I came here to seek advice for my forum.

We've been experiencing an increasing lack of activity for about a year and a half now. There are a few members of our site that still feel we can keep going and persevere, but most of them complain that they've 'lost their spark.' Now, what I want from you is your opinions... can the spark be retained by certain actions, or is it only regained by the user itself?

Please post your response and opinion.

They just need to want to carry on. Fresh ideas; brand new looks (ie. a new skin and graphics); new twists to the plot; a wide-scale interaction between characters.

These seem to work on my current board; and we've been open almost nine months.

The spark can be regained.

That isn't to say it is easy, especially after a year and a half.

My suggestion? Restart from scratch. Maybe not move to an entirely new forum, but just delete all threads and members. Give returning members a bonus reward, and the loyal members you spoke of the same bonus with an "under the table" reward, so that people don't think you're playing favorites. Reopen with some new features and such. Make the forum at least seem way different.

So far, it sounds like you've been using the same formula, hoping it works out. That needs to change.

When it comes down to it, however, it is the member's fault for losing interest and declining activity, and it is up to them to fix it. It is the staff's job to guide the members toward fun, not hold their hands into it.

Deleting all of the members and threads might be a little harsh. After all, there would be people who might have items on the forum such as applications that they don't have on their own computer. Perhaps just archiving them would be easier, and less time-consuming when it came to explaining to members why you deleted their applications. And as for deleting all accounts, that's not the best of ideas either. People might get annoyed with the fact that they just got deleted, even if they were active. Perhaps an activity check would be best; then just delete whoever doesn't reply.

"Losing the spark" can also mean boredom. Even though that's horrible to say. It's a sad truth. If you come to the same board every day and rp with the same people and the plots never really change. Things can get boring, which will make you lose interest. So try spicing things up a bit. :D Like give the skin a face lift. A change of scenery might spark some new and fresh ideas. You can also do like the above said. New plot twists, events that get the entire board involved. Contests, and post-a-thons are always fun to do. You just have to keep finding new and fun things for everyone to do. However, if that doesn't work for all of your members, sometimes small breaks for them might also work. I know that I left a board for a few months actually because of how mundane it was getting. And when I came back there had been new people and new things added, it was like joining a whole new board except all my old friends were there. It was so much fun again. I hope that helps a little!

When coupled together with everything else I said, it makes plenty of sense. Though, archiving threads is a perfectly fine alternative.

Yeah, I'd be upset if someone deleted all my old posts while I was still active in a forum. I like to read my old posts sometimes, so I wouldn't delete everyone's posts, even though it would make managing my style of forum a whole lot easier.

Thanks for your responses guys, this has helped me a lot.

Sites can definitely be reignited, I've just reformed one I was on. I created a new board and added some new stuff and all the loyal players have moved across with no problem.

Just keep at it and don't give up on it.