I've just left multiple forums behind, but I have shut down one of my forums. I made it so nobody would use it, and then not log on and then it would expire due to activity, which actually should happen any day now.
Yeah shut down a forum I opened in april after a few weeks because of events that left me away from the internet for two weeks or so and then had some more important things to do so said screw it.
I shut down my forum and it was because it wasn't very active and it was too time consuming and the members that did stay understood and everyone has moved on and I'm happy I closed it; I had a good time and it was good experience even though it didn't get as big as most forums.
I am in the situation to decide that.
My forums were okay not overly active but no overly inactive either. I was happy. Different circumstances, including a forced hiatus that lasted most driven the activity away. I was not completely off Internet. I had an hour to rent, but I used that time mostly in personal stuff (like applying for jobs) so I had very little for my forums. I tried set up contests and change theme, come up with skins. Fixing the portal pages. Creating a new splash page, etc...
Now I am back online still doing small changes getting ready to advertise... I have been talked about letting it die and move on. It is very very hard for me to let go of it.
I don't have the confidence and I don't feel the support I once felt by different members to keep it running. I am the only one who wants to try one more time... I feel against the tide and it is depressing.
Roczuz started on proboards and we moved successfully to Forumotion. I can't kill the forums with a move because it is practically dead. there are times you should let go of things even if it is painful. I still cannot accept it and I wish I had someone to trust and with time that shared my vision enough to run it with me, but when you know your two friends visit out of pity well... you pretty much know you have failed.
yesterday I accepted to kill my boards only because the friend that convinced me that is futile to try, offered team up our likes and energy with another project. It only lasted a few hours of planning, got even a name for it ready and planned some of that... but he back-pedalled now. Now the sting about shutting down Roczuz is still there. I don't know what I will do.
hahah, it had enough. XD
Nah, it is actually sad when they vanish like that, i suppose it was a self hosted software or something.
I just got an account suspended where I tested myBB, due inactivity on my part on the cpanel, so that is gone. Not that it bothers me. The place was slow to load, but then again free hosting is not really going to be five stars. The forum was test purposes so nothing was really lost.
I usually run my forums ideas out for a year. If some of them don't seem to catch on, I close or sell out usually. So far I haven't had that problem in a long time 🙂