General Why do people buy forums and just leave them to die? (1 Viewer)

[Cpvr]

I’ve never fully understood this, but it seems to be the norm across nearly every forum network out there. A company or person buys a community, puts no effort into fostering activity or curbing spam, and then lets it languish into a ghost town.



Why bother acquiring a forum if you have no clue how to manage or sustain a community?



And how do you just abandon it to rot in the void? I’ve come across countless forums snapped up by companies like Internet Brands or Vertical Scope, only to watch them deteriorate into nothing but spam-filled wastelands with zero moderation or care.





Don’t they realize when a forum is completely lifeless? Is it even worth keeping the lights on for a site that’s entirely inactive?


It’s baffling how these companies or people can be so utterly clueless about the very industry they operate in.

 

[Cedric]

They buy it for the traffic and content. The content attracts the traffic, but they always drive away the people who made the content in the first place. While slowly, it's only a matter of time until traffic declines and their once so valuable revenue drive, is now gone.

 

[2TonWaffle]

Add in the ad placements as many times the forum becomes inundated with ads than it was before the buy out.

 

[Cory]

Not to mention, people lack the motivation and drive to build communities these days where it's simple to create a social media page and add all of your friends and family and use that as their social hub. An online community can take consistent work and determination to keep alive. People don't always want to put in the work involved to make that dream come alive.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

If there are ads placed on the forums, that's why they get them. The content will still get served online, and the ads will still make their revenue if just a little bit at a time.

If I spent money on a forum, I'd aim to be the most active member.

 

[Arantor]

It's always either for the members to bolster an existing community or as ad-space, and it pains me how often it ends up going poorly. I can't imagine many forum owners have ever ended up with a better community off the back of an acquisition.

I think Cedric might be one of the rarer exceptions where it wasn't a total disaster for all concerned.

 

[fdk]

I unfortunately have first hand experience of this, having received an offer I couldn't refuse for a forum I used to run about 10 years ago. Inevitably, it was bought, carried on running very well for a year, maybe a little bit more, and then started on its slow but steady decline. Went from a forum getting hundreds of new registrations a week to getting a handful per month along with maybe 100 posts a month if that, and was promptly closed by the person who bought it about a year later.

The guy paid a considerable five figure sum for the site aswell, and I'd have happily purchased it back off him for a large chunk of what he paid me for it... quite why he allowed it to slide into such a decline, I don't know.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Back when I vaped (glad I eventually quit right before everyone started dying from it), I had VapingForum.com, and my community got pretty active on it.

I sold it to another person, and they converted it to a different software and kept it going for a short time, and then it completely disappeared.

I always wondered why that happened. Even now, vaping is still a thing.

 

[Cedric]

Back when I vaped (glad I eventually quit right before everyone started dying from it), I had VapingForum.com, and my community got pretty active on it.

I sold it to another person, and they converted it to a different software and kept it going for a short time, and then it completely disappeared.

I always wondered why that happened. Even now, vaping is still a thing.

You should give it another crack then.

 

[fdk]

Back when I vaped (glad I eventually quit right before everyone started dying from it), I had VapingForum.com, and my community got pretty active on it.

I sold it to another person, and they converted it to a different software and kept it going for a short time, and then it completely disappeared.

I always wondered why that happened. Even now, vaping is still a thing.

I'm a current vaper, and I'm a little worried about your assessment that I might die soon!

I could definitely get on board as a part-time contributor to a Vaping Forum, fyi... sounds interesting...