What does it take to make you give up?

[Shortie]

We all have that point where we know that it may just be time to give up, it may take a while but there will always be a time it may happen.

What do you feel yourself does it take for you to sit and think to yourself "Right, I'm done it's time to give up" when it comes to forums, blogs or websites? Is it lack of activity, lack of time or just that your idea is not working?

 

[ormaybeso]

It's a combination of the two. But usually it's because I just don't see it going anywhere. For example, I've spent the better part of two days on projects that I saw weren't going anywhere, usually because I don't have the experience or tools needed to finish it off. Then I'll either delete it if I see no potential, or archive it in case I find the time/get the talent later on.

 

[TobiWallis]

Interesting question. When I was in my twenties and thirties I think I persevered more. Now I'm older I'm less inclined to do so and more likely to give up quite quickly on things that aren't working out for me and move on to something new and fresh.

 

[Fermin420]

There have been many times in the past 2 years I have given up on the whole "making a living out of websites" idea. Now I realize what made me frustrate and give up was not having the time to do it as I would like to. When I set myself a goal I go crazy for a little bit, I pretty much try to achieve it the same week, its hard to sleep, eat or even take a shower, I know its dumb but I've been working on it. Now im back on the idea of creating a cool profitable site, but this time ill take it easy lol.

 

[Deka]

I think it could be a combination of multiple factors before I give up. Here they are:

• I have been working on the site for over a year and it's still not reaping any profit or traffic at least.
• I don't see any person commenting on at least one article for the same amount of year.
• I have dedicated a lot of time and effort in my articles and they aren't driving enough attention.
• I have done all I can to promote my site but it still won't get enough response.

If all these factors happen to me, I think it would be best to just move on and let go of the side. If you're aiming to drive an income from that site, then you'd also look at all these factors and say, "I give up." Chances are, there's probably a better niche for you to go into rather than wasting your time on a site that isn't proving to be lucrative.

 

[fcuco]

The only reason that should make you give up is economical: run your numbers and establish some benchmarks. Almost no business or enterprise is profitable from day 1, and you should not focus on actual concrete numbers but on trends. This is very important because your current audience size is not important, it is how your audience is growing (or shrinking!) If your numbers are low but they are growing slowly but surely, you should not give up just yet, simply create a projection and see if you accomplish those goals, then try to calculate how long it is going to take to break even with your current growth. Can you afford to spend a year before you see profit?, if the answer is yes and your current growth tells you that you should start breaking even after this period of time, the answer is a no brainier. Naturally, get ready to re evaluate your times often because your growth could stagnate.

 

[wallcat]

I created a recipe sharing website for bakers, but gave up when I realized my idea just wasn't working. I'd done research at the time and hadn't come across many similar sites. The people I mentioned it to thought it was a really cool idea. However, most avid bakers prefer to put their best recipes on their blogs instead. I just couldn't get any active users to come on board. I'm not the type to give up quickly, but the final deciding factor was that I myself no longer felt any passion for the project. I had moved onto other projects and this one was starting to feel like a burden taking up too much time for too little pay-off. Sometimes deciding to quit can open up other doors as it frees you up, so not always a bad thing. I got a lot of web development practice from this project at least.

 

[pwarbi]

When it comes to giving up, I'm quite stubborn to be honest and I'll only give up if I know for a fact it's a lost cause.

With a forum, especially if it's still got active members on there, then deciding to give up is a hard decision to make, as that forum is a community. Taking away that forum is taking away peoples voice so to speak, so even if your not making money or its not as active as you want it to be, you're going to risk upsetting some people, and that could affect your other projects in the future.

 

[PenguinManiac]

I'm ashamed to admit that I'm actually kind of quick to jump the gun when giving up on something is concerned. The causes are mostly personal, like not having enough time or having to deal with something more troublesome: I'd hate to see the quality drop because of my limitations, I'd rather shut a website/forum down before it happens.
However, with enough time, will and enthusiasm, it's hard to take me down. Even with just a few active members/viewers, I'll still go on, because it means that someone cares, and they deserve to get more content.

 

[softonic]

Well, I would never give up from my forum. I really enjoy administrating. But if I see that members are inactive, don't post, insult each other all the time, I would give up. Like Penguinmaniac said "it's hard to take me down"... Also, if I create a forum in English language, the language barrier would make me give up.