My theory: people generally stumble across forums when they are google searching something, but google HEAVILY favours certain sites and so forums get pushed to the 100000th page. It’s not that the format is outdated, people still love forums. They’re just impossible to find without word of mouth.
Why are forums dying?
- Thread starter nexopia
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GBAtemp and ResetERA are still thriving. More social-media esque sites have risen in popularity, so forums aren't the first thing people think of these days, but they're still the best way to get info imo. Reddit, I think, took a lot of traffic from a lot of webforums, but at the same time, that site is losing traction as well, and due to the way it works, will never fully replace forums either. I think a lot of forums, at least for gaming, are still very active, just a bit less commonly talked about.
Off topic should be one of the most active topics on a forum site, and there are only a couple threads which have been posted in today. I wouldn’t call that thriving at all. It’s surviving at best.
Not as active as it once was by any stretch, this is true. When I was here years ago it was much more bustling. Hell, the shitbox messages were coming in at such a fast clip you could barely keep up some days.
Some say that social media sites are the 'forum killers', but I don't really agree with that. Several sites that I've frequented for years are just as active as they ever were. (Not all, but many.)
Le reddit is killing all forum communities pretty much. I personally think it's bad to have all your eggs in one basket like with reddit. Plus, the karama system just creates bad discussions and makes it confusing to follow.
I wouldn't say resetERA is a traditional forum either though they work like video game generals. They require a university email and your ID and if you say anything out line with their group think, blammo, you're banned. There's something unnerving with having to submit personal info to get into a forum.
I like Xenforo. 
I hope that if new forums emerge, they use it or improve on it or make it more accessable.
I hope that if new forums emerge, they use it or improve on it or make it more accessable.
My profile!
Diversity on forums, eh? I definitely know what you mean. Unfortunately there are reasons why this seems to be the trend as of late, but this isn't the place/time for me to delve any deeper into the subject.
Regarding which forums I was referencing, mainly toy/pop culture forums. And a few that I'd rather keep private for various reasons.
D
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Like others before me have said, sites like Facebook and Reddit (mainly Reddit) have taken a lot of traffic from smaller forums. However, a lot of people dislike the karma system that Reddit has in place, which is the real feather in the cap of many forums today. There's also the fact that Reddit moderators seem to censor a lot of content for seemingly no reason, which may cause some people to turn to alternative online speaking grounds. Such events have also led to the creation of some Reddit alternatives, such as Voat (I wouldn't recommend anyone here go on that site, though; it's full of racists and other idiots).
I'd also like to add forums offer a much more personal experience than on sites liked Reddit. On Reddit, there's more of a focus on the content at-hand, and with a lack of prominent profile pictures or any sort of deep customization, on top of the upvote system, you sometimes feel like you're looking at a page full of hive-minded individuals. Forums, however, allow their users to customize their profiles and accounts a bit more, leading to an ultimately more personal experience with the members there. There's also the fact that on forums, you're more likely to encounter differing opinions, which many may prefer, even if those opinions strongly conflict with their own.
Even with these advantages, smaller forums simply can't compete with larger sites in terms of popularity, so forums have had to adapt a little to stay afloat, borrowing features and mechanics from sites like Facebook, in addition to creating unique mechanics, such as leveling systems or other forms of ranking.
I'd also like to add forums offer a much more personal experience than on sites liked Reddit. On Reddit, there's more of a focus on the content at-hand, and with a lack of prominent profile pictures or any sort of deep customization, on top of the upvote system, you sometimes feel like you're looking at a page full of hive-minded individuals. Forums, however, allow their users to customize their profiles and accounts a bit more, leading to an ultimately more personal experience with the members there. There's also the fact that on forums, you're more likely to encounter differing opinions, which many may prefer, even if those opinions strongly conflict with their own.
Even with these advantages, smaller forums simply can't compete with larger sites in terms of popularity, so forums have had to adapt a little to stay afloat, borrowing features and mechanics from sites like Facebook, in addition to creating unique mechanics, such as leveling systems or other forms of ranking.
The forum has so many boards for so many different topics and areas of interest, most conversations have an appropriate board and nothing is really "off topic". If you check the active and popular GOT topics of yore you'll find there are now dedicated boards for those things, like "Books, Movies, TV and Music", "Art Studio", "Mobile Phones and Media Players", "World News", and for the most part, Blogs. The "GOT" board appears empty, but there's a ton of activity on those other boards.
As long as companies produce consoles to hack, gbatemp won’t die.
Forums always die if the admin management sucks. On the other hand, if the admin management is steady, and a good community is built upon it, it endures. Not "survives". Remember that people also makes the forum. When too much popularity or "power", if the admin management for some reason, breaches into the stablished userbase (ie, not the few selected or preferred groups, but those who are really useful for the community), then that seem to cause a forum's death.
Not to say also, there are "tactics" where a certain group aims to break the trust between the admin management and the userbase. And that's also a cause for forum deceasing. That's why having thoughtful people behind the admin management is good, because it helps to keep the balance in the community.
Not to say also, there are "tactics" where a certain group aims to break the trust between the admin management and the userbase. And that's also a cause for forum deceasing. That's why having thoughtful people behind the admin management is good, because it helps to keep the balance in the community.
Trouble is I have heard this line* over the years for digg, slashdot, fark, various aspects of myspace, facebook groups, reddit, youtube comments at one point (especially before google+ had failed so spectacularly), tumblr has been floated in the past, some seem to have a thing for discord right now and that is increasingly seeing the wind knocked out of its sails, and I am sure someone said the same thing to people on usenet as well. That it is entirely possible that some of a given age reading this will never have heard of some of those, and that many of the rest will likely have been something along the lines of "oh yeah I remember that" probably says all you really need to know there.
