Are forums coming back to life? I am getting tired of Social Media

[JoshB]

Think that one major reason is that people are searching for things. Mostly information that had been posted in Discord or other walled gardens. We all know how great Discord search really is and even for some Reddit has let many down with the quality of the content found there.

Forums are just a natural part of the Internet and I really don't think that it'll go away anytime soon.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Yes - I see like the gaming official forums do great though. Like destiny has a great one. Mostly for looking for groups is the main for them, but people end up discussing things.

Yeah gaming forums, tech forums and computer help forums will exist for years to come. It’s a great way to get help with technical issues without the load of clutter seen on discord. Forums just work better than realtime chat for certain things, and I don’t see that going away anytime soon, especially as malware training is given for free to those who choose to volunteer time helping others with malware issues. I’m yet to see such special services on discord.

 

[Senkusha]

I also think there’re way too many forums for everyone to settle into a single place

Although, this could be considered a good thing. It means that there is variety out there for specific subjects/areas. We all can't please everybody all the time. So, some people don't mix well with others. So having several forums dedicated to a specific topic means less toxic behavior in the forum. Like-minded folks attract to each other.

I personally seeing forums may be coming back mostly in part because of the censorship that seems to be happening on Social Media. That and the overwhelming advertising that occurs on most social media platforms. People are constantly complaining about posts being removed because of "content violations", (some stuff that seems tame), but yet more risque posts stay up. There seems to be a lack of consistency. And the Social Media giants are simply TOO BIG, and have mostly automated the post moderation process. Then you have large companies like YouTube that go and change their algorithm and remove alternative medicines, as an example, because big pharma wants more dollars. Facebook is flooded by annoying advertising. So much so, that I've mostly stopped using Facebook entirely.

People are coming back to forums because they are more tightly-knit, and the forums that are based on community versus advertising revenue, I think will see the most growth soon as more people get tired of the constant barrage of censorship and advertising that gets in the way of their content consumption.

I know this is one of the main points I highlight to other people whenever I have a chance to have this conversation, because I know that I'm really sick and tired of running into censorship in the "land of the free". And I'm so tired of all the darn ads! Of course, not to mention the highly organized fashion forums tend to have over just a timeline of posts/content via social media giants.

 

[Tracy]

I see less older people form 50 and up lately lol

What really surprises me.... my niche can be a somewhat "expensive" one... and you would expect us retired "old farts" to have a heavy presence in it... but apparently (by my site data) that is overtly not true. Those still in the "working age" range appear to be interested in it.

And yes.. my site is a small one on the scale of things.. but that makes it even MORE apparent that a small site brings in those type stats.

The overall breakdown (other than the 65+ area) was not really that surprising... what really kicked me in the ass was the 18-24 range ranked higher than the 25-34 range.
It's promising that the youth of our age are interested in at least one aspect of the core sciences.

 

[Empire]

What really surprises me.... my niche can be a somewhat "expensive" one... and you would expect us retired "old farts" to have a heavy presence in it... but apparently (by my site data) that is overtly not true. Those still in the "working age" range appear to be interested in it.

View attachment 2142

And yes.. my site is a small one on the scale of things.. but that makes it even MORE apparent that a small site brings in those type stats.

The overall breakdown (other than the 65+ area) was not really that surprising... what really kicked me in the ass was the 18-24 range ranked higher than the 25-34 range.
It's promising that the youth of our age are interested in at least one aspect of the core sciences.

Well, depends on the site you running, I mean on my end I have mostly 20's and max of 40's

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Although, this could be considered a good thing. It means that there is variety out there for specific subjects/areas. We all can't please everybody all the time. So, some people don't mix well with others. So having several forums dedicated to a specific topic means less toxic behavior in the forum. Like-minded folks attract to each other.

I personally seeing forums may be coming back mostly in part because of the censorship that seems to be happening on Social Media. That and the overwhelming advertising that occurs on most social media platforms. People are constantly complaining about posts being removed because of "content violations", (some stuff that seems tame), but yet more risque posts stay up. There seems to be a lack of consistency. And the Social Media giants are simply TOO BIG, and have mostly automated the post moderation process. Then you have large companies like YouTube that go and change their algorithm and remove alternative medicines, as an example, because big pharma wants more dollars. Facebook is flooded by annoying advertising. So much so, that I've mostly stopped using Facebook entirely.

People are coming back to forums because they are more tightly-knit, and the forums that are based on community versus advertising revenue, I think will see the most growth soon as more people get tired of the constant barrage of censorship and advertising that gets in the way of their content consumption.

I know this is one of the main points I highlight to other people whenever I have a chance to have this conversation, because I know that I'm really sick and tired of running into censorship in the "land of the free". And I'm so tired of all the darn ads! Of course, not to mention the highly organized fashion forums tend to have over just a timeline of posts/content via social media giants.

