a major part is that an admin gets tired of doing all the work, and even if they have other staff that they most likely are bored with it too or are inexperienced at staffing a forum. In example I have started a forum, and I have gone far into making it, but not having staff to help has made me give up on actually finishing it.

Another reason is members will eventually get bored with the topic, or an admin (for a role-play) will discourage their creativity. Say they have been on a HP Role-play for well over a year, and it just starts getting boring or uninteresting. I have also experienced admins that are put downs, disapproving your character for a certain personality trait or history. Usually admins that are strict of how things are like that are deterring good members.

Well that's my opinion, seeing that these are personal experiences of my own.

[KHAØS]

I'm really glad i spotted this thread. XD

I have made role-plays before. I no longer admin them because of inactivity and plus they're old by now. Only one got about thirty-six members but none were very active and i wondered why. Of course then i was eleven or so, so i may not have advertised like i should have. But from what i've read there really is no specific guideline how to keep a site active. There's only a few rules you can follow and pray people join.

One} Be a respectful admin, true to the rules and not abusing your power
Two} Advertise, but by following other sites rules and NOT spamming
Three} Be sure the site is fun and not overly complicated.
Four} Find interactive ways to keep members interested in active
Five} Be sure skin is clean and organized. No bright colors that hurt the eyes.
Six} And plan out your forum in the beginning because once you realize you made a mistake on something it will be hard to change it without turning off the members muse.

[lennynyr]

Reading through most of these threads, I haven't discovered any baseball discussion forums, especially one dedicated to the New York Mets. yet I am having problems getting members.

Could it be that proboards, originating in the UK, doesn't reach NY met baseball fans? I got introduced to proboards joining a Ny Ranger hockey site and they are doing fine regarding members.

I will keep trying and hope my membership picks up. Any help to keep it alive will be appreciated. Thanks.

[lucylock]

Mar 15, 2009 11:26:48 GMT -8 Patrick [ASE] said:

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?

you seem to speak a lot of sense, i left a board due to being attacked on it by mods and admin, sometimes i think pro boards should be able to log into forums at times and check if they are being run correctly, it has put me off ever joining a forum from pro boards ever again. I will never tell anybody to open one either and there are lots of others they could use instead that seem to be able to keep a watch on a forum. when you have a forum you join in good faith , usually by a invite from a friend. If mods and owners dislike a person thats it for them, even if the person has asked for threads to be removed etc and its all ignored. pro boards seem very quick on handing out forums with never ever checking what goes on inside them and people have nowhere to go to report apart from a silly link, which by the time they can find to do that they may not have been able to keep the offending posts and abuse. Many forums are run by online friends that just want a power trip, look at me, i can delete your topic or look at me you say as i do etc and thats just how it is. i am saddened in my experience of pro board forums . Its a shamble.

[lennynyr]

I think all forums have that problem. Live Journal does, the local sports forums run by media types do, the old New York Times forums did.

Best bet is to look around, not only on proboards, and try a membership. You might just find a place you like. I've been posting for years on a hockey proboards site so there are good ones. Like mostly anything else, good and bad in the world of forums.

[nyandra]

At the moment on my forum, I have a problem in that it is based on creativity- and we've got writer's block. My members used to freak out when I'd have lots of new members joining at once, so I trimmed that down, which means that now, when I do need the new members coming in with their creativity, they're not wanting to join because theres' not been enough posting going on. It's pretty horrible.
I also have the whole 'the forum's boring because it's so quiet, I have nothing to reply to. No new threads are made, and there's no point me making a new thread, because no one will reply to it'. It's illogical and untrue.

My lano and woodley fan forum is 'dying' because they split up.

[Andrea]

Based off of my experience, and what I've seen on other forums, it's mostly due to the main admin's lack of activity. If a forum is made by only one admin, a lot lies on that one admin's shoulder. And despite how many other staff members on the forum there may be, that one admin is the lead controller and may be the only one that truly knows the ideas of the plot, etc. If that admin leaves, the other staff can try to save it, but may not want to make the effort or it just becomes too much work. That's what I think.

[Nacku]

Sometimes a forum goes dead because the fun goes out of it and someone has taken over that really shouldn't have power and they get everyone else feeling uncomfortable and people just stop going there. Or the topic matter is old and no longer of interest.

