How inactive would the forum have to be before you decided it was not worth saving? Is there ever a point at which a forum just can't be saved? Or, are there ways to rescue even a dying forum that has lost most of it's valuable members?
It really just depends on the forum. Some forums, you can save. But it depends. If it is a themed-board (such as this forum is garnered towards admins; or another example would be a strictly service forum), then there is the possibility it could be rejuvenated. Add something new and exciting, and if it is unique, then it will probably get some of the members back, and activity may be back for the long term. But if it is a just a vague community chat forum, the likelihood of you thinking of something revolutionary to reactivate your forum is unfortunately not very likely. I would say if there have been no posts for at least a week (maybe two), then it is either time to turn it offline and make a serious revamp, or just to disable it completely. That long spell of inactivity can really send a crippling blow. D:
I do believe any forum could be revitilised and especially older forums as they have an advantage over the new forums, they have heaps of content already, a userbase (even if inactive), listings in google etc; Everything is already done, you just need to attract the members back which IMO would be easier than starting again.
I'd have to agree with you there. I've done something like that before with a forum, and it actually turned out better than if I had just gone ahead and shut it down.
I don't think there would ever be any kind of inactivity to be honest that would make me shut down a forum. If you have all the knowledge on how to bring traffic and content onto the forum then why not use it and try and bring the forum back life. I think if you spend a whole chunk of time promoting, working on SEO and adding content to your forum and it still doesn't seem to be taking off either change the niche of the forum and try with another niche. There is always a way unless your heart isn't really in it in which case closing it may be the option.
I think that you can get a forum going again. You just need to spark some interest on it. Maybe get some paid posters who will add some good content to the site and advertise to get others to the site.
It depends on the forum, its genre. Few forums take time to come up and few just give you huge activity on you opening day. I would shut down a forum only after a month if there is no progress if even there is one active member i wouldn't shut it down.
General Talk was inactive for most of 2011 and this year we have relaunched it and it's doing well and with a contest coming this week, it should bring in more traffic and activity on the forum.
There is nothing like "dying" or a "dead" site unless one leaves a site inactive intentionally; why would someone start a forum to leave it dead down the road.
I always make my mind that I am going to run the forum just like a personal blog, as long as I can afford to pay for domain and hosting and keep contributing to the forum as long as I can. When all these things top, I would consider it dead..
