So I know NOTHING about running a site like this, but why would UFN just go away

I get the impression he is prideful and possessive.  Which I can kind of understand on some level.  And now is not the moment for me to go into a tirade about how its absence is trampling my broken heart.  

Before Rocker Ute was perma banned (he was the last remaining active poster with moderator and admin privileges), he posted some website, bandwidth, and traffic statistics for UFN.  I can’t remember the exact numbers, but it was close to a 80% decline in traffic between 2011 and 2016.

My opinion has been, and still remains, that as soon as the money from ads and donations is less than the hosting costs, UFN will die.  Has that happened now?  I don’t know.  But I do know that UteHub is clearly here to stay and has an active owner who busts ass to improve the site every single day.  Dude even works on the site when he’s out of the country on business.  Cheers to Tony!

I think some of it was the rise of twitter and facebook. Before you had to go to the message boards for info now you can jump on twitter and find it fast. There’s also a couple Ute fan related groups on facebook as well.

I think Beehive made a good point. A couple years ago Utefans started to decline and if you had an opinion different than those over there you were ridiculed for it, and that drove people away.

Is it officially dead?

Nobody knows.

There’s definitely value there, but it decreases by the day. I think I’m finally done. I’ve said it before, but I refuse to invest time there if it’s only gonna get swept out from under us every other month. I don’t know if I’ll become a regular here, but until Monkey sells or hands the reins over to somebody else I’m finished at Ufn.

I believe The demise was all about money as Hn speculated. The owner was trying to live off of the site and it looks like that strategy did not end well. Based upon some of the info on web monkey that has been posted, I hope he gets some help. His situation cannot be good and will not likely end well.

UF.n demise has led to sites like this and Utah by 5 along with migration to Rivals and Scout, the paid sites. An unfortunate but natural migration. Tony should benefit going forward with increased membership and posting.

I keep hoping it will return, but I think it is gone forever. I tried contacting Chris, but no avail.

I hope you guys don’t mind this idiot frequenting this place.

It would also be helpful to know if any of you are the same folks on UFN and what your name was on that site.

I created my own site so I can upvote my own posts and ban everyone else. It’s lonely but effective.

At least I have my Twitter account where only 25% of my followers are Moose.

UF.N’s facebook page posted that he is working to bring things back online. No ETA or explanation as to why it’s down. So there’s an update in case anyone cares.

If it isn’t a case of not paying the hosting bill, as time goes on it becomes more and more likely that the site goes down because the code base is so outdated. Hosting companies will update their systems to keep up to date and secure, and old hacky code will break and bring the site down. Just a guess.

Going back to Utah’s last comment…

I think what you’re saying about people over here may be true in SOME cases, but definitely not all.
I contributed/posted quite a bit for a few years to UF.N never had any issues with being shouted down.
Part of that was because I played nice, and part of that was because I picked my battles, or didn’t conduct them publicly. In other words, I was respectful and expected the same in return.
I left UF.N out of sheer crazy frustration with how that site was being managed and used as a source of income when so little if any of the funds supposedly being brought in for the upkeep of the site were actually being used in that way. I would still check in there regularly and read what was being posted, but I wouldn’t contribute to any discussions.
Don’t get me wrong, I feel bad for Monkey and hope he turns things around. But fool me once… shame on me. Fool me twice… shame on you. In this case, Monkey fooled people 4-5 times. I think his actions were deplorable. Forgivable knowing his situation and what struggles he has? Well, anything’s forgivable. But how things happened definitely means that I’m not giving him the benefit of the doubt in the future – at least as far as a Monkey-facilitated Utah Fan community.
Again, I hope he turns it around and figures his life out.
The whole thing is sad, unfortunately.
All I know is that Tony has put together a helluva site here that I am very appreciative for. The culture here is great – it’s very easy going, respectful, and isn’t dominated by political topics that cause people to flame each other a lot. The focus here is Utah sports – as it should be.
We are spoiled, y’all.
Tony for President!