My discussion forum is dying.

[Ezra]

I have been on a very populated autism discussion for several years but it's dying because it operates so badly people have been falling away in droves. It constantly goes offline and everyone keeps getting an error message when they try to log in. Today it's been offline all day. The owner is the only admin and seems like he has lost interest in the place.

I suggested to members that they transfer over here since this is an up to date site that works. So maybe AC will start getting new members. Or old members like me becoming more active.

I am stressed because being on that site is part of my routine.

 

[Tesseract]

The site you speak of wouldn't happen to be Wrong Planet by any chance would it?

 

[Tesseract]

I thought I recognised you Ezra. I go under a different name over there (I changed my name here because I wanted a fresh start, a clean slate - hint: the name starts with an L).

 

[Ezra]

I'm afraid I will get in trouble if I say the name. Sometimes I get paranoid.

 

[Tesseract]

That's okay, never mind, it's not really important anyway. I've had various technical issues with that site, and I thinks it's because it just isn't maintained properly. Alex seems to have lost interest in it, because it hasn't changed in years. It looks like a website from the 1990's.

 

[Ezra]

I wish most of the people were here since this site functions so much better.

 

[SusanLR]

I've never been on any other Autism forum.
But, I have heard of that one a lot and most seem to feel the same about it.
So anyone interested, come on over.

I understand the change caused anxiety though.
I get a daily routine and if I must deviate from it,
it's always upsetting.
Guess I'm glad I found this forum first and didn't feel the need for another.

 

[Ezra]

It's still offline. Maybe it's finally dead. It's weird how a thriving internet community can just go poof if the owner lets it or decides to pull the plug.

 

[Progster]

I've noticed this with forums, that the owners and even moderators don't seem to participate in any of the discussions, or rarely do, I don't know why this is.

I'm a member of another forum too, which used to be active but is now more or less dead due to a lack of adequate moderation/staff presence/participation and constant bickering between a couple of members.

 

[Ezra]

Seems most once very active forums are dead or down to a trickle. They were in their hayday around 2004 to 2012 I suppose. I started in 2013 when they were starting to decline. Was always reading about the good old days that I missed.

 

[Progster]

Forums need constant attention and maintanence, and when the owner looses interest and moves on, then the forum declines.

 

[Ezra]

Looks like maybe you people ("what do you mean you people?!") are going to be stuck with me fulltime. Which isn't good because I'm a spammer and a malicious troll muhahaha. Just kidding I am a good boy. Usually.

 

[Bolletje]

I'm not locked in here with you...

You're locked in here with me!

 

[Bolletje]

But more on topic: it's a shame when forums just disappear. I was on a forum with my gaming clan for 10 years, long after my clan had stopped gaming together due to differing interests and real life. It was a nice way to keep in touch and to keep up with gaming news. But the forum activity slowly died down until I felt like I was the only one there. And then all of a sudden the site went offline.
Sometimes I still type in the URL out of habit, even though it's been gone for three years.

 

[Otenba]

Looks like maybe you people ("what do you mean you people?!") are going to be stuck with me fulltime. Which isn't good because I'm a spammer and a malicious troll muhahaha. Just kidding I am a good boy. Usually.

Thank goodness for ignore features.

If it's the forum I think it is, I've never managed to load it, let alone be a member of that forum.

 

[Tom]

Its been dying for a long time.

 

[Ezra]

Its decline has increased rapidly the last couple of months as its glitches and server error timeouts increased. It's really the people that count. You get to know people, get used to them, even ones you don't like. But the forum from a design standpoint was always crap. Here's an extensive list of all its features:
Posting
Replying
Private Messaging.

 

[Tom]

Its decline has increased rapidly the last couple of months as its glitches and server error timeouts increased. It's really the people that count. You get to know people, get used to them, even ones you don't like. But the forum from a design standpoint was always crap. Here's an extensive list of all its features:
Posting
Replying
Private Messaging.

I was a regular there for years, but the forum never had a way of addressing/fixing problems. The Admin would not allow the moderators to have any authority or control. They couldn't ban people, they couldn't delete offensive posts, and couldn't make changes and even when such was passed up to the Admin for action, he rarely if ever responded. The exodus started and then accelerated when the Admin got someone to do a site 'Upgrade' which made the site technically even worse. I left when 3-4 of the surviving moderators quit and left in a bunch. That was a few years back. If you are the same 'Ezra' as was on that site I actually remember when you first joined there.

 

[the_tortoise]

I've noticed this with forums, that the owners and even moderators don't seem to participate in any of the discussions, or rarely do, I don't know why this is.

My first guess is that they are too busy doing moderator and admin duties during their time on the site (?).

Or maybe they have a desire to remain neutral so as to be more effective facilitators, so they sort of step back and say less about themselves?

Maybe they will tell us.

 

[Mia]

I've noticed this with forums, that the owners and even moderators don't seem to participate in any of the discussions, or rarely do, I don't know why this is.

Somehow, it all becomes something that you've heard before and answered five years ago. Know when I was a mod at another forum, there were few questions that I originally answered, that were not a repeat of others.

The rest of my time spent on that particular forum was scanning questions and responses to ensure that the regulations were being abided by. Rarely saw anything that I wanted to respond to, after a certain number of years on that forum. Which has been closed for quite a while now.