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Webwork - 9:34 pm on Nov 2, 2004 (gmt 0)
Was it new members coming in over the last 2 years that poisoned the waters? Did existing members get into some form of power struggle? Trying to dominate as though leader by invalidating what other people had to say? How many members did it take to set things on the wrong path? Was it 20 out of 200? 5? Did you have a TOS that prohibited any of the conduct that lead to the decline? I take it the TOS wasn't enforced? Is the subject matter one that lends itself to contentiousness, such as games, sports teams, music, etc? What's the demographic of your board? Did the dissent show up in reduced sales? Can you tell if a competitor seeded your board with troublemakers? Do tell, please, in the interest of the education of the rest of us.
Since I recently posted a thread about the death of forums (Death of a Salesman) in the interest of education I'd love to hear more about how the death spiral evolved.