Do you think forums are making a comeback?

[Josh Average]

I feel like message boards will never be the "dominant" social media platform again, however I feel like there's a small resurgence in interest!

At least for me, seeing and being around the controversies of other more "centralized" social media platforms, it's made me want to get back to message boards. My earliest memories of being online were on forums dedicated to podcasts, fandoms, or hobbies, and I've really wanted to get back to that vibe. Something about having several websites to check on, instead of the one or two, feels so foreign now but fun!

Have you seen any recent surge of interest in forums or your communities?

[Kami]

Jun 27, 2023 14:52:23 GMT -8 Josh Average said:

I feel like message boards will never be the "dominant" social media platform again, however I feel like there's a small resurgence in interest!

At least for me, seeing and being around the controversies of other more "centralized" social media platforms, it's made me want to get back to message boards. My earliest memories of being online were on forums dedicated to podcasts, fandoms, or hobbies, and I've really wanted to get back to that vibe. Something about having several websites to check on, instead of the one or two, feels so foreign now but fun!

Have you seen any recent surge of interest in forums or your communities?

Oh absolutely. It'll never be what it was but people are getting frustrated at the loss of information — as an example, in the games industry, players are getting really fed up with important information only being conveyed in private discord servers or on twitter and missing out on a source of truth / easy way to communicate with other players that doesn't require always being active in a rapid-fire chat.

It's nice tbh.

[Josh Average]

Jun 27, 2023 15:43:46 GMT -8 Kami said:

as an example, in the games industry, players are getting really fed up with important information only being conveyed in private discord servers or on twitter and missing out on a source of truth / easy way to communicate with other players that doesn't require always being active in a rapid-fire chat.

That's a huge thing for me! The amount of Discords I've gone through just to get simple questions answered, or any type of necessary download, when those could have been easily-searchable forum posts is baffling. There is a Pokemon fan game that I'm a huge fan of, but every time I feel like I need to update my downloads and make sure I have the latest version I get so mad that I have to, once again, rejoin a server I'm never going to post in. I feel like a lot of communities are flocking to Discord when a message board would have been fine, or even better. Lots of "when you have a hammer" thinking, it feels like.

Even personally with my own YouTube/Twitch projects I've been trying to move to message boards as a more permanent, searchable platform. Yeah I'll