At what point do you throw in the towel?

[sef1268]

I had a small but very active guinea pig enthusiasts forum a decade ago that I had to shut down when things went a little sour with a couple of the moderators. 

Last month, a former member asked me if I would consider reopening it. "I know several people who have said they would re-join in a heartbeat." After mulling it over, I decided to give it another shot. The forum is here:
piganon.proboards.com

I reached out to a few former members myself, as well as several potential new members, and the response at the time was overwhelmingly positive. 

The board has been open for about a month now, with very few new people actually registering and activity being largely limited to 2 or 3 of us--mainly on the games/contest board. 

I'd hate to give up on it too soon, particularly when the two most active members seem to really enjoy it, but I'm putting a lot of time and energy into it and wondering if it's really worth the effort if I can't grow membership or get a lot of participation on other areas of the board.

What are your thoughts? 

[Kami]

Honestly that's something only each admin can determine for themselves. What other admins do will 100% not be helpful because their feelings, experiences, memories, and motivations will all differ.

The better thing to ask, imo, is what are your reasons for keeping the forum open? Correct me if I am wrong, but it sounds like you only reopened because others promised they'd be active. Running a forum is, quite frankly, work. I would compare it to a full time job, really, between participation, advertising, and moderation work. People who start forums without wanting to, and/or solely because other people request it, often find they lack the motivation and interest to fight uphill battles (eg: getting an acceptable amount of community participation).

So... why do you want to keep this forum open? How do you actually feel about being an admin at this point in your life? Is the cost (your time, energy, frustration) worth it for potentially zero return on investment?

[Trab]

Any activity is good activity. If there are at least 2 members along with you active, then be a bit happy. At the end of the day however, it is up to you to decide what you want to do to the board.

As most of the posts are coming in the gaming forum, maybe try to focus on that part, and try to put the more inactive bits to one side.

Another thing that can determine the board future is the amount of time and their willingness to do so. If you do want to keep trying to reach your target of a active forum with lots of members, then keep doing what you do. Try putting out more adverts for your site (not too many though because of spam.) If you know anyone who likes guinea pigs, then try to convince them to join the forum.

But if you don't want to keep trying to get new members, and you've lost nearly all motivation to continue, then I think it's time to gived up and throw in the towel. However, giving up on getting new members does not mean that you can close the board. You have a few members who are on your board, and they might be sad if you do shut the forum down again. If you want, you can give one of the forum members admin rights, to work on the board along with you.

If you want to go on, then that's great! But it is your decision on what to do next.

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

I'm going to agree with Kami on this one. It's something you can only decide for yourself, and if you're not enjoying it, that's something to consider. I would personally only reopen a forum if it's something I enjoyed, and really wanted to do - which is the reason why I have done so several times in the past with multiple forums.

No one can make that decision for you.

[sef1268]

All good points. I should add that the request to re-open the forum came at a time when I was dealing with a particularly difficult pet loss. When this person mentioned resurrecting my board, I thought about it as a way to throw myself into something fun/creative to help take my mind off the loss---which it did.

I did enjoy getting it set up again, tinkering with coding and plug-ins, thinking of fun things for the members to do. I even had a virtual Christmas bazaar that I really enjoyed setting up. So, on the one hand it has been a much-needed diversion and creative outlet.

On the other hand, I guess what has me feeling most deflated is the fact that so many people said they would like to either re-join or sign up as a new member but they haven't. We had our first scheduled Chat Nite last weekend (something that was very popular and well-attended in the past) and only 1 other member besides myself showed up for it, despite several people saying they would participate.

I don't know. Maybe I just set my expectations too high.

[Kami]

Dec 30, 2020 19:35:14 GMT -8 sef1268 said:

All good points. I should add that the request to re-open the forum came at a time when I was dealing with a particularly difficult pet loss. When this person mentioned resurrecting my board, I thought about it as a way to throw myself into something fun/creative to help take my mind off the loss---which it did.

I did enjoy getting it set up again, tinkering with coding and plug-ins, thinking of fun things for the members to do. I even had a virtual Christmas bazaar that I really enjoyed setting up. So, on the one hand it has been a much-needed diversion and creative outlet.

On the other hand, I guess what has me feeling most deflated is the fact that so many people said they would like to either re-join or sign up as a new member but they haven't. We had our first scheduled Chat Nite last weekend (something that was very popular and well-attended in the past) and only 1 other member besides myself showed up for it, despite several people saying they would participate.

I don't know. Maybe I just set my expectations too high.

I think one of the most difficult things about REopening a forum (versus opening a forum for the first time) is expecting a comparable amount of engagement as what you had before. The unfortunate truth is that — especially this year — people have had shifted priorities. Forums have a tough competition in social media and chat communities, and growing a forum is a lot harder than it was 5+ years ago because so much of our socialisation has moved online. It's no longer difficult to find communities for almost literally any topic, so new or reopening communities all have an uphill battle in vying for netizens' attention and time. Add that to personal lives, everyone being older than they were before and now having different priorities, and this absolute clownparty of a year and that leads to a lot of broken promises... especially, I think, as many people struggle with a holiday season of isolation and potentially personal loss or illness.

If this forum was a way to provide an outlet for your loss and it has accomplished that, that's wonderful! Pet loss is one of the hardest things to go through imo, and anything that was able to help you heal and move forward is worth its weight in gold.