I’d say forums censor more than social media, but in a healthier way. I feel like social media censor posts whenever it makes them look bad any just for anyone high profile. Forums don’t apply favouritism. They censor uncivil posts. Rules are enforced more consistently than on social media, providing the moderation team is unbiased. Of course there are forums better than others.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I’d say forums censor more than social media, but in a healthier way. I feel like social media censor posts whenever it makes them look bad any just for anyone high profile. Forums don’t apply favouritism. They censor uncivil posts. Rules are enforced more consistently than on social media, providing the moderation team is unbiased. Of course there are forums better than others.

Social media, or at the very least Facebook's moderation is a complete joke. They censor things that are tame but let racist posts slide. Doesn't make any sense really, makes me wonder if it's all ran by bots and no humans actually review the posts. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest lol. That's one thing you'll get when you post in a forum, there are staff members who are human that keep an eye on the community. Sure there's plenty of forums that use bots to post news feeds, but that's completely different.

 

[Excommunicado]

I’m back on forums so I guess that counts as forums ‘coming back to life’ xD

On a serious note though, I don’t see forums appealing to the younger generation, my generation was probably the last generation to use forums, but returning users, sure!

 

[Cory]

I don’t see forums appealing to the younger generation

I've always seen most social media as a place to receive instant gratification and the attention you seek from your friends and family. The use of likes/upvotes probably makes people feel more special and of course, if you have family and friends on your social media they will likely give you praise rather than put you down. Places like Reddit are where a lot of people vent anonymously and even have throwaway accounts to prevent their SO or family/friends from finding their account. There are many things that satisfy the younger generation on social media and even other generations as well. Forums used to be largely geared toward the younger generation, but once social media started gearing up, that interest in forums started to die down. Nowadays, it seems mostly people who want to create their own community or are just nostalgic about forums are the primary ones interested in them. Only the future will tell if forums become more popular again or die down even more due to newer internet technologies. It's hard to assume what will happen in the foreseeable future to forums. I think they'll always be around to an extent, but maybe just not as popular as they once were.

 

[Smokey]

Social media, or at the very least Facebook's moderation is a complete joke. They censor things that are tame but let racist posts slide. Doesn't make any sense really, makes me wonder if it's all ran by bots and no humans actually review the posts. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest lol. That's one thing you'll get when you post in a forum, there are staff members who are human that keep an eye on the community. Sure there's plenty of forums that use bots to post news feeds, but that's completely different.

Facebook is 100% all ran by AI bots.

 

[Excommunicado]

I think they'll always be around to an extent, but maybe just not as popular as they once were.

I agree. I think that’s been the case for the past decade - forums have decreased in popularity hugely but there’s still a demographic of people that have been using forums for a long time and will continue doing so.

 

[Mike30]

Facebook is 100% all ran by AI bots.

I reported on FB a couple of post/pages that were clearly scams and their answer was totally non-sense. It must be a bot 200%. The scammers (with a fishing page) are still up after months reporting it.. FB is a total joke these days. I was running some groups, and just pure scam left and right. It is just insane.

 

[Smokey]

I reported on FB a couple of post/pages that were clearly scams and their answer was totally non-sense. It must be a bot 200%. The scammers (with a fishing page) are still up after months reporting it.. FB is a total joke these days. I was running some groups, and just pure scam left and right. It is just insane.

My website's FB page was inaccessible for awhile and i had to try to get the old URL for it back (facebook.com/revillution) i had to jump through so many hoops to get it back......because of their BS AI systems.

 

[Uncrowned]

My website's FB page was inaccessible for awhile and i had to try to get the old URL for it back (facebook.com/revillution) i had to jump through so many hoops to get it back......because of their BS AI systems.

This is the issue with social media. One day it can all just be gone, and Meta has little care for your small group or page if someone finds it offensive or whatever may be the case.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Social media, or at the very least Facebook's moderation is a complete joke. They censor things that are tame but let racist posts slide. Doesn't make any sense really, makes me wonder if it's all ran by bots and no humans actually review the posts. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest lol. That's one thing you'll get when you post in a forum, there are staff members who are human that keep an eye on the community. Sure there's plenty of forums that use bots to post news feeds, but that's completely different.

I recall X promoting hate speech, and criticism over Musk's refusal to take it down.

 

[Empire]

It's not going to comeback in a leaf away anyway, most software are thinking ways to what they can offer and have, IPB lately has been doing that

 

[Al]

It'll be a cold day in hell before forums retake the top space from social media. It's a generational thing. This generation has been raised on tiktok and has a short memory. The thought required for a forum is too much for most kiddies.

 

[Cedric]

It'll be a cold day in hell before forums retake the top space from social media. It's a generational thing. This generation has been raised on tiktok and has a short memory. The thought required for a forum is too much for most kiddies.

Agreed. It's even reflecting on our educational level. There has been reports that education is in decline. At least making forums trains our brain.

 

[Al]

There are over 8 billion people on the planet. Even if 7 billion are absolute morons it still leaves a billion potential forumites. I’m not ready to give up hope yet.

 

[Cedric]

There are over 8 billion people on the planet. Even if 7 billion are absolute morons it still leaves a billion potential forumites. I’m not ready to give up hope yet.

Well put, very amusingly, lol. But yeah, there's enough internet for everyone.