The thrill is gone

Did you ever get to a point where you want to start all over?

I keep thinking about that... changing my name and trying again. From day 1, my private board/community was doomed because of all the baggage that came along with it. Enemies were already made, drama was already there.

I miss the way it felt a couple of years back, when everything was new, and "Follows Ravens" was an unknown. Now, the name has so much baggage attached to it that I can't post anywhere without crap following me. A year ago it was bad. Now, it's past bad. It just plain sucks. At this point, if another person is caught posting on one of my boards, they're immediately swarmed upon by quite a few people in order to get them to stop posting. I really don't feel like dealing with that anymore.

I think that what makes boards work is a common interest. This private board/community is now a group of friends, talking away. This is good, but I've lost (we've all lost?) one of the benefits of having a board, and that is meeting new people and learning from/teaching them. There's no easy way to bring new people in here now. The ones we know we can trust are already here. The rest either already have a grudge, or would feel slighted if they knew they were doubted and kept out for a month. No one new would feel comfortable coming in here. We already know one another. It'd be like walking into someone else's family reunion.

I'm at a loss. I'm not sure what to do.

There's a board (which I've recently come across) that I'd love "mirror". I'd love to have a board just like it...

I think that part of what makes that board look/seem interesting is that there's a common interest, and a steady flow of new members. The new members part is tough though. That means opening the board up to kids... and that can get pretty nerve wracking.


Anyway... How do we recapture what was lost? Is it possible? What is our "common interest"? Is anyone else interested in attempting to start fresh?