For this to improve, community platforms need to better support the inevitable last stage in a community’s lifecycle: archival. Right now there are no good options to transition a community from a dynamic platform to a static archive that can persist online without ongoing maintenance or server costs.
I’ve experienced this as both member and administrator of a community that for me was a great example of bringing people together online to advance a shared cause. I’d love to see it preserved as an archive and reference on the web, but it’s difficult to implement in practice.
It would be powerful if Discourse could lead the way here and support communities through their entire lifecycle, helping us build a web that honors and preserves the communities that formed, even after active engagement has ended.