Have you been part of an online group or forum that just died?

[Chicchicchicchiclana]

I was just looking at my neighbourhood forum this evening (not on FB) and it used to be really lively, lots of posts, sometimes quite amusing. It was started in something like 2007 so quite early in the timeline of these things.

Sadly now I think it's about to go to that great Forum in the sky. I can't put my finger on why it has become so deathly dull. Combination of some people posting too much (so it makes you roll your eyes that old so and so is dominating every thread), and I guess WhatsApp and FB groups for those who prefer them. Also a marked lack of interest from the Admin, who I think is a one man band, to doing anything other than the bare minimum with the Forum.

I remember Friends Reuinited and how popular it was and then ... pffft!

Yes - the owners released a new "improved" interface which everyone hated. We moderators fed back that it was awful but they'd spent too much money and refused to lose face.

From a vibrant growing community with hundreds of posts a day it was dead and closed within 6 months.

Facebook looks to be making the same mistake with that ghastly new look

I was an admin on a dog bre6ed forum. I think I was member number 63 when I joined and by the time it collapsed (the server couldn't cope and it was too expensive for the site owner to move it) we had 10K members. I have joined other forums since but none of them has been as active. A group of us now run an FB group but it isn't the same.

Handbag

@sherrystrull

I used to love the Big Brother forums back in the day. And the LUTers. (Live update thread)

Oh yes the Big Brother Forums I used to do live updates as I'm a pretty fast typer - loved it but the one where Grace was in just made me feel ashamed of myself - I really disliked her and hadn't even met her. I got a good feeling when the crowd were chanting 'Get Grace Out' - I'm so ashamed of that now.

@AlexCabot I used to like EH as well.
I used to post on a forum that was dedicated to a C List (probably B list at the time) Celeb and her frankly bonkers blog posts. It could be pretty vicious at times but poor Celeb didn’t really do herself any favours and would go on outrageous tirades on her blog in response to posts on the forum, bless her. Like most of these things it had mushroomed so about 75% of the posts had nothing to do with the blog anymore.
Eventually C-List Celeb got the lawyers involved and the site was mothballed. I still wonder what became of the posters.

Was a member of the Bad Mothers Club, I enjoyed it and I still miss it.

Handbag. I never did work out why it closed.

@Soutiner

eBay boards circa 2005-2009.

So many rows and people leaving or being banned and then fizzling out.

Loved the eBay community boards. I had some great friends on there... then from what I remember there were some changes and they just fizzled out.

I even met some of them irl.

Forums die when cliques start and move over to a separate WhatsApp group

@Chosennonesneakymincepie @MrsAvocet @IToldYouIWantedTheUnicorn I was a cl on The Wedding Planner, Mum's Due/Club and Chronic illnesses on iVillage.

yeh there was one for a specific band and I spent hours on it most evenings. It formed me as a teenager! Such a wide range of topics and personalities

I was a member of the Richard Dawkins forum that closed about 10 years ago. It was a wonderful, insightful, funny and intelligent forum that eventually succumbed to the inevitable bickering, back stabbing and entropic decline of most fora.

A real shame.

@JuneFromBethesda

Hitched, then the spin-off forum The Deadwood. Started with wedding planning but it became its own little community. Eventually I think most people met up on FB instead, and the forum died.

Yep. Same.

@Hushabyelullaby ah yes I used to go on the wedding planner board sometimes. A couple of the girls from my mums due board had recently got married and went on there loads, and I remember it being a fun board so sometimes I'd post on there/read there too.

I was a regular poster on the Guardian The Haven 20 years ago, no idea what happened to it. And then Hitched, before the natural move to Mumsnet!

@Xmascardcrap

Handbag. I never did work out why it closed.

They merged all the magazine's into one huge site called all about you. Nasty interface that was unusable.

It's still around, still unusable.

I bet you’re talking about the EDF!

Babyworld was another forum that literally just closed down overnight. I didn't post much on there, just on my antenatal club, but I really loved it on there. Such a shame.

I too was an avid poster on the c4 Big Brother forum up to about season 6 - then a group of posters formed a breakaway forum that I spent about a year or so on, then the dc were born and I drifted away. Pretty sure it doesn't exist any more but maybe it does...

Yeah Bounty. It was buzzing when I was pregnant in 2008. Then poof... gone.
I think people just join FB groups instead nowadays; I don't see the appeal myself. I just can't imagine discussing piles / constipation and other embarrassing pregnancy issues using my FB profile with my real name and photo.

Babyledweaning forum pretty much saved me from PND when I had DC1. Sometimes I still go on there and read old threads, it makes me really nostalgic. No one posts there anymore though.

Yeah, lots!
The Nightwish forum, Goth net, Evthreads and Evboard, Seetherboard, the Within Temptation forum, and a few others. I used to live on those places when I was younger. Now everything is on Facebook which is nice but not the same at all.

I spent hours on ivillage. Made some really good friends.

Chat planet

Loved BLW @wejammin