As one with experience watching forums die I would like to add a few harsh realities in the genre.

First, heavy-handed moderation kills sites. FAOL is a nice place where you will seldom be attacked for a simple post. And if you are someone will be along shortly to clean up the squabble... but never to anyone's ultimate satisfaction. And that is not a knock on the moderators, just a fact of life. Even clear-cut winners want the chance to stick out their tongues. Most of the folks here prefer that type of site and they get it... Most folks in general want more freedom "to speak their minds."

As proof look at the flourishing websites attracting younger folks and more of them. They are very busy. Again, just facts as I have seen them over the years and not an attack on the way FAOL is run. It is a choice you make based on the language you are willing to tolerate.

Second, advertising money is out there to be had, but it causes its own set of issues. Some will not like the advertising that will slip in... There will be political ads, spam, and worse. All of the advertisers running their stuff through FAOL will cause nightmares in the form of spam, phishing, bad bugs in their servers, and lots more. The higher the profile the site is the more negative attention it will get.

Third, higher profile content is very important to the success of a site. Not that better known folks in the FF community actually have anything better to say, they do attract many believing they do.

This is meant strictly to help define the problems, not really suggest an answer because answers are much harder.
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