Roleplay How do you deal with inactivity?

[Lusitano 0]

I understand where you're coming from. I ran a site, which will remain unnamed just in case, and my co-admin had been inactive for well over a year and a half. Because of her own inactivity, the whole site pretty much fell apart until I finally ended up deleting her. A couple weeks later, she returned and was absolutely furious that she was deleted. After that experience people who haven't been active for a couple weeks to a month or so I'll put in a special group called "inactive" that can't be seen in the member list (forum type permitting), so they'll never really be deleted.

 

But they can't see anything at all but one forum with a stickied thread about why they are there, and how to regain their membership. As far as bringing in the right people, I think sometimes it's really hit or miss (or so it's been from my experience). Sometimes it's helpful to put up polls about certain events or content and see if members like it (or want a new feature, content, et cetera). I've found it helpful too to put up an announcement about wanting members' input on the site in general, things they might be interested in or modifications they would like to see added (et cetera) and usually I've gotten some wonderful responses. My philosophy on owning role plays is that, in as much as I made it to have fun on, it's also there for everyone else to have fun on too.

 

So I really try to let the members choose what new things they would like to see added and I make sure to get a lot of member feedback and I take it to heart and respect it well above what only I would like, even if I completely disagree with the members' opinions. The website is for them too, not just me. Another thing, I've seen some sites that don't allow regular members to advertise their site; rather they allow only staff to advertise. I very highly recommend against this, as it's pretty counter-productive. If your site is one of those that only allows staff to advertise, I implore you to remove that aspect and allow all of your members regardless of staff position to advertise your site.

 

One last thing, keep in mind too that your site will always have periods of activity and inactivity. Every website is like that, and you just have to keep doing what you're doing to advertise and get the word out there.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Diana