To wonder why some forums sort of ... grind to a halt?

[mytartanscarf]

I used to be a member of a very busy forum. It was pretty nice as although it was busy there was a sense of community as well.

It isn't dead but dying.

Then about 10 years ago when I did a PGCE I was a member of the TES forums and they used to be so busy; I've had a look for the first time in ages and ages and it's really quiet.

Will Mumsnet ever die? And what causes a forum death?

Another ex BMC member here, I think I joined when my middle ds was a baby and he's 12 now I loved it and duly paid my fees when that came in. Also a proud winner of a thread of the month.

Before that I used babycentre I think it was called? We used to have quiz nights, live chat was quite a thing then ha ha.

DWer reporting in - you should all come back and post!

Now I want to know who all the BMCers were on BMC - I think I know who MrsPNut was....

NoArmaniNoPunani- I was on one where the owner threw a fit. I'm wondering if it was the same one.

I used to visit Mudcat a lot as a Guest. It's for traditional folk singing and music, based in USA but very international. They also have a section for general topics. But there was a group of about eight posters who dominated every thread and argued with each other to the point of being abusive and nasty. It got very boring due to this and new threads began to dwindle. I stopped posting when someone pretended to be me with my username and posted with horrible things that I would never say. (Is this called 'trolling' or is that something else?) The Moderators didn't do a lot to intervene with the vicious arguments, and I reckon it's dying on its feet now. I liked it because there were some interesting threads about Morris dancing and regional traditions in song etc.

I'm an AWFer as well but not on Facebook so haven't migrated to there. Not sure why everyone left as it was a nice forum. It's pretty much dead now and I don't visit any more.
I think if there hadn't been the private FB group(s?) set up, it would still be functioning.

I was a Bounty debates regular, back in the days when the pages used to move so fast you couldn't keep up, then it slowly started to die a death, and I think a lot of people migrated over here (I see lots of user names similar to those that were regs on debates). Went back onto Bounty for the first time in a couple of years last week and all the old forums seem to have disappeared and it's all local things now. I admit to being a bit sad, as Bounty saw me through my pregnancy and the early years with ds, and I made a few real life friends during my time on there.

I was a member of ivillage - my mums club (Feb 07 if anyone is about!) got me through my pregnancy and 1st year as I was very clueless!

The fallouts gradually got worse and worse though with lots of people leaving - apparently our board was notorious for it and once the change of format came in we were combined and I think most people moved onto FB which I wasn't on so lost touch.

I also really miss Television Without Pity (TWOP) the forums and recaps were great.

Lurked on both DS and MSE - both seem much quieter these days?

I used to use AIM (AOL instant messenger) back in the day. Was a minor then and it was full of pervy old men.

I was a regular on the BBC boards but that went to shit when they closed everything down. It was a sad day when 606 went. Points of View was a great board full of arguments - think that might still be going but its not the same.

I use MSE still but the posters can be spiky, most of them seem to be grumpy old men types who don't understand why anyone would want a credit card or manage to get themselves into debt. I had a lot of stick once a few years back for asking about how to deal with my debt - caused by financial abuse thanks to 'D'H. The term financial abuse was totally alien to the people who responded which upset me. But there are some lovely posters hidden away - the toiletry hoarders thread and the hoarding thread are both great support.

Here is best

I was on bigday? Yourbigday? Wedding forum when it off shot YAYW forums

Aside from that I tried NM for a while but just couldn't.
Used to be on rabbit forums (rabbitrehome & buns pace), but only use the latter for ther yearly cyber egg hunt now.

Another ex DWer here
I stopped when I started using my phone for internet mainly, instead of laptop. Signing in from iPhone at the time was more miss than hit. And once you get out of the habit, it slides.

Made done amazing friends there though, and had so much support there and previously on H.

For me, not posting (after being quite frequent!) was the phone issue mentioned, my job getting busier, my child getting older and therefore more demanding of my time and also I no longer had the TTC then DTC then young babies common interest with people. It's like, you avidly read sleep, lack thereof. Then you live the hell of it and need support. Then you come through the other side and want to give the support back, and then suddenly you have a 4.5yo who finally sleeps through and you no longer give a fuck about sleep talk!

Does anyone remember the American fertility charting website and forum Fertility Friends? I was very active there when TTC and the friends that I made were so dear to me, I am still so thankful for the support of that forum.

I used to be on Femail until they updated it and ruined it. I also used handbag but it annoyed me and parentscentre. Parentscentre was run by the government but it was ruled by trolls and they couldnt handle them and it was eventually closed down.

I spent some time on Fertility Friends when Ttc #2, through a couple of losses. Lovely supportive place, with a few mad exceptions.