+1
I really wish this would be given some serious thought - its like an self-wounding EMO. In recent times this site has knocked off Blackdog, Hassan, Musivore, Berberella, Qman, etc etc and is still going strong.
It was given serious thought. They'll all be back. Q will be back soon. The others will be back when it suits them.
Never seen any other site in the world do this to kill of its own popularity - you dont want to come to this site - simple, dont log on.
I got the idea from one of the largest and most active boards I've ever been on. It worked very well there. Most likely, the reason it worked very well there is because people didn't stage a freakout every time one of their favourites wanted a break.
If you want to sink this forum it's really easy to do. Just keep complaining whenever someone wants time out. Spend all your time in IRC bitching about how the forum aint what it used to be. Never post on the forum itself except to complain about the state of it. Etc, etc. Self-fulfilling prophecies shall be yours.
I spent months basically keeping the whole thing alive by myself when Berbs buggered off early in the piece and there weren't any other staff. I got bloody annoyed when people would drop in only to grizzle about things but not contribute anything positive. I'm not keen on a repeat performance, thank you very much. I've been doing this for years and am a bit burnt out myself.
Bottom line is this: if you think the forum is a good thing and worth having around for the long term then you'll just have to accept that over time people will come and go. It has always been like this. Take it in your stride and keep your contributions positive. I'm speaking from experience. If I hadn't done that you guys wouldn't have a forum to complain on.
Unfortunately it always affects the established players, and rarely the newbies, and an extra pain-in-the-*** job to administer.
Yes, because the established players are the ones who ned a break now and then, for various reasons. The self bans are not really a problem to administer.
Topic: Self bans.