Forums die, that's how it goes. Having been a DMOZ editor for something like two years now, and a pbp forum user for 5 years now, there's been plenty of time to see how things wax and wane. I've got a lot of opinions on the matter, some of which I've voiced in the past. First I'll give the encouragement, and then I'll give the discouraging side.

The Handful
All it takes to keep a forum running strong is a handful of people. Two people isn't enough, but if you have five or six people who are engaged in their threads and like what they're doing, you really have nothing to worry about. If you've put some effort into the appearance and availability of your forums (using pbem to advertise, etc) people will eventually show up. Half of them will not stay, but the other half might. The point is, if you're writing in your setting with some other people, then you're doing what you set out to do. The worst that could happen is you finish your plots and look for something else.

The Holiday Crowd
Usually forum activity peaks during holidays as people get bored and look for things to do. I always see a lot of sign-ups during Christmas and around when school gets out. These people sign up on a whim when they're bored, and do not stay more than a month. Many don't make more than one post, and give a false sense of activity. Some stay. Don't worry about it.

The Flakes
Obviously the other end of the holiday thing is crunch time. During periods between holidays when things get bad, like just before exams, activity slumps. Again, don't worry about it.

The not so encouraging part
Now the discouraging side. If you don't have the five or six people active, you should consider merging with another forum or closing and moving your butt to a nice looking place. There are too many forums out there and not enough reliable players. There is little sense in creating a forum if you don't already know you have enough people to fill its ranks. Go join another existing forum, get involved with their stuff, dedicate yourself, help them grow and everyone will be happier and get more RPing done than if you go create another one man invisionfree/proboards/geocities based site.

What I see when I search through the database of submissions we've had at dmoz is a plethora of sites with one or two people trying it out, when it would be so much better if these people would just look at all the other sites that are there doing the same thing and desperate for players.

Most sites consist of a core of players that keep things alive, and this core is usually much smaller than it looks. If your core of players is great (hopefully it is) you're pretty secure that they love the site as much as you do, and there is little risk of anything happening to them. But if something does happen to that core, then you're in trouble and might end up closing. It's very sad and you are sad panda but such is life. All true stories end in death, as they say.

Of course there are reasons why you might want to run your own forum. How hypocritical would I be if I said that was never the case? But before you do, try to join an existing one. Try a few existing ones. Spend some time looking through all the resources we have. Only if you just can't find what you're looking for does it make sense to go creating your own.

My two cents, anyway.

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Advertise your online RPG - http://www.pbem2.com

Good points, Frug So to continue and hopefully KEEP your PbP from slipping into the death modes, here is the next piece.

Conflicts

There are always personality conflicts between people. Sometimes those people are players, sometimes they are admins, and sometimes they are both. People come to a site to write, play sometimes to socialize. Most of them are trying to escape in someway from the less savory aspects of real life by immersing themselves in another environment for a little while. But seeing as real people are behind the characters and the administration, sometimes reality comes back.

Player vs Player

Situation

Player Mary and Player John seem to despise each other in a metagame manner. She complains about his writing, he complains about her attitude.
Whenever they are in a thread together it is speckled with more OOC comments than content. Players shy away from those threads. What is worse Mary and John will not or cannot avoid each other.

Possible Solutions:

First you are a moderator, moderate. Impose your will, be evil overlord whatever it takes to get the OOC comments down to a minimum. Set up a meta thread (an ooc thread about the thread) and move the valid ooc comments and questions there. ("Where is that on the character?" "You do know it will take 2 rounds to do that." ) Taken off the main thread, the questions become just that - questions. Remove any inflammatory comments in the move ("You always do this") This will accomplish 2 things, first it will keep the thread from deteriorating into an OOC argument, second it will help establish ruling basis. Sometimes the conflict can provide you as the Administrator with insight as to areas lacking in the play format.

After a while offer one of the players a glorious death for their character and allow them to start a new character before the other dies. (Do this with the better roleplayer of the two) Impose a non disclosure - say that others will want an extra character then. Do not tell ANYONE that the same player is playing the second character and sit back and watch. It may be that once John thinks Mary is no longer playing because her character is gone, that Mary becomes his new favorite rp buddy. Sometimes it is actually the character the player dislikes and they impose the character's traits on the player.

Last if your site allows multiple characters per player find a way to keep who is running whom secret. I am constantly asked who owns what character. It is no one's business but the the Admins who runs what.

