Ever thought about closing your forum?

[L.G.S]

Thanks a lot all of you who offered.

My forums are now open, so here is the link:

www.ruthlessintent.com/board/

[guppy]

I'm closing my mobile phone forum in a couple of weeks  I'm actually very happy about it 

I started a few years back when an official forum terminated its service. Back then, the official forum was very active and everyone was upset. So I started an unofficial forum and it's great seeing the familiar screen names again. But I was new to forum and cms so my forum/site was very "unstable" cos' I keep changing. When I finally settled with Mambo/SMF, I had alot of members yet no forum activity. I guess most members joined for free downloads.

Since my purpose of setting up the forum was no longer meaningful, I decided to close it. But I feel very bad for those few active members. So I decided to give one last shot and I spent all my free time customising a theme, adding information and starting threads. At the end of the day, I realised I'm actually no longer interest in mobile phones, which makes maintaining the forum very taxing. So I decided to close it when the domain expires.

So the primary factor I look at is what is my purpose of having the forum. If it no longer serves the purpose than I move on 

[saw]

Very interesting topic.

I haven't seriously considered closing shop, but have come close to walking away from it all and letting the members figure it out for themselves. The amount of work you can put into these things is astonishing, and at times the payback can be so paltry. During the bad times I've held on because I knew there would be good times again. I keep on keeping on because I get something good from it, including the knowledge that I'm helping people by providing a friendly place where they can ask questions and get expert advice (not to mention while away the hours when they should be working). Karma & all that.

You can't really depend upon the spirit of generosity; however, you can always depend upon the reality of self-interest...

...Just my two cents.

What you had to say was worth rather more than that.

Fortunately there are often opportunities for one's self-interest to coincide with that of the users of one's forum.

[Miles Marshall]

I'am thinking about closing my forum.. Not to sure yet.

[Tony Reid]

I think this crosses every administrators mind at one point.

But one thing I would say is that rather than closing your forums down - why not hand them/merge over to a similar community?

[Smith6612]

I remember when my forum was dead for 6 months. I ended up closing it for that and had people e-mail me if they wished to use the forum again. One of my friends who had owned a forum, his forum had taken all of my activity because of what he had; faster hosting that was rarely down, IPB and all of that. Well, my friend started to over-moderate, restrict the members too much, often times sneaking in settings that he had before that the members demanded to be removed after he took them off, his site kept going down (sometimes for days on end) and breaking, and slowing down, and he kept moving, and he kept banning me (who kept the forum active btw). Eventually, the members there (my other friends) who had been to my forum scarcely, all sent me e-mails to open back up. I opened up and now my forum's pretty active.

[elfishtroll]

I remember when my forum was dead for 6 months. I ended up closing it for that and had people e-mail me if they wished to use the forum again. One of my friends who had owned a forum, his forum had taken all of my activity because of what he had; faster hosting that was rarely down, IPB and all of that. Well, my friend started to over-moderate, restrict the members too much, often times sneaking in settings that he had before that the members demanded to be removed after he took them off, his site kept going down (sometimes for days on end) and breaking, and slowing down, and he kept moving, and he kept banning me (who kept the forum active btw). Eventually, the members there (my other friends) who had been to my forum scarcely, all sent me e-mails to open back up. I opened up and now my forum's pretty active.

?? kept banning you?? why would ONE BANNING not be enough?? LOL

[Smith6612]

Well, the fact is, he banned me, sometimes unbanned me, then his forum broke and he moved to another free host (which annoyed the crap out of people), then I posted there for a little bit, got banned for no reason again, and that's how it goes . Also, I've never banned him, but I have taken away some of his admin priveledges such as to the ban list since he tends to abuse it sometimes (he blocked Google once ), and it seems is though when he's not an admin, he begs for it, and when he is an admin, and I degrade him, he gets angry and leaves. For example, he comes back to the forum after 4 months, says my forum is the best place ever, posts for a few days, then leaves because I tell him that Fiber Optic Internet is better than cable in the debates section and I kept fighting for it. He can't admit that cable stinks against FiOS, and even against the DSL in my area (the DSL gets better upload, same 6Meg download in some areas and on Frontier Communications than the cable, and is cheaper).

But yet, he's letting me in but he doesn't ban anyone else...

[elfishtroll]

Well, the fact is, he banned me, sometimes unbanned me, then his forum broke and he moved to another free host (which annoyed the crap out of people), then I posted there for a little bit, got banned for no reason again, and that's how it goes . Also, I've never banned him, but I have taken away some of his admin priveledges such as to the ban list since he tends to abuse it sometimes (he blocked Google once ), and it seems is though when he's not an admin, he begs for it, and when he is an admin, and I degrade him, he gets angry and leaves. For example, he comes back to the forum after 4 months, says my forum is the best place ever, posts for a few days, then leaves because I tell him that Fiber Optic Internet is better than cable in the debates section and I kept fighting for it. He can't admit that cable stinks against FiOS, and even against the DSL in my area (the DSL gets better upload, same 6Meg download in some areas and on Frontier Communications than the cable, and is cheaper).

But yet, he's letting me in but he doesn't ban anyone else...

uranus is often compared to a "black hole" in the "solar system"!

[Smith6612]

I don't get you on your above post... care to explain to me differently?

[Tony Reid]

Looks like a childish play on words of the term 'uranus' - your anus.

[Dragooon]

Nice Story, Say thanks to your Friend

[Smith6612]

Oh, I get it now.... LOL!

[elfishtroll]

Mrs Troll speaks!

First off, let me apologize for those silly childish remarks "uranus, etc." that my bad boy posted earlier!
I gave him a good talking to, and apparently, it was a thinly veiled attempt at calling you an assh*le because of what he termed your whiny, silly post detailing a useless argument about Cable vs DSL "as if anyone gives a rats ass".

Well, as a Troll and a Mother, let me say, I DO  give a "Rats Ass" and Mouse asses as well, (which is all trolls eat anyway) so I take rudeness very seriously!
Please again, take my apology - If its any consolation, I tried to wash out his mouth with soap but I couldnt find which end was which!
-regards

Mrs Troll

[Smith6612]

It's OK with me, and thanks for letting me know that. Apology accepted.