How should we revive our dead Slack community?

Sara

Sara

@butterfly-sara
Updated: Apr 10, 2026
Views: 66

Hey everyone, looking for some real talk.

My co-founder and I have been grinding for three years on a niche community for women in HR. We started strong - hit our first 50 members just through our personal networks, and by the end of Year 1, we were sitting at around 120. FYI - we're running everything on Slack.

Fast forward to today: we’ve managed to scale to 400 members, but the engagement is absolute garbage. We’re lucky if we get two discussions a week. It feels like we’re screaming into the void.

The "bones" are good. We’ve produced a ton of high-quality, high-value content over the years that’s just sitting there. We’ve tried every engagement "hack" and strategy in the book to get people talking, but nothing sticks.

At this point, I’m exhausted. I’m seriously considering just sunsetting the whole thing, but it’s hard to walk away after three years of work.

Is there any hope for a community this quiet, or am I just beating a dead horse? Has anyone actually revived a "zombie" community, or is 400 members after 3 years a sign that the PMF (Product-Market Fit) just isn’t there?

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  • Amit Tandon

    Amit Tandon

    @monster • Apr 10, 2026

    Kind of a tough-spot, Sara. Member count is a vanity metric. I'd start by analyzing the login trend. How many members login to your community on weekly basis? If they are logging-in but not posting; you have an easier problem to solve. Returning members is a clear indication that the community has useful information that people want. However, they are hesitant to ask questions, or participate in the existing discussion. Please have informal talk with your returning visitors and find out the reasons.

    If you do not have returning users; then you have community value problem. It clearly indicates that the community no longer offers value that can pull the members back.

    I'd send emails to all the 400 members in batches of 100. Expect about 5-10 responses; but look for genuine reasons why people aren't returning to the community.

    Ultimately, you can solve most of your community problems by talking to members. @kaustubh-katdare can share his experiences about reviving communities.

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