But the truth of the matter is that being a forum / community admin will be an uphill battle -- not for a month or two, but many months and potentially years. Does that sound like something you're willing to do? And remember, it's okay if it doesn't. The forum got you through a difficult time and that was wonderful! But if it's served it's purpose and the struggles of admining aren't something that you're ready to experience indefinitely, it may be better to appreciate the forum for what it brought and invest time in a different project that will bring more consistent gratification.

Or, if you do love your forum topic, you could work on adjusting expectations and crafting a plan on what you want to try and how long before you decide the return on investment is no longer at acceptable levels. A good plan for how to advertise, create engagement opportunities, etc over the next few months / years can do a lot to rejuvenate your drive and willingness to tough out the rough spots.

It's totally up to you though; the only advice we can really give is to trust your gut.

As an aside: if you're looking for permission to let go because of the emotional tie you have to this forum as a outlet for your grief: it's okay to let go. You won't be doing your furry friend a disservice by doing so.

[sef1268]

Kami, what you stated above is so perfect. I appreciated everyone else's input, too (particularly the comment, "any activity is good activity"), but your words about an outlet for grief made me realize why I might be holding onto it so tightly---and that it's okay if/when I need to let it go. Thank you for posting that.

I also agree that so much in the world has changed since the site was first created. It was probably naive of me to think that I could just dust it off, swing open the doors, and things would essentially go back to the way they were. Even without a global pandemic disrupting every aspect of our lives, there are just so many other things out there vying for everyone's time and attention and, as you said, so many other online communities now to choose from.

With all of this feedback in mind, I think I just need to do a little more soul-searching and decide what is reasonable in terms of my expectations and timeframe. My hunch is that I'll opt to stick it out for a little while longer.

Thank you once again. This discussion has been an enormous help.

[Kami]

I'm glad my words were able to help (: I lost a furry friend myself in 2016 and was only last year able to finally move past it. The grief is still raw in some cases, and it's been a rough journey to closure. I understand what you're going through, and I know how grief can eat you up if you let it.

I'm glad you're going to re-assess, and I wish you all the best both in your forum ventures as well as your road to peace.

[jimle]

give it time.im on my 2nd forum. I transferred most of the info from the 1st to the 2nd.then put the 1st one in maintance mode. The 2nd one is finally active. And slowly becoming more active.all of that due to patients.so the bottom line is this.be patient with it.and it'll become more active.and if your members like the forum well enough.they'll let others know about it.

[Former Member]

That's a really nice site for guinea pig enthusiasts. However, how many people are out there who only want to post about their guinea pigs?

My suggestion would be to expand it a little, and add other little furry creatures to it: hamsters, white mice (I used to own a couple as a kid), rabbits, maybe, and gerbils. That way you might attract members who also own little furry pets, but just not a guinea pig.

[sef1268]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually had a section "for other critters" originally and included it when I re-opened the forum in November, but it's currently hidden because everyone I had invited to join or re-join the board is pretty much a guinea pig person and none seemed interested in that section.

It's just discouraging. I had two new people register last week after emailing me to say they had done so, but neither one has posted anything or even returned. Same with several others prior to that: seemed interested, registered, then...nothing since. A couple of those were "friends of a friend" and I asked my buddy to remind them about the forum and tell them that we were having a scheduled Chat Nite last Saturday (had been very popular in the past), but they didn't bother to respond--nor did two of the three people that I reached out to, and the event was pretty much a bust.

Two other members who were fairly active a few weeks ago have totally disappeared. Another member seems to pop on occasionally to look around but doesn't post. I have contacted her to ask if there's anything she would like for me to do/add that would appeal to her, but she hasn't really given me any feedback other than she is uncomfortable with sharing personal information with strangers and prefers the security of FB.

We're essentially down to me and two other members, both of whom enjoy the board and have said they'd hate for me to close it, but how long before they get bored with just the three of us rattling around in an empty forum together?

I was considering a last ditch effort of a give-away of some sort, but it feels kinda desperate; especially if I have to send an email out to those who haven't stopped by in weeks. On the other hand, if only the two active members enter the contest, will the 'loser' of the two feel bad?

The forum has been therapeutic for me, and I'm not really sorry that I decided to take a stab at resurrecting it because it helped me through a very difficult time. I do wish people had been more honest with me from the beginning, though, and told me that they were either too busy or not interested, because I got the impression that I would have 8 or 10 people on there to start with, all engaged and contributing---and ideally, inviting their friends. But I just think Kami is right that there are too many other things competing for everyone's time and attention, especially right now. 


Thanks again. 

[Former Member]

Jan 8, 2021 12:45:10 GMT -8 sef1268 said:

Thanks for the feedback. I actually had a section "for other critters" originally and included it when I re-opened the forum in November, but it's currently hidden because everyone I had invited to join or re-join the board is pretty much a guinea pig person and none seemed interested in that section.

Thanks again. 

If I were you, I would open up that section for other critters. Like me, others wouldn't know that part exists, and it doesn't hurt you if guests can see that section, and might even bring in new members.

As for people coming on and promising to post, and then don't post or disappear altogether: well, that happens on all forums, mine included. There were even people who joined and never once posted. Don't ask me why they didn't post. No idea. I think I have a pretty good selection of topics, but have no idea why nobody joins/posts/whatever. So don't be sad. You aren't the only admin suffering from an inactive forum. Many of us are.

[sarko]

Sometimes one just has to use the forum as a sounding board for why in the first place did you create a forum...answer for you!

[speaks]

I would only make someone a mod that I know personally and trust.