Do you ever feel disconnected from your forum community?

[Beverly]

With one of the forums that I owned, I would sometimes get this strange, emotionally disconnected feeling from the community. This would usually happen after some big on forum drama, trolling event, etc. For instance, there was one situation of stalking and member harassment that happened on one of my forums that made me feel disconnected emotionally even a long time after it was over. And, it was very hard to rebuild from that point.

I would show up every day and see the other members there, acting the same as always but not really feel connected or emotionally involved anymore.

It felt as if everything I had worked for there meant nothing. And, that feeling was devastating to me as I had invested so much of my life into that particular forum.

Maybe it was some type of mild depression or burn out, just like a feeling of being overwhelmed by the situation. The feeling passed after awhile.

I am not sure if anyone else went through this.

 

[Forces of Steel]

I often feel like most of my friends are already on my forum. That's just me, though. Perhaps someone else won't think the same way. Try being more open to discussion, which is vital for keeping activity fresh.

 

[Joshua Farrell]

I have felt that way many a time. Usually I have to give myself a pep talk, in order to get out of that type of rutt.

 

[jank858]

I have felt disconnected a couple of times, but I try to snap out of it and continue to work.

 

[Cosmic]

This happened a couple times with a large forum I used to be a moderator of. The forum was so big that this could happen pretty easily, and there were enough moderators (literally 100+) that we had our own little community going.

 

[David S]

I never feel disconnected I feel I am always a part of it, regardless if I am active or not.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

With one of the forums that I owned, I would sometimes get this strange, emotionally disconnected feeling from the community. This would usually happen after some big on forum drama, trolling event, etc. For instance, there was one situation of stalking and member harassment that happened on one of my forums that made me feel disconnected emotionally even a long time after it was over. And, it was very hard to rebuild from that point.

I would show up every day and see the other members there, acting the same as always but not really feel connected or emotionally involved anymore.

It felt as if everything I had worked for there meant nothing. And, that feeling was devastating to me as I had invested so much of my life into that particular forum.

Maybe it was some type of mild depression or burn out, just like a feeling of being overwhelmed by the situation. The feeling passed after awhile.

I am not sure if anyone else went through this.

It sounds to me like you need a good escape plan to go after here and there. When a forum has stressed me out or made me overwhelmed, I usually go do another hobby or passion. Exercise really helps, too! I'm into cycling... I will jump on the bike for 20+ miles and all my stress and anger will be gone afterwards. But if you focus on just your one passion, and its currently giving you the fits, it will only get worse...

 

[Ashley]

I felt like that one year after we kept banning this troublesome member for posting pornography images, Pming them to the staff, etc. I got so caught up in that at one time... I didn't even feel as though MY forum was MY forum anymore at first. I felt like I spent more time banning this idiot of a member than I did participating in discussions in my own community! It was insane and I really felt guilty for a while. After a while this guy soon realized we weren't playing around and finally gave up, but it took a while for me to reconnect with the community again. I was out of the loop for so long because of this guy, it was humiliating and a bit embarrassing.

 

[Nicca]

I have felt the same way. Just don't give up with it. Goodluck!

 

[GamezForums.com]

I never felt it because I try to constantly add new topics and I feel engaged in conversations with my members.

 

[Rich Edmonds]

Quite a fair few times. Most people have the chance to feel this way, mostly boiling down to being burnt out slightly and requiring a short break. It can happen with anything really, not just forum management.

 

[Mobisco]

I felt like that one year after we kept banning this troublesome member for posting pornography images, Pming them to the staff, etc. I got so caught up in that at one time... I didn't even feel as though MY forum was MY forum anymore at first. I felt like I spent more time banning this idiot of a member than I did participating in discussions in my own community! It was insane and I really felt guilty for a while. After a while this guy soon realized we weren't playing around and finally gave up, but it took a while for me to reconnect with the community again. I was out of the loop for so long because of this guy, it was humiliating and a bit embarrassing.

It's really sad when that happens and I've seen it happen on several forums. Sometimes I wonder what possesses people to do that. If they are no longer welcome somewhere, why not just stay away? It can be very annoying. That's why I like a bozo feature (= where members see their own posts but nobody else sees them). Not all forums have it but for the ones that do have it available, it's a good tool.

 

[Izaya]

Happens to me all the time. I feel that way now about my forum. I've been feeling like that the last year or so, it feels natural. Which is sad

 

[Ashley]

I felt like that one year after we kept banning this troublesome member for posting pornography images, Pming them to the staff, etc. I got so caught up in that at one time... I didn't even feel as though MY forum was MY forum anymore at first. I felt like I spent more time banning this idiot of a member than I did participating in discussions in my own community! It was insane and I really felt guilty for a while. After a while this guy soon realized we weren't playing around and finally gave up, but it took a while for me to reconnect with the community again. I was out of the loop for so long because of this guy, it was humiliating and a bit embarrassing.

It's really sad when that happens and I've seen it happen on several forums. Sometimes I wonder what possesses people to do that. If they are no longer welcome somewhere, why not just stay away? It can be very annoying. That's why I like a bozo feature (= where members see their own posts but nobody else sees them). Not all forums have it but for the ones that do have it available, it's a good tool.

Yeah, people just don't seem to know when to call it quits. I've seen people like that on this forum too. More as an observer than a staff member. Anyway, after that fiasco finally died down, I had loads of post exchanges to catch up on (thank God they were small... 5/5 and at least two 10/10) As for this "bozo" feature, I know paid software like Xenforo has something like this, and I think VB did too, many years ago didn't they? But I don't know if phpBB has such a thing and if they do I don't know how to trigger it. Might be something to ask on the support forum, probably.