General What is the most stressful thing about running a community?

[Cedric]

Running an online community can be incredibly rewarding, but it's no secret that it comes with its fair share of stressors. Today, let's dive into the heart of the matter and discuss what we believe is the most stressful thing about running a community.

Is it the never-ending battle against spam and trolls that keeps you up at night? Or perhaps it's the constant need to strike a balance between maintaining order and allowing free expression within your community? Maybe it's the pressure of keeping your community engaged and growing, while also ensuring that it remains a safe and inclusive space for all members.

Let's share our experiences, anecdotes, and strategies for dealing with these stressors. Do you have a particularly challenging story that left you frazzled? How did you handle it, and what did you learn from the experience? Are there any tools or techniques that have helped you manage the stress better?

Looking forward to hearing from all of you.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I find the most stressful thing about owning a community is getting activity and keeping that activity as well as coming up with something fresh and exciting to help bring back those members who joined and haven't logged into their accounts in a long time. Also dealing with errors when they arise, but most of the time it's minimal that you'll run into issues unless you moved hosts, changed software, installed a plugin, or have been working on a theme. Though sometimes email issues arise too.

 

[Empire]

Keeping people in your communty, it's hard enought to biuld up not alone keeping it built long enought.

 

[Cory]

I get a little stressed when people have coding issues or request a code and I'm clueless about how to attend to their issue/request. Just because I've been coding for over a decade doesn't mean I'm a wizard, far from it. I tend to stare at some coding for hours trying to figure stuff out and sometimes, I succeed, and other times I have to throw in the towel.

Of course, keeping people interested in the contents of your board and coming back is always a challenge. You have to be consistent in keeping up with fresh content and additions to keep a lot of people interested.

 

[Kale]

I'd have to say..

- Dealing with drama between staff, drama that may pop up within the community, etc
- Members who cannot behave and just be civilized people
- Keeping members around your own forum or even Discord communuity/server. I have no issues keeping in my server, but them being active is another thing.