[cheat-master30]

For me, there are the usual negatives of running a website. And for forums, that is usually:

1. As said, errors and things going wrong, which DOES and WILL go wrong at the most annoying time possible. This then leads to less members and posts that day, various forum members complaining the site's down/broken and untold agravation for just one line of code happening to be totally broken, or a database error.

2. The side effects of those negative side effects, like the constant emails when said errors occur. And to add to that, members then emailing you individually to complain the site/forum is down.

3. Trolls/idiots/troublemakers, especially persistent ones that won't... get lose and then constantly try and destroy the site/forum and its community. On the flip side, it must be worse for those running an actually large forum, since I've heard of all kinds of notorious trolls and even hackers trying to attack said forums.

4. Spambots. Annoying, but some good account verification will get rid of them for pretty much ever.

5. The problems and side effects of drama. Leaving topics, unban me topics, ban this user topics, site is going downhill topics... The first often end up causing stress to you and members, and end up spiralling out of control with about three more members ending up to leave with the leaving member. The second type ends up usually with a good reminder WHY the user was banned, the third just looks bad and the fourth... well it seems every large forum has had this at least once or twice, and seems to be thrown about an awful lot at support forums for companies... *looks at vBulletin official support forum*.

6. And finally, demands for changes and anger that things have changed, i.e the most annoying thing ever when managing a community or making a product which has been around a few months. The former seems extremely common at support forums (also vBulletin.com) and the latter... seems common at any forum over a year old when a major change is suggested. The second one is even worse when the forum in question is an extremely basic looking one with basic functionality that hasn't been changed a few years. And also sometimes happens when really badly taken April Fools Day jokes are implemented.

Probable effects of this... stress, anger at various members and sometimes feeling in a really bad mood because some minor thing caused a key member to leave or the forum to explode.