Published on 12, July, 2020
I sometimes use the "search" function to look up some questions I have to see if someone in the past has already ask similar questions. And when I look at past posts, like posts that were 6 years old, the people who were actively replying to posts back then (e.g., having many posts/replies and top contributor), pretty much all of them are not actively posting now. Actually, it doesn't even have to be that long, a lot of people who were active 3 years ago are not active now. So I'm curious, what causes people to leave? Is it because they got what they needed (e.g., originally needing advice on how to get a diagnosis and then they got one)? Or is it because they get bored of having to answer the same questions over and over for so long? Or is it because they had some bad experience here? Or is it because they later got a negative diagnosis and felt they don't belong? Or is it because they got too busy in life (e.g., work, family, friends, and other demands)? Or is it because they realised that they like the forum too much that they are spending too much time on it and should take a break? Or is it because they found a different ASD group (e.g., more local, more focused)? Or because they moved to a different country?
Do you think you will still be on this forum 5 years later?
I have been using forums since the early 1990s when BBS (bulletin board systems) were commonly used, or IRC, and am familiar with this problem.
It could be related to the format with which these types of community forums present themselves, and that health related groups tend to be specific in nature - such that, when people have problems they generally look to forums mainly to get their questions answered, thus giving rise to platforms like Yahoo Answers, and not so much to meet people or discuss, which a traditional BBS forum would envoke due to the use of factors such as moderation and voting -- Reddit has largely made these forums obselete.
So in summary, I believe it is because users will tend to ask specific questions relating to their own problems, rather than more of an open ended discussion which invites others to engage in long term. That is not to say users are to blame, but the nature of how the community is set-up, to act as a question/answer platform.
In order to fasciliate more engagement, there needs to be tools such as voting, people making use of polls more and have moderators that will regularly nudge the forum along by creating regular open-ended discuss posts. Users also would have to share links more creating an incentive for users to revisit the website, that is another reason people may stop coming back, because there is not enough novelty (new information being disseminated).