*not to mention the being considered odd for not having an account on those.
Various things have changed, indeed I might bring back science posts to the USN as I kind of miss those discussions, but in general things seem to be doing well.
That said I have noticed an increasing tendency to isolated islands of internet. Time was you would still land on things from a general search. Today I don't know if you can even see instagram as a guest from a web browser and yet people tell me it is a massive service. It might even apply to computing -- seldom does a search land me on spiceworks on stack overflow. On the other hand I don't miss being teased by expert sexchange and its clones.
Edit. Replied while I was writing this
https://cryptome.org/2012/07/gent-forum-spies.htm
*not to mention the being considered odd for not having an account on those.
I don't think it has ever really been among the most active sections of this site. I would consider better metrics for your analysis. Any particular theme that risks taking over GOT tends to get its own forum spun up for it (it is why we have books, tv and movies, the news submission section, the various computing sections, gaming discussions, blogs to some extent...). Said sections are also fairly aggressively enforced.
Various things have changed, indeed I might bring back science posts to the USN as I kind of miss those discussions, but in general things seem to be doing well.
That said I have noticed an increasing tendency to isolated islands of internet. Time was you would still land on things from a general search. Today I don't know if you can even see instagram as a guest from a web browser and yet people tell me it is a massive service. It might even apply to computing -- seldom does a search land me on spiceworks on stack overflow. On the other hand I don't miss being teased by expert sexchange and its clones.
Edit. Replied while I was writing this
A favourite subject of mine actually
https://cryptome.org/2012/07/gent-forum-spies.htm
Last edited by FAST6191,
The biggest problem with Reddit (and other websites mentioned in the above post by FAST6191) is that they're not really designed to discuss topics: most of them are based on link sharing, with the (surprisingly, usually nice) discussion as a side feature - this means very little afterthought is given by the platform about keeping factual information and polite opinions circulating*, much less about having a chance of discussing a barely 2 weeks old post!
In fact, when I need to convert a video for the PSP, what I search for is "ryccardo ffmpeg psp" to dig up what I wanted to see
* of course, if gbatemp staff removed the 4-character minimum for searches...
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As for the merits of single account platforms versus independently managed services (and all the intermediate cases, like Forumfree/Forumcommunity, Invisionfree, StackExchange)... I generally prefer the latter, but enjoy the convenience of the former by using the same username and password
(Since I probably am one of the last hundred thousand people to have actively used usenet [not through a web service] on one hand I find it funny how people rushed back to the "centralized" approach, on the other I don't even know if my current ISP runs a newsserver...)
Last edited by Ryccardo,
I think its the convenience of other sites like reddit where all the information and news just comes in and most people don't want to actually have a discussion about said topic like ryccardo said. You can even see that on the temp with all the guest lurkers viewing the latest hacking threads. Then again i don't particularly hate each place having its own niche of people, its pretty comfortable.
Ah yes, the Bane. Trying to find anything in the DS era was next to impossible.* of course, if gbatemp staff removed the 4-character minimum for searches...
"CFW for the DS"
"DPG on M3"
"mp3 to gbm"
Luckily consoles, flashcards and firmwares these days have the decency to have longer names so they can be searched for
D
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I see your point. Back when I checked /r/3dshacks regularly, the real meat of the content was in the links to various hacking tools and homebrew. Users who made posts asking questions were, more often than not, led by other users to the Stickied FAQ Thread. Heck, some subreddits disallow text posts entirely. This is in contrast to forums, where discussions are encouraged, and organized in the chronological order of posts, as opposed to what posts the greater number of users seem to prefer.The biggest problem with Reddit (and other websites mentioned in the above post by FAST6191) is that they're not really designed to discuss topics: most of them are based on link sharing, with the (surprisingly, usually nice) discussion as a side feature - this means very little afterthought is given by the platform about keeping factual information and polite opinions circulating*, much less about having a chance of discussing a barely 2 weeks old post!
In fact, when I need to convert a video for the PSP, what I search for is "ryccardo ffmpeg psp" to dig up what I wanted to see
* of course, if gbatemp staff removed the 4-character minimum for searches...
---
As for the merits of single account platforms versus independently managed services (and all the intermediate cases, like Forumfree/Forumcommunity, Invisionfree, StackExchange)... I generally prefer the latter, but enjoy the convenience of the former by using the same username and password
(Since I probably am one of the last hundred thousand people to have actively used usenet [not through a web service] on one hand I find it funny how people rushed back to the "centralized" approach, on the other I don't even know if my current ISP runs a newsserver...)
Also, using a password manager like LastPass mitigates that last bit somewhat, making multiple accounts easier, though I'm not sure whether or not you're willing to trust a third party with all of your passwords.
I wouldn't say the temp would die. I sometimes go to Reddit on some subs and most are just short posts that does not have a lot of weight besides the occasional news.
I'd say it's something in between of a Facebook status update and a forum post. It may have a bit more content but not really a lengthy discussion like what forums has. There are even subreddits that post the same news 4-5 times on a span of few days.
As Fast6191 mentioned, off-topic is not a good metric to judge the forum, this is mostly a video game related site. GOT is only if you wish to discuss something not under different subforums.
I would think gbatemp as dead if no gaming related topics remain active.
I'd say it's something in between of a Facebook status update and a forum post. It may have a bit more content but not really a lengthy discussion like what forums has. There are even subreddits that post the same news 4-5 times on a span of few days.
As Fast6191 mentioned, off-topic is not a good metric to judge the forum, this is mostly a video game related site. GOT is only if you wish to discuss something not under different subforums.
I would think gbatemp as dead if no gaming related topics remain active.
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