#1: Mismanagement of site resources so it becomes too slow or troublesome to use. One example was a site in a hobby niche I like, they widened the format ridiculously to monetize with ads, I got side scroll. Second the entire site is so mismanaged technically, it takes at least 1-2 minutes to load every forum page. I'm outta there and rarely return ("Do I feel like a nostalgic blast to the 90's today, stare at white pages for up to two minutes?")

#2: Rules and enforcements that apply only to those outside the "inner circle." Although it's never been directed at me, I've been to many forums where any newcomers are beat senseless with flames to "search before asking" and the like, rules enforced swiftly and mercilessly, while the inner circle can do just about anything they want without a care. So all the "little people" leave the royalty to their utopia.

#3: Ads, ads, ads. Sneaking ads in between posts in threads and the like has annoyed me off of many boards.

#4: "Log in to view answer" has stopped me from even joining some (O.T., but while we're on boards and what kills them . . . )

#5: Same old jokers, nothing new here. And the jokers are generally not interested in anything engaging ("if it's not about me, it sucks.")

#6: General lack of real organization or freshness, though an initial search may have brought me there, going back on a regular basis doesn't stimulate and enrich.

#7: Time. I have to pick and choose my priorities, I'll say that this is the **only** board I visit daily, sometimes twice, seems like every time I read a thread here I learn something. I just don't have to time to dedicate to multiple message boards.

#8: Personal reasons, no longer interested in the topic.

I had to relogon every day.

If forcing a logon was the only criteria - I wouldn't use online banking either, or administer my own sites, server admin panels, etc. :)

Reasons I've left sites:

# when the owner went AWOL
# overrun with spammers
# sudden downshift in new member IQ
# lots of idiotic repetitive questions (related to IQ above)
# people obsessed with GRQ (get rich quick)
# members posting about how to (defraud) make lots of money.

It wasn't an online banking site, but a public forum discussing DIY home repair, gardening etc. Not something which would require a forced logout at every IP change IMO.

It was a well maintained forum with a quick reply option like WebmasterWorld on each thread. But being redirected to the login screen each time you have typed in a quick reply to a thread was getting just too much. If it had been a forum which I used for my work I may have stayed.

That's a major tech fail. Hard to understand why the operator would do that, particularly since it's not exactly Fort Knox he's protecting. If it's a spam prevention measure, it's like trying to solve a mosquito problem with a bazooka. The collateral damage will be orders of magnitude bigger than the problem.

I'm guessing that you will be one of many departing, lammert. Many people don't have fixed, or even rarely changing, IP addresses.

From a community management standpoint, here are a couple of questions:

1) Did the operator communicate about the change in advance or at least when it was implemented?

2) Did members comment in public on the change, and were those comments acknowledge (or deleted)?

Sometimes changes occur for a reason (though this one seems mostly pointless) and in those cases communication is key. Maybe those who run communities here can learn from your bad experience, lammert.

But being redirected to the login screen each time you have typed in a quick reply to a thread was getting just too much.

Perhaps it's a bug - I'd write to the guy and ask him to fix it.

Once you logon and have a valid cookie the IP switching shouldn't be an issue.