When a forum owner loses interest in the forum

[Beverly]

I'm really worried about my own forum. When I first started my general chat forum, I felt so excited about it and spent up to ten hours a day working on it, for the first few weeks. I loved the buzz and energy on the forum daily. I felt so accomplished and it seemed as if we were building to something great. And, then around three months in, I had to go back to work full time and had less time to spend on the forum. Around Decemeber of that first year, there was a big blow out with several very good members and since then, I have not felt very emotionally involved in the forum, sometimes even completely detached. We are still getting forum posts daily, so it's not like the forum is dead. I just don't feel emotionally invested into it anymore. I wish there were a way to revamp the forum to make it more reflective of the things I'm into now, maybe even promote those ventures via the forum. But considering it is now general chat, I don't see how I can do that.

I want to feel excited about being a forum owner again. I miss that feeling. Please suggest ways that I might re-energize myself so that I can go on being a forum owner. Or, at this point, is it just necessary to shut down the forum and start over, maybe going niche this time? And, if I take that option, could I transfer my forum posts and merge into a new forum?

 

[Ashley]

I'm kind of feeling the same way at this time. My options are to either close my forum down or sell up for FP Cash and stay on as a regular member. Only my situation's a bit different. I've been battling health issues, I no longer have my own computer, so my time has become greatly limited. I just no longer have interest in my site anymore. Also, my forum is practically dead in the first place, so that's really caused me to lose interest.

 

[fords8]

I will buy your forums. Just PM me with the domain so I can look at them. And a price you have in mind.

It is hard to stay interested in it. A general is really hard. But you just have to keep going.

 

[Ashley]

I will buy your forums. Just PM me with the domain so I can look at them. And a price you have in mind.

It is hard to stay interested in it. A general is really hard. But you just have to keep going.

Well, I'm still in the debating stage at the moment with what to do with the site. I won't be selling for real money if I do decide to sell up because I don't have PayPal or anything like that, so it'll only be for FP Cash, but I'll definitely let you guys know what I decide once I get opinions in the brainstorming section.

 

[GSquadron]

@beverly
This is maybe the most difficult moment of your forums. I felt that way too, got so bored and left it deserted for like a year. Actually I didn't like the forums on the first place after my first week. Then I changed the theme, tried to add new functionalities and left it like that again. After a year I found out about forum exchanges and I personally would have worked on that 24 hours a day if I had the time.
So what did I do? Studied programming! Until I completed my first CMS, put it online, then nothing changed. Added more functionalities, tutorials, still not a big change.
Someone else came to help me! It started to change very little.
What made me have fun with the desert place? Programming.
If you don't know how to modify your forum with programming, it will suck like hell. You will get stuck and no programmer will ever want to help you! So I have been studying programming every day as a full time hobby and got the benefit of it. I even made some nice money without even asking!
Programming made me feel hope and enjoy every single post on my forums. I added competitions and stuff like that.
The moral of the story is: (Not just for you, but people in general)
1) If you though you were going to make money or attract people, you were PERFECTLY wrong.
2) Rome wasn't built in a single day.
3) Guys like me will probably laugh at your post, don't let your guard down.
4) The first year is going to be the most difficult task you might have had in your whole life. You won't get any members, unless they have interest.
5) Try to e-mail people about something fun in your forums and just look at the result. Personal e-mails work super great. 20% of them (from my experience) are going to come and register.
6) If you don't know programming, it will suck. I would have closed it if it wasn't for programming.
7) I personally don't want to see any forums in my life if I was rich. Since your forum is already working, then you should start a new forum to feel the same. It is like having the same GF for years. Unless you tweak with programming your forum, it will feel the same thing again and it will be very difficult to go back again.
8) General chat is not a great thing. You should try to add an area about your personal interest. I personally love programming, so I added areas like that. Other people who enjoy programming joined too and started sharing each other ideas.
9) Add leaders who give out ideas. My leader gives out 1 idea on every second! (moderator leaders or blog leaders who give you some hope, stuff like that)
10) Plan. Plan something great and work on it. It will give you desire to go to your forums.

 

[fords8]

MARIE1988

You talking about the MARIE1988 forum you have?

Just PM me and we will work something out.

Like to have 3 to 5 people interested in general forums put on the team at ConFab-It. I have mods now and they do a great job. But having a few more active mods isn't going to hurt.

 

[similar999]

maybe that's because you are not really passionate about the topic?
Or you haven't monetized the forum, turn that into cash. You will need to do it.. I don't know how you will do it but that will give you a boost to love and grow your forum. YOu can invest the cash into promotion that will drive more traffic to you.

 

[Ashley]

MARIE1988

You talking about the MARIE1988 forum you have?

Just PM me and we will work something out.

Like to have 3 to 5 people interested in general forums put on the team at ConFab-It. I have mods now and they do a great job. But having a few more active mods isn't going to hurt.

I already closed the site, otherwise I would.

 

[Pebbles]

i find it very
VERY
unprofessional of forum owners
if they definitely , know for sure ,they lost interests in their own forum.... yet they keep it up
and just let all the mods take care of everything.... and be like; i dont give a F anymore

i mean, common
at least be reasonable then and give away the ownership to the most trustworthy mod you have around
so someone else can take it over.... the right way

don't let mods and the members suffer because you lost interest and do not care to actually take action cause of it
thats so lame if people act that way​