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[citrus]

I wanna clear things out of the way. I already know my reputation around these parts isn't very good to say the least but that's mainly me complaining all the time. I get it now. It's going  nowhere unless it's the majority. it took me a while to get this into my head. I still have a desire to attend the forums and discuss. So I politly ask all of you to please give me another chance. I'm not going to complain anymore. I just want to discuss normally with all of you. (Note I am going to still attend the convention. I just won't complain)

Anyways, it's something I wanted to talk about. many other conventions these days have been closing down their forums. With the exception of a few. Big conventions like Sakura-con, Anime Weekend Atlanta and recently Anime Expo. What reason do they have for closing them down? Forums provide many benefits and I don't see that many downsides to them. If staff can't provide the information then other con attendees can provide it. They also provide a pleasant experience to discuss with other congoers.

[Barnes]

My guess would be that those con organizers would rather use FaceBook than pay for a dedicated forum. I dunno.

As for the Fanime forums, I'm thankful that they are still around. I hope they stay around.

[echoshadow]

Yep correct.
The current FB/twitter/etc, has more "reach" aka advertising. That's the main reason.
Second their target market are young people that never "grew up" with forums. Then there is the lack of staff to monitor and keep up the forums.
It's a sign of the ever changing times. But from a bussness stand point, I get it.
I'll rather piss off a hundred old fans from the forums, or gain thousands of first time attendees cause they saw it on their news feed.
So bottom line it's money. Save some, gain some.

[cutiebunny]

The forums have been nuked because it's too easy for people to search for complaints that way.

If staff tried to delete complaints on the forums, those that frequent the forum would complain that they were being censored and would cry foul. One of the main reasons that the SakuraCon forum shut down was because an attendee did complain about the convention, including staff names, and it seriously irked the management.  The same could be said with Anime Expo; It was very easy to find threads regarding complaints.

With Facebook and Twitter, these topics can be quickly moved off the front page.  Most people don't hit "See More", and if they do, they might only be willing to scroll down a couple of posts.  It just boils down to convenience.  If the answer is easy to find, then more people will know about it.  If it's not and requires a Google search and the reading of several websites, most people won't.  People often believe the source that's easiest to reach, even if that source is incorrect.  Case in point - The idiots clamouring for CLAMP to return to AX in 2016.  If they had bothered to have Googled CLAMP's prior visit, they would have noticed that CLAMP were total douches, going as so far to make fans stand several feet behind the table to present a pre-printed shikishi (the only item CLAMP would sign).  They also cancelled their panel to go shopping, and when staff complained, they said "We're CLAMP, F you".  So, yes, anyone who bothered to look this up would not be requesting them.

[echoshadow]

I also heard the rumors about Sakura Con's forums. But that was one of the contributing factors. I hardly been on their forums before they got shut down but from I remember it was always a flame war with staff and attendees.
As for AX well the dude in charge of the main web site clearly never liked the forums and always wanted it killed. He even talked about it when he was on AX Live. (For those the remember it.) so that was another selling point he pitched so the forums would die off. But eh, I'm sure there are countless more reasons why. Those are just the obvious everyone can see.

[cutiebunny]

I forgot to add that convention management, especially that of SakuraCon, seems to think that those that post on their pages no longer have the anonymity factor that they did on their forums. SakuraCon staff believes that Facebook enforces their standards and demands real names from the people who use their services.  That actually was the reason that they cited for shutting down the forums when they announced it on their Facebook page.  Though, anyone with even a remote understanding of social media knows that it's all too easy to register under a nom de plume; I have a couple of accounts under false names that I use specifically to post on these pages.  Many of us pointed that out on their Facebook page as well, and it was as if you could tell that no one in upper management had seriously considered that.

Moral of the story - When posting a complaint on social media, use a dummy account.

[echoshadow]

Wow they really believe people on FB can't make fake accounts? That's one of the first things people do when every new social medium comes out.  For any person in charge of social medium to believe every account is legit then they are really disconnected to the world or brand new to the internet.

[SquishyK]

It might be just as easy to make a fake account on FB as it is on a Forum but it's much harder to use that anonymity in an abusive manner. Especially for small cons it's going to be an issue of needing dedicated staff to police the forms. Not only to make sure that all feedback on the Con is done is a respectful manner (so that if seen by a previous or potential future industry guest or any other important entity it does not reflect negatively on the con) but also to prevent harassment. There are other websites and outlets for fans to connect and chat. I think cons (especially smaller ones) would rather only have to address items directly related to the convention. By in large FB (and other social media outlets) tend to garner comments more relevant to the convention.

[Rurutie8]

Another big reason, perhaps bigger than complaints and flame wars, that Sakuracon shut down their forum was because too many people tried to advertise stuff that they had for sale.  Sakuracon has a non-profit tax filinig status.  As a non-profit organization, they cannot tolerate becoming a venue for the sale of items.

I know of another smaller convention that did something really, really bad.  They shut down their forums because they got lots of negative comments.  Some of the comments showed that the convention tried to cover up their wrongdoing.