Where did Equestriaforums.com go?

[Zestanor 98]

It was a forum that opened in 2011. I was active in there between 2012 and 2015 (end of season 2 through beginning of season 4) I came back last summer and made a few posts but around August it disappeared.

 

The board was very lively back then, especially in the time between season 2 and season 4. It had a reputation for being more “mature” than this forum was at the time, drawing a slightly older crowd (I was a teenager at the time).

 

I recognize that that board is dead, which is a shame because of the discussions I had there. And I’ll be migrating to this forum for at least this summer. However I’d like to know if anyone has any insights on why the owners of that site presumably stopped paying for the hosting fee unannounced?

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

To be honest. This is the first time I've ever heard of this board existing so I can't give any insight on it. How did it die anyways?

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

I was a member there for three years 2013-2016 and it was very active for most of that time. After I came here I pretty much forgot about it and didn't check back until about a year ago, by which time it was pretty much dead. I guess it had been slowly declining and as of my last visit it was down to only about a dozen active members, so it was more like trying to participate in a private message between a handful of other people rather than an open forum. There were no new threads and trying to post on anything old resulted in a prompt trouncing. Not really a great attitude for a forum that's gasping for any active participants, so I'm not surprised it disappeared. There would be no reason to pay anything to host a dead forum. 

[Zestanor 98]

9 hours ago, TheTaZe said:

To be honest. This is the first time I've ever heard of this board existing so I can't give any insight on it. How did it die anyways?

I don’t know. It died when I took a break from the fandom (2015-2018). But I recall very intense (a post every three minutes or so) discussions surrounding things like the announcing of the short length of season 3, Alicorn Twilight, and Equestria Girls.

There was iirc constant drama between the moderators and admins, with the founder and head admin stepping down some time during my period of activity because of personal emotional things. When I visited last summer, some of the old mods were still around, but besides spam threads, there was almost no activity. The new episode discussions peaked in season 5, with at least 10 pages per thread. This trailer off so that by season 7 it was only about 5 pages per thread. But the season 8 episodes could barely make it onto the second page. I think people left over time in a downward spiral.

Several factors probably contributed. I think a lot of people left during the long hiatus between season 4 and 5. Even though season 5 had the longest threads, the most activity was during the season 3 finale/aftermath.

Also (and I think these all generally contributed to the end of the domination of ponies over the internet from 2011-2013) the brevity of season 3 left the fandom with a lack of discussion fodder over a longer hiatus. Then they switched the schedule to make MLP a summer show instead of a show that matches the school year. In the model for seasons 1-4, in the summer, when teens and young adults have breaks for school, there was a lot of activity and opportunity for speculation. But when they switched it for season 5 and on, (and got really bad and preventing leaks and spoilers), discussing predictions became tiresome and pointless, since the breaks camevwhen we were most busy in our lives.

Lastly, there were some people who were made mods that really should not have been, and I think this is a problem for all message boards: how do you pick moderators who are active but not obnoxious, because it’s a difficult balancing act. I think the inconsistencies in moderation made the forum alternatively feel like a military school and a lawless town.

[curbcat 9]

It's a shame to see a forum go through that kind of decline. I've lost a few forums over time (topics other than MLP) due to slow decline or issues with founders and admins. I found this site by pure accident and love that it's here and I have a place to begin to share ideas. Just not sure how to as of yet (proper places for some topics and the like).

[Buttonmash1973 1,024]

I was Applejack2011 there.

[Lucky Bolt 34,914]

Never heard of that one.  Too bad it's not a thing anymore. 

[Splashee 28,537]

Only the greatest forums survive the harsh time of the internet. This one seems to handle things greatly since it just keeps popping up as the number one MLP forum on Google.

[EpicEnergy 22,072]

I've never seen that forums before, it's sad that it's gone now.

[Fritzy 1,690]

God I remember that forum pretty well. It just sort of disappeared. I was permabanned there for reasons I don’t wanna discuss though so no big deal for me. Still sucks. 

[Megas 27,061]

I remember it but I only lurked for a bit. I eventually did sign up but I forgot my password and locked myself out lol. It just sorta died out of nowhere

[Splashee 28,537]

"We are Equestriaforum girls, and we're here to say, that the magic of friendship is what it's all about"

[Hawk Moth 390]

That was so long ago, that it feels like a past life.