Do you ever feel like giving up?

Chel

Chel

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Do you ever feel like giving up on a website?

I often feel like giving up on my forum because it seems I'm talking to myself half the time. No matter how much I advertise or what effort I put into it nothing is good enough.
 
ALL THE TIME! And it is completely normal.

I have had my fair share of disappointments with forum communities in the past but sometimes they also work out. I can't tell you how many hours and days Ash and I spent working on this site, populating it up with minor content before we even started "advertising". Basically, the first 1000 posts was done all hush-hush, and after that is when we started shouting it's name from the rooftops.

If you are passionate about running a forum, keep at it. If you are in it for something other than the community and it is more of a popularity contest, then it may be a little different and disappointing unfortunately.

Even here at DH, the activity comes and goes in waves. Just a few days ago we almost hit 150 posts in 1 day and I was over the moon. Then yesterday it was 50 posts, which is still good but I preferred the 150 of course :).

Keep at it though, anything could change!
 
Running a forum is not easy nowadays unfortunately @Chel. There will be times where you just want to give up and it's important that you don't rush any decisions. If you are passionate about your project, then keep at it, work on certain aspects and you may see a lot of improvement.

Like @Hungry Ego mentioned, sometimes it's not easy for us either. We had 2 excellent days where we were getting a large number of posts and the last 2 days have been a bit slow.

If you want, I can provide some feedback and tips for your forum in particular. I can PM them to you or post them here if you are interested :)
 
Ash said:
Running a forum is not easy nowadays unfortunately @Chel. There will be times where you just want to give up and it's important that you don't rush any decisions. If you are passionate about your project, then keep at it, work on certain aspects and you may see a lot of improvement.

Like @Hungry Ego mentioned, sometimes it's not easy for us either. We had 2 excellent days where we were getting a large number of posts and the last 2 days have been a bit slow.

If you want, I can provide some feedback and tips for your forum in particular. I can PM them to you or post them here if you are interested :)
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You can pm me if you like.
 
So many times, I wanted to give up.
You need to post a lot to boost the activity and you need to make sure the site got the best resources available. Otherwise people would just leave for a better website.
Even after doing all this, users always expect something more. Still, I can't bring myself to give up on it completely and I have decided to run it as long as I live. It's just more than a mere entertainment place to me and I don't want to lose it. It's just that simple.
 
I think every owner or webmaster feels the same. One time I felt so bad that I almost gave up on myself and with allot of IRL issues I had, it just made life and the site became worse. But I try'ed to be strong and the site is running, even today.

What's hard at times, finding the help and the support you need, and if you don't have that, It's hard. If you feeling that way inclined but you have active staff and members, that can be a good thing, otherwise, you don't then it's not easy.

Nowadays it's not as simple as getting host, forum software than build it, and then not to grow. Allot of sites just don't last long, they became inactive or the funds aren't there or they just leave it and the host expires. 10 years ago or more it was a different story LOL
 
I came close with my current project. I asked on TAZ what they thought I should do and they suggested a new look since my old one was kind of generic and some more content. Now I have a new theme, am hiring writers and I'm very excited.
 
Abizaga said:
I came close with my current project. I asked on TAZ what they thought I should do and they suggested a new look since my old one was kind of generic and some more content. Now I have a new theme, am hiring writers and I'm very excited.
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Sometimes a change of pace is all that is takes! Kudos to you for mixing it up and continuing on with the project :)
 
I can't even tell you the number of times that I have harbored very similar thoughts nor the number of times that I have given up, thrown in the towel and said I don't know what I'm doing wrong that these other communities are doing right and succeeding. I've learned that you have to pick something you're passionate about, something that you enjoy doing, something that you can wake up everyday excited to do more of or discuss more of. That's what I'm doing now and while things have been slow getting off the ground, I'm hopeful for the best because it's something that I enjoy and know I can continue to stick with.
 
Hungry Ego said:
Sometimes a change of pace is all that is takes! Kudos to you for mixing it up and continuing on with the project :)
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Thanks. I'll tell you what though those days when I felt that way were... really rough.
 
I’m glad you’re past those tough days @Abizaga
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Loving the support and positive vibes in this thread everyone! What a wonderful community we have here :).
 
Hungry Ego said:
Loving the support and positive vibes in this thread everyone! What a wonderful community we have here :).
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Indeed, it's always nice when thoughtful criticism can be exchanged without resorting to name-calling or browbeating. Can I just comment on how much I hate social media? I hate what it's done to social interactions, how people do anything to get 'likes' and how it has cannibalized message board communities of their activity.
 
Hungry Ego said:
populating it up with minor content before we even started "advertising"
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What do you mean by this? Did you do onpage SEO or just preparing plans or content? Did you ever made a second account and do conversation with your self to increase activity?

Now my answer on topic. Unfortunately I give up many times from my projects. Often I don't have will continue script after developing project or I expect see results fast. I don't have support from my brother and online people can be very critic so I lost motivation. Advertsing is one of my biggest problems since I don't know what to do and I don't like invest money when I am not sure will it come back.
 
Literally everyday. Currently I am trying to get my WebHost Company (RawHost) up and running... A full-time job + looking to purchase a house has kind of gotten in the way of things... Also it has been impacting my activity on this forum. Trying to do everything so young is tuff lol.
 
reptile6 said:
What do you mean by this? Did you do onpage SEO or just preparing plans or content? Did you ever made a second account and do conversation with your self to increase activity?
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We lay down the "basic" threads that every community has to start off, and started posting engaging threads/topics each day. My personal goal was to create 3-5 NEW threads each day that prompted more than a 5-word answer from the community. From there, it sparked deeper conversations and eventually our community members began sharing their own threads (which was great!).

We did not create second accounts, however we are actively involved with post exchanges and forum promotion services. Getting start-up content and traffic is difficult so we took all of the help we can get. We are fortunate that 95% of our members are webmasters and community staff on their own sites so they understand all to well how difficult getting a new community off the ground can be. We've had out ups, and we've also had our fair share of downs too. Just the other day we had 248 posts made in one day which was FANTASTIC to see, and then it dropped down to 57 yesterday which is still GREAT, but definitely not 248 posts :p. Nevertheless, we keep going and as long as people keep coming and logging into the site, we are considering it a win.
 
reptile6 said:
What do you mean by this? Did you do onpage SEO or just preparing plans or content? Did you ever made a second account and do conversation with your self to increase activity?
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Technically he wouldn't have to since Ash was here with him as well as a few starter members. I know what he's referring to. You need content, preferably conversation stimulating content that encourages guests to join and doesn't make your community seem so dead. Which is unfortunate because it can also turn away potential members if you're the only one making threads and replying.
 
Yeah, there have been plenty of times over the years, where I just wanted to kick the bucket on some of my forums. Few times I had to, due to things happening in my life.

Though there are a couple forums I have now, that I know I can potentially get the members and activity (as it is connected to something already established, and the forum is one of a kind for that item), but it still is a tad bit difficult.
 
It's rough, the communities aren't as full of members willing to migrate or join several communities at the same time. Most people keep their plates full with one or two, maybe three tops and they're too busy in life to expend much energy on more than that. I keep hoping people will come back to message boards now that COVID has encouraged people to stay indoors.
 
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