How do you feel about inactive forum owners?

[Heatman]

Have you been in a forum where the owner isn't always active? How do you feel about being active in such a community? Personally, I don't have time to commit to any forum where the owner isn't going to commit in the same way especially when there isn't any kind of incentive for me to be making contribution in the forum regularly.

How do you feel about inactive forum owners?

 

[Darth Cognus]

Oh here we go. I've been a member up to a second in command left in charge because the owner just dropped off. Maybe they return, maybe they never will.

Why would I stay? Generally because there's enough of a community and/or content and a buffered enough staff group which can still function that you don't really notice. A community has taken off when it can survive absentee ownership, even though that leads to numerous deep running problems. If lucky it has people with technical access who can prod it along, a lease on life especially if stuff like the domain does keep getting renewed and someone kicks the box when it coughs. However, and I suspect this applies to a majority of boards that pass through a place like this, the absence of the owner probably means death either sudden or gradual and at that point it's just time to move on. If there's any future depends if the owner has made the community solvent enough to persist beyond their absence.

A best case scenario is that they let go, and pass the torch to a willing successor.

Now here is a question... would you rather a community in limbo have a final answer (closure, in both senses) because the owner is gone, or would you rather it stay online and exist for whatever value its content or surviving community can come up with? This assumes the owner will not sell or transfer, but is hanging on - perhaps appearing very rarely, perhaps unable to let go despite it not necessarily being profitable and slowly, gradually, slipping away into obscurity in its niche. Add a touch of 'open a few decades' and having once been a leader, even the leader in its market.

 

[Kennysplash]

Getting a well established and exposed forum requires hard work on the part of the owner. So if he is not ready to do that then the forum will go into inactivity. And then in some situations it just cannot be helped. The owner tried his best, which is just not enough.

 

[Reverie]

Is the owner the only person with administrative power? Does the admins have their contact information in case of anything? If this is the case I do not mind as long as the community is able to grow and continue to flourish. I do not like though when the owners do come in and say they are changing all these things, while they are not even an active participant of the community.

 

[joelr]

I do not like though when the owners do come in and say they are changing all these things, while they are not even an active participant of the community.

Just curious, what makes you bring up this statement? It sounds like something you've personally experienced.

 

[AjayJunkies]

Have you been in a forum where the owner isn't always active? How do you feel about being active in such a community? Personally, I don't have time to commit to any forum where the owner isn't going to commit in the same way especially when there isn't any kind of incentive for me to be making contribution in the forum regularly.

How do you feel about inactive forum owners?

Do you think Im inactive if I dont post threads? I believe my forum members thought I was inactive because of this, even though I responded to questions quickly.

 

[Reverie]

Just curious, what makes you bring up this statement? It sounds like something you've personally experienced.

I've experienced this a time or two. The owners would disappear and would use the forum for income I suppose or maybe for attention. The admins would run the community, then the owner would either change the community or sell to a new person and then everything is up in the air.

 

[Millie]

In the earlier days, I agree the owners activity and presence is paramount to a community. However, as the board develops its the wider sense of community and members that keep the 'spirit' of a forum alive.

I definitely believe it's an owners role to shape and control that, and if they don't that spark does eventually die. But a forum is a lot more than its owner.

 

[joelr]

I've experienced this a time or two. The owners would disappear and would use the forum for income I suppose or maybe for attention. The admins would run the community, then the owner would either change the community or sell to a new person and then everything is up in the air.

I see, that's incredibly unfortunate.

The trend is that webmaster and web hosting are becoming a less valuable skill. It's become super easy to host a forum or even hosting on cloud.

But being passionate, consistent, and a great community leader is hard.

 

[Toni]

I tend to be active on quite a few forums and the ones I am active on tend to have active owners. I have been on some forums where the owner does not seem too bothered about their forum. This tends to give me the vibe that they are not serious about their forum and can be a turn-off for me.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Honestly it makes the community look bad IMO if the community is brand new. Of course if the owner is busy and states that they will be away for a bit, that's one thing since we all know life can get crazy at times. It's best for any owner to log in at least once every day or at the very least once every week. Now if it's a well established forum, I can understand the owner not being online as much since they trust their other staff to make sure things are running smoothly. I've noticed that the owner of Sonic Retro isn't online much, I'll see him on the forums here and there. Perhaps he's still active in their Discord server, but I hardly get on there. I'll see him on Facebook here and there but not too often.

 

[MrDawn]

I do not like though when the owners do come in and say they are changing all these things, while they are not even an active participant of the community.

I agree. You kind of have to go along with what your member base wants and see the flavor of the room. Unity is key.