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What recourse when a forum is abandoned?

Started by xrunner, April 17, 2008, 05:25:12 PM

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xrunner

There is an SMF forum I frequent, where I have a lot of friends. It is an active forum, but here's the problem - the guy that set it up has totally abandoned it. They want to do a lot of things to the boards, get old abandoned moderator accounts fixed, stuff like that, but they do not have the power. None of them have admin rights. They have emailed the guy who owns it many, many times but to no avail. It's just sitting there in the Twilight Zone with no hope of any attention.

Is there any possible recourse or action they could take in some other way to get some attention paid to it that any of you can think of?

karlbenson

Contacting the forum admin is the only way.
If they aren't prepared to do anything to it.  Whilst it maybe frustrating and annoying, there is nothing that could be done about it.

It is their forum at the end of the day, to do with pretty much what they wish.  Maybe you guys should start your own forum instead. SMF is free, so all you'd need is a server/host which can be sought relatively inexpensively these days.

aishaweb

We had a similar situation, we said to the host, either transfer the account over to us so we can keep paying for it, or dont and you will stop being paid and we will be forced to host elsewhere, i can only see this working if the mods have a relationship with the host.

xrunner

Quote from: karlbenson on April 17, 2008, 05:43:18 PMMaybe you guys should start your own forum instead. SMF is free, so all you'd need is a server/host which can be sought relatively inexpensively these days.

Yea that's what I told them, but the thing is there is a big web site that draws users and in that web site is where all these interested people find the link to the forum.

Ah well, I guess they are screwed. I just don't understand why this guy doesn't care about his own forum or its members. Sad.

karlbenson

Maybe you could get the guy to transfer it over to someone else.
The domain and the hosting.

Maybe play on the fact that someone else will pay for the hosting, and therefore removing the financial burden from him.

atoris

yep . thats the thing i thought too , how ybout contacting some of the members so asking them if they are willing to maintain the forum with you , than ask the admin if he/she will transfer the site to you .... (ok , its not that easy , but you get the picture)

ApplianceJunk

Quote from: karlbenson on April 17, 2008, 05:43:18 PM
Maybe you guys should start your own forum instead. SMF is free, so all you'd need is a server/host which can be sought relatively inexpensively these days.

Start your own forum. It's a lot of fun. :)

Oldiesmann

It is sad to see admins abandon sites like that - I know of an online radio site in a similar boat - the guy who owns the servers is the only one who has admin access to all the shoutcast stuff, and he's all but abandoned everything, despite a lot of interest from users and even people offering to help manage things. I did manage to generate renewed interest in their forums after convincing the site admin to convert to SMF from phpBB (which consequently ended a long-running war with spambots), but we're all sitting around to see what happens when the domain expires in September.
Michael Eshom
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rsw686

Quote from: Oldiesmann on April 23, 2008, 01:40:56 AM
but we're all sitting around to see what happens when the domain expires in September.

We'll if it isn't renewed in advance you could just snatch it up real quick. ;)
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xrunner

The forum in question crashed several days ago. My forum is on the same hosting service as the abandoned forum. Several of the members of the abandoned forum knew this and asked me to ask the hosting to repair their forum. I told them I didn't think they would, since it wasn't my forum, but I would ask. Well to my surprise the hosting company responded to my request and repaired (restored) the other person's forum. I thought that was interesting that I could request a repair action for somebody elses forum!

Also, some of us are writing the owner a letter to ask him to please get involved with the community or sell it off. We know his physical address so we'll se what happens. It's running 1.08 so the porn spam is coming in like gangbusters. It need to be upgraded badly!


Lady Bug

#10
Quote from: xrunner on April 30, 2008, 09:03:30 AM
The forum in question crashed several days ago. My forum is on the same hosting service as the abandoned forum. Several of the members of the abandoned forum knew this and asked me to ask the hosting to repair their forum. I told them I didn't think they would, since it wasn't my forum, but I would ask. Well to my surprise the hosting company responded to my request and repaired (restored) the other person's forum. I thought that was interesting that I could request a repair action for somebody elses forum!

Also, some of us are writing the owner a letter to ask him to please get involved with the community or sell it off. We know his physical address so we'll se what happens. It's running 1.08 so the porn spam is coming in like gangbusters. It need to be upgraded badly!

If one letter doesn't do it, perhaps a hundred would.  Rally the forum members.  If they care so much about the site, they will do this. 

As for the moderator accounts, what is it about them that needs fixing?  Can't the mods just give up their old passwords to people who care enough about the forum to actually use them? 

xrunner

Quote from: Lady Bug on May 21, 2008, 04:38:00 AM
As for the moderator accounts, what is it about them that needs fixing?  Can't the mods just give up their old passwords to people who care enough about the forum to actually use them? 

They could but they won't.

kizer

Your basically stuck with starting your own website.
Own a Jeep? Links4Jeeps.com

aishaweb


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