Anonymous 234 Share Posted October 6, 2019 My site has been open for the better part of a year now. We've consistently been getting members since we opened but 95% of them have ghosted on us within a month including all the staff I've tried to hire. Currently there's only one active member besides myself. It's honestly getting really, really depressing and discouraging that we can't keep anyone and I'm basically the only person posting. I want to keep the site open because I love the plot and characters I write. But it's hard for me to keep up my spirits and momentum for the site when it's basically just been a revolving door of new members since we opened with no forward momentum. I've had many site reviews done since we've opened and I frequently ask my members for feedback. Very few problems have been mentioned and I've corrected all of them. Multiple people, including the majority of my members, have complimented the site (nice skin, easy to read documents, concise rules and plot) and my behavior (friendly, welcoming, active). The few people that haven't ghosted told me they were leaving because of real life issues and were sad to go because the site was amazing and I was a good admin. I've never had this problem before with my former sites which has me stumped as to what's going on. I've constantly advertised since we opened. I've engaged all my members OOC and actively reached out to plot with all of them once they have characters made. I write starters for them and reply quickly to the threads we have. According to literally every person I've talked to, every piece of advice I've read, and all my experience: I'm doing great and doing everything I can. And the members that I've gotten have responded positively to it all, but they haven't stayed. I don't want to close but it's incredibly frustrating to be incapable of keeping new members or having plot progression. I feel like I'm too close to the situation to figure out what to do next on my own, so I ended up coming here to half vent and half ask for advice. What should I do? Anonymous poster hash: bf1df...303 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Arceus 1,082 Popular Post Share Posted October 6, 2019 I mean... you sound like you're doing it right. Sometimes there's nothing nefarious going on in the background, and people are leaving because of RL commitments and such. RL > RP, there's no way around that. It's also really normal for people to join a lot of sites and then reality to strike and them to have to drop a bunch of the sites they joined. Or, heck, for them to just simply figure out they can't handle that many venues at once. It happens, and getting or keeping members, gonna repeat myself here, is not and has never been a proper measure of your ability as an admin, OR a solid indicator that the admin is doing something "wrong." If you're having fun, keep going. If it's becoming a chore, walk away. Maybe someday you'll want to revisit it, that's fine too. I think the RP-verse has set this weird idea that it's somehow a failure to close a site, and then even more of a failure to reopen it later, and while I can understand where this mindset comes from, it's dumb. Can we move into the 21st century now, people? There are a lot of reasons why you might and a small number of them are an actual failure on the admin's part. I don't even believe in the idea that a site's either a success or a failure, because I think what success looks like is variant and many faceted. By typical standards, my Bleach site is a failure, but you know what, it's turning thirteen in a few months, so lol. People are people, you know? You can't make them come, you can't make them stay, and believing you can and should strive to is some weird level of expecting yourself to be god. Just keep doing what you've been doing until it's legitimately not fun anymore. Unfortunately that's kind of part of adminning during this current RP-verse downswing. (And people can claim RP isn't in a downswing all they like but the statistics say otherwise.) You either do really great or you struggle for months without end, there's apparently no in-between. Just an unavoidable side-effect. So just do you and enjoy the site, and if they come, then great, and if not, that's fine too. 5 2 3 I am the darkness, always watching, always listening, ALWAYS THERE. (If you're interested in Plain of Ice, message me, it's private. Bleach site, non-canon.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Morrigan 1,826 Admin Share Posted October 10, 2019 I can only really say what @Arceus has already expressed. It doesn't always have to be your game specifically that is the problem. Most players currently are adults with jobs and some of them have families, there is school and any number of RL varieties that could be pulling them away. Unfortunately, on top of that, there is the natural flake. Sometimes if there is a problem with a game it's simpler for someone to ghost than it is to express to a staff member the problem to get it resolved, normally because at the end of the day it either can't be resolved or its a problem directly with a staff member. I was once a site that the problem was a staff member that was just, in general, a dick to everyone and the other staff member was fine but you don't tell the nice admin that their co-admin is a dick in the end it causes undo recourse on either admin's side, especially if the admins are good friends or trust one another. Normally, in that situation its easier to just walk away and disappear. I'm not saying that this is your particular situation but sometimes its just easier to walk away. Best course of action, since you have really positive feedback, is truck along for as long as you feel you're interested in the site and just keep going. The right people will stick and will come. 1 Profile set made by myself and original Artwork by Fae Merriman, my daughter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anonymous 234 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 If I see that certain people are members of a site I just leave. Some past issues can’t be resolved and it’s easier to just avoid each other. Anonymous poster hash: 60b57...812 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PixieMegs 107 Share Posted October 16, 2019 (edited) Keep in mind that mid-terms are fast approaching for a lot of college students or they've recently come out of their mid-terms and need time to decompress before December, when finals hit. This time of year is incredibly stressful for students and I know a lot majority of my members are currently in college. On top of that, don't worry about member count. If it is just you and one other person for now, that's totally fine. My site, at the moment, looks completely dead because I have moms, newly weds, and people on vacation. If they don't come back, I'll handle it when I find out. But I'm giving everyone time to deal with their RL situations. Site can be revitalized even if they seem dead. You just need to keep pushing forward, so long as you still enjoy your plot and characters. You can always try switching up ad images and messages as well. Post updates when you bump ads. Spread want ads on resource sites. Edited October 16, 2019 by PixieMegs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A l e x 16 Share Posted October 17, 2019 I've experienced similar issues. There's a handful of members that post on a semi-regular basis. We continue to add members here and there, only to have most of them leave shortly after or even before having a character accepted. Then there's always that one that sticks around and slowly the site grows. Additionally, you can always reach out to those you've RP'd with in the past. Inviting old friends is a great first step. And once you have a solid core of committed members, things tend to evolve on their own. That said, RL will always be there. Ultimately, this is something that should be fun not just for the members but for you as well. It's already been said, but it sounds like you're doing a fine job. Just keep trying and either your site will grow or you'll lose interest. Perhaps it's just bad luck, you haven't been able to build that core group yet. But if you build it, they will come. LOVE REMAINS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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