Moderator Vs. Moderator

(Or whatever term you wish)

Situation:

A thread starts out with one Mod asking another what they were doing in a specific situation. An argument of rules of the game and site ensues and deteriorates into "You have never liked me" "You are always breaking the rules." and turns into a mini flame war.

Possible Solutions:

If the thread that the argument started in was IC, remove all discussion and censure both Admins. They of all people should know better than to post OOC discussions of that nature in an IC thread. If the thread was OOC, edit it to remove the personal comments. Removing the thread in its entirety is more likely to cause issues than an edit of it.

A password protected Admin only board for discussion is another possibility. Warn other moderators to keep their comments neutral. The issues need to be ironed out, not inflamed.

Get them together and discuss it with other admins on IMs as a meeting. The key is to keep any bickering out of the sight of the players. Instability in the structure of the site does not lead to confidence that the site will survive. Do not let any players lead you or any other DM into conversations so they may take sides. Keep gossip out. This is less a problem on PbP than on Muds etc. but it still arises. Best to keep it from arising by ensuring all staff know their specific tasks.

If George runs the battle arena and he does so differently than Susan does the bar fights, as long as they are both within the scope of the methods agreed upon by all then leave them alone and tell them to keep their noses out of HOW they run their areas. If the site specifies a specific set of rules (say D&D 3e) and Mary is using 4e, talk to the 'offender' alone. (Personal message, e-mail, IM whatever) There might be a good reason, if not bring them in line or drop them from staff but keep to the topic, not to the personality.

Note
This to me is the most damaging of any conflict that arises in any game to your player base. It is going to happen. DM_A is going to conflict with DM_B at some point. It might be over a site rule, over a player's use of the site or over how they run their section. It doesn't matter. It needs to be kept out of the sight of the players and resolved.

Player vs Moderator

Situation

There is constantly an issue between a specific player and a specific Moderator. John and George always leave OOC comments in threads concerning different things. (Spells, items, actions, etc)

Solution:

Tell that Moderator not to deal with that player at all as a Moderator except in very basic tasks (I lost my log in etc). Assign another to check anything dealing with that player in just that Moderator's area or do it yourself. Keep an open mind. It maybe that sometimes the player is right and sometimes the Moderator is. It maybe that one is baiting the other. If the issues shift to another player with the same Moderator, check the background of the player first.. do they have a history of being an online friend of the first player, are they coming from the same IP and are perhaps a sock puppet? Do not invade privacy, but check the obvious first. Then sit back and watch, perhaps you need a new Moderator for that area.

All of the above may seem like common sense to most, unfortunately that seems to be in short supply lately. All of the examples are things I have seen in the past 2 week occurring on various PbP boards. The key is to remember that it is supposed to be fun for your participants, not a chore or a battle for them, just for their characters.

Zeta Thompson

Editor - Internet Play : Play by Post : Genre - High Fantasy
Editor - News and Accessories : Shopping

When too much OOC conflict arises I find it helpful to make one thing very crystal clear to the players involved: You are here to RP, and your concern should be what is best for the RP. If that is not your primary concern, and your actions are guided by anything other than a desire to roleplay in the way this forum is intended to be used, you should leave right now. If I get the impression that you are being confrontational for some reason other than a desire to roleplay, I will tell you to leave.

I also find it important to notice when you yourself, as a mod or admin, cannot handle a situation without drama. As an admin, if I say to myself "this person gets on my nerves" or "i'm in a bad mood" or "I can't be polite right now" I will ask a moderator to deal with it for me.

I also make it clear to the players that if they don't like me, or they get mad at me, they should contact another moderator to voice their opinion. The forums, after all, belong to the players and not just the admin, because without players it would die.

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Advertise your online RPG - http://www.pbem2.com

At ResourceMasters we are ticking along quite nicely, with few if any issues of conflict, though we've had the odd one or two, which usual come from misunderstandings. My approach would be to find out what was meant by a comment, before assigning a meaning to it.

A friend of mine has this in his sig "I know that you believe that you understand what you think I posted, but I am not sure you realize that what you read is not what I meant." and to me that sums up how we should look at posts on forums, and we should always assume positive intent till proven otherwise.

Sadly I sometimes don't always practice what I preach, posting when my emotions are raw, I'd advice against that too.

never a dull moment...

http://www.rpgRM.com