I've lost 4 severly devouted members in the past week, that have been with me and my forum for years. Recently, one of my moderators started a huge flame bait style topic, with multiple rants and very touchy subject matter. I thought I'd let it go for now, see how things go. Big mistake.

The forum exploded into a huge battleground, and now everyone hates everyone else. It was a peacful opinionated discussion, until members startred getting attacked. The mods where picking on members, and eachother, it was just a really ugly site.

This has resulted in a DRAMATIC drop off of posting, and several members have outright stated they're leaving because things have changed.

With a forum my size, very small, we can't afford to loose these people. Does anyone have ANY sort of idea on how I might be able to try and fix this.

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Well you shouldn't have let that conversation carry on which made the mess.
I dont know how to fix a problem like that tho.
Maybe you could get the mods or members to say sorry to each other or something.

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The moderators have worked things out, that's not my main issue at the moment.

Ussually, my forum can discuss any issue with complete maturity, so it didn't seem as big of a problem when the topic was conceived. It got personal, that's where we ran into problem

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You could try sending a Mass Email to all the members saying that it was all a misunderstanding.

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to soon imo. I think they might just need to simmer. My only worry is they won't come back ever. I mean, a break is understandable

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Ask your moderators to apoligize.

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Well, the one moderator has left and I've demoted for starting all this. The other has already stated their apologies.

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i say, just give it a week let them cool down for a bit. then send them an apology email or pm to all the members. If thats done so, then i think the only thing you can do is wait and hope.

just remember, we learn from our mistakes.

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I´m going through the same thing. I have a mod that attacks members and is inviting (PM'ing) all our regulars to join his new forum. Our thread/post counting is decreasing very fast. Some members are starting to leave because they say the forum is dead.

I´m still thinking on a way to deal with this.

The only advice I can give is...NEVER lose your manners, even when you just want to smack the crap out of those guys. It will get things only worse.
You still have loyal members. Protect them, and keep them on your team.

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Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.

Keep posting, Carry on, eventually things will die off on their own. Put a little thing in your signature about Letting bygons be bygons or something. I've done the war thing, and have dealt with crap long time ago, and it's never fun. You'll never make everyone happy, and that's the bottom line. Keep promoting your site, and get some new blood. Write a mandate of what your forum is about, stiffen up your rules, or put guidelines in on what is expected, Basically get everyone on the same page.