Its nothing but attention seeking, ive had it on my forum a few times and not always from the younger members either!!!
The topic gets closed as quickly as it gets posted up, thus closing the door to all the 'please dont leave' replies and attention seeker wallawing in attention! i dont delete the post simply to show any other members thinking of doing the same thing the result of these type of posts, deleting just gets rid of the evidence if you like.
It has cut these type of posts dead lol.

Hmmm...well I suppose that closing the thread helps, but I can't imagine that it fixes the problem all together. Half of the reason that people post these threads is so that everybody else in the forums knows their "story". The other half is to see how people respond, but closing the thread solves this.

In my opinion, these threads should not be allowed at all...assuming they are malicious and attention-seeking. If they're sincere and not just slamming your forums, then they might be okay. There's no reason to have a thread like that visible in your forums though, open or closed...If you leave it there, even closed, the thread starter has accomplished something...and that is getting his/her message across.

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...some super-sweet signature

i don't encourage people to say goodbye threads unless they were someone important to the forum, or they have been there for a long time.
For those rule breakers, i block them from say their goodbyes because they will be trying to make a point.

However, i agree it is a bit annoying after someone leaves for a long time they continue to post. I personally would just lock the thread. However in more extreme scenarios, i would have to warn and punish the one who is posted the most - that always teaches people the lesson next time around.

yeah that they are soooo sad and have come across that way

I agree with that.

I wouldn't close or delete the threads because you don't want to turn them into martyrs! It would only prove them right. Just point out the obvious for the rest of the community: "This person is looking for attention, and I hope you're smart enough to realize that."

I've never had any "goodbye" threads on my own forums, but have seen them on other places, I understand it when people want to take time out to concentrate on personal commitments such as school, I've also known members "leave" after an argument and usually end up coming back. One one particular Forum I used to frequent, there were member revolts against the moderators on there, and that particular group found another site. The moderators always seemed to find out what was being said about them, as there was a craze for Livejournals, where they believed the members were using these to slander other people.

If that happened on my Forum, I would check out what was being said about me on other people's sites etc, and just try and move on from it.

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Leon Jackson - X Factor 2007

My forum has had its share of goodbyes that weren't. Maybe I really should do something about them.

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Temporarily between forums

Ha, my members say they are leaving and come back a few hours/days/week later.

I usually do leave the threads though.

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It is interesting how we can act differently to different situations.

I was in a particular forum, and after some time, I had to take a leave. No friction in the forum or something like that. I just dropped a PM to the admin and left. Couple of months back, I could get back to it since I was able to manage my time better and this time I did a "I'm back!" thread.

Call me a drama queen if you want - but this seemed to create a good positive wave in the forum. It for some reason boosted their morale. I did not do it with intention - but since the forum owner was a friend of mine, it felt good that it boosted their morale.

So, here is a 'corolary' tip:

If you know some one is leaving and is coming back (and if you have a level of contact with that person), nudge the person to make a "I'm back!" thread. Or you could make a welcome back thread.

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I just recently left two boards I have been at. The first, I sent a message to the Admin, to say thank you for allowing me to be there, but I just didn't feel welcome any longer by a number of people, due to some posts on a controversial subject (homosexuality), that I did not even participate in, yet many others did, all coming down hard on those who are gay. It was known when I joined that I am gay by nearly all the members as we had been together on another board, that just poofed one day and the new site was created for us to have a place to go. The admin replied back, and said she would not delete my membership, as she considered me to be a very important part of the community, but that she understood my discomfort, and was sorry that she hadn't actually noticed it happening.

On the second board I just left, I sent the second admin a pm to tell her why I was leaving (Major problems with the main admin.) The second admin understood my reasons, and in fact had been experencing many of the same problems with this admin herself. She gave me ways to contact her, and asked me if she should post any reason why I was leaving. I left it up to her to decide, and her decision was, that she'd only answer direct questions to her, and in private regarding it, and only what I approved of her telling them.

I did not post a goodbye thread on either, as I really can't stand those, but in both cases, I felt the admin's (or at least one of the admins) should know the reason for my leaving, so that if others had the same problems, they would know there was a prescedent for the feelings some may have. Both admins from those two boards continue to "chat" with me through email to make sure I know I'm welcome back at any time.

That's how I run my board also. Send me a PM to explain your problem, give me time to see if it's something I can correct, or to let you know that you are always welcome (If you haven't been a problem member all along). I lock the "goodbye" threads, of which so far was only one, and then move them to Admin Archives I have created. Now, when it comes to vacation threads, I do allow those, so that people know what's going on. For instance, I have an admin on my board who from about Jan-May is VERY busy as a Tax Accountant and can't be at the board most of the time those months. It lets the members know what's going on, and why an admin isn't being seen.