[lucylock]

Jun 24, 2009 11:34:15 GMT -8 Andrea said:

Based off of my experience, and what I've seen on other forums, it's mostly due to the main admin's lack of activity. If a forum is made by only one admin, a lot lies on that one admin's shoulder. And despite how many other staff members on the forum there may be, that one admin is the lead controller and may be the only one that truly knows the ideas of the plot, etc. If that admin leaves, the other staff can try to save it, but may not want to make the effort or it just becomes too much work. That's what I think.

i think so too, some admins and mods are trolls also in the one forum that try to get you onside against this so called troll when it is them already, i think a lot of the time it is bored people on a power trip and they can only get it this way. I do think pro boards should not hand out forums whenever asked and should be able to log into private forums at times as it does put people off ever joining one again, and nowadays it is word of mouth.

[Nacku]

Actually, the staff that runs PB can log into any forum they want to at any time, whether they're private or public. A couple of my own staff and I had recently reported a private forum and it's gone now and as far as I know I didn't need to do much but point them to the URL. So apparently someone looked in on the goings on.

[Storm]

Jun 27, 2009 14:49:30 GMT -8 lucylock said:

Jun 24, 2009 11:34:15 GMT -8 Andrea said:

Based off of my experience, and what I've seen on other forums, it's mostly due to the main admin's lack of activity. If a forum is made by only one admin, a lot lies on that one admin's shoulder. And despite how many other staff members on the forum there may be, that one admin is the lead controller and may be the only one that truly knows the ideas of the plot, etc. If that admin leaves, the other staff can try to save it, but may not want to make the effort or it just becomes too much work. That's what I think.

i think so too, some admins and mods are trolls also in the one forum that try to get you onside against this so called troll when it is them already, i think a lot of the time it is bored people on a power trip and they can only get it this way. I do think pro boards should not hand out forums whenever asked and should be able to log into private forums at times as it does put people off ever joining one again, and nowadays it is word of mouth.

To add to what nacky posted earlier:

Um proboards DOESN'T just hand out forums to whom ever asks. Craig goes through a security process by verifying things like the original forum password and the email used to register the board with. If a person can provide those creditials, then the forum is theirs.

You really should read in the support forum how things are handled before posting this sort of replies. It keeps people from getting confused and taking it as the word.

[horsecrav202]

A forum I was on got totally re-done there were about 10 members and they all left.
All the threads were deleted, so no one wanted to re-do it all.
Some members came back {Including me} but the Admin never came back, knew a few members were still on it, and now it is inactive again.
It is just there. No one goes on it.

[Michelangelo "Spike" Scarlatti]

What makes a forum die in your opinion?
In a Role-Play forum I think one of the main causes that a forum dies is the members. My current board has had a few members joining, doing what was needed then suddenly leaving without saying anything. And in a role-play forum it's hard to look active when the administrator is the only one left there.
But in the case of fan forums or other kinds of non- Role-Play forums I think the admin is the key to the forum dying then. I mean if there isn't new topics it's hard to keep a forum alive.
In my opinion no one really wants to join a forum where they see a high member count and only the admin signs in. I know I wouldn't want to join a forum just for the member count, if only the admin is sitting there by him/herself.

Is there anything that seems to lead up to a forum death/deletion?
I think this would depend on the administrator. I think sometimes they just had enough of their board not going anywhere, even after they've posted alot and no one joins. I tend to delete boards after a few months if no one even gives them the light of day.

Or do you think that some admins just get too nervous too fast and delete their forums without serious thought?
Maybe some get nervous if they haven't had many forums before. I believe though the main cause of someone deleting their forum is the lack of membership or inactivity. I tend to delete my forums for the lack of inactivity. I really find no point in keeping a forum open if I get alot of people to join and none of them do nothing.

What advice would you give to admins to avoid forum death/deletion?
If you really do care enough about your forum, don't give up so quickly. If you put alot of hard work into creating your forum you should try your best to keep it going. Even if it fails then try again sometime down the road. I have this board which I refuse to ever delete. I had to put it into maintenance mode cause the activity died.

[stardust]

My forum is dying....and it only has 16 members...how do you make a forum better?