General Why do some forums fall off once a new owner takes over?

[cpvr]

So over the years, I’ve seen a lot of forums change owners and most of them fall off.

What do you think are the main reasons that cause a forum to fall off when a new owner takes over?

I’ll Be a bit spicy here and say,
some new owners just leave a forum sitting there after buying it, but what’s the point?

For example: Admintalk & Theadminzone

 

[Kyng]

There are a variety of reasons.

• Sometimes, the new owner, for all their good intentions, doesn't understand the community, and stops doing the things that made it work in the first place;
• Sometimes the new owner has no attachment to the community, and therefore isn't willing to put in the work necessary to make it succeed;
• Alternatively, sometimes the community has no attachment to the new owner. If the members' attachment to the old owner was the main thing holding the community together, then once they're gone there's no reason for the rest of the members to stick around.

Just speaking from personal experience: one thing that often causes me to leave forums is when the owner sells them to someone I have no attachment to. I usually join (and stay on) forums out of goodwill to the owner - and I deeply resent the idea that my goodwill is for sale.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I feel that the new owner just doesn't have the same passion or direction that the previous owner once had. I think also that people think once they own a large established forum that they don't have to put as much work into it, so it slowly dies out. Or perhaps the members don't like the new owner.

 

[Dismal_Bliss]

And don't forget that a lot of people are in a community as followers of the owner, having established a relationship with him or her. If the previous owner stops participating, then others sometimes follow suit.

 

[Cory]

Also, a lot of people who buy out forums are trying to monetize it to gain more money, so they don't always care about the community and take it to heart as the previous owner may have.

 

[joelr]

Admintalk & Theadminzone

Very sad to see what happened to both of those sites.

 

[Heatman]

Very sad to see what happened to both of those sites.

It's even frustrating for user whenever that happens. I can when Fortnitechatter crashed when it was sold to a new owner. I really enjoyed that forum.

 

[Darth Cognus]

Also, a lot of people who buy out forums are trying to monetize it to gain more money, so they don't always care about the community and take it to heart as the previous owner may have.

This is the quickest route to death in the cases I've seen. Buyer sees dollar signs, buyer ramps up monetization, community gets less goods and more crap. Community finds something better to do.

Otherwise limited understanding of what they've got, low capability to follow through and develop the place, and well intended but totally tone deaf changes that mangle what the place was trying to do in the first place tend to be leading troubles with new ownership.

A more niche one is when a site's run by a technically savvy but absent owner, and candidates are well-meaning community members but lack that background to host it effectively. That's a risk/situation I'm somewhat more familiar with. But there comes a point when not changing the guard is the cause of fall off. It all depends on the case.

 

[Nomad]

Maybe their priority change and they are no longer interested in running the forum.

 

[cpvr]

Very sad to see what happened to both of those sites.

I agree. I learned a lot over the years from TAZ and I was shocked when it was sold. Admin talk was owned by a friend of mine and it went downhill pretty fast smh.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I agree. I learned a lot over the years from TAZ and I was shocked when it was sold. Admin talk was owned by a friend of mine and it went downhill pretty fast smh.

I never joined Admin Talk but I was just lurking the forums. It's a shame that it was bought and the current owner just disappeared. Looks like there were lots of great conversations going on over there at some point.

 

[tinieblax]

Yes they do, specially specific ones, we had a few on the warez scene.

Same in the blackhat webmasters forums, all went down the toilet.

 

[MrDawn]

Sometimes the new owner makes too many changes, is bad about communication, and doesn't bother listening to the original members. They don't realize that while they do own the forum and it's add on's, they don't own the members themselves. Accounts become useless once people quit logging into them.

 

[Tracy]

Very sad to see what happened to both of those sites.

I saw where the latter was going. It seems like my "flounce" as certain ones over there called it was just the precursor to a lot of others leaving after apparently seeing issues.
Lesson to be learned by buyers of websites... if a site works as it is, odds are your "bright shiny new ideas" aren't going to make it work better. Businesses learned a long time ago you don't fix what isn't broken.
One warning I have to any admin related site (or really ANY niche related site). When you start the smoochy smoochy of the posteriors of "big names" in the niche you are in, you are probably going to start having issues. Most people come to sites like this to get unvarnished information, good or bad. Trying to squelch the bad because you are afraid of offending some "names" in that niche never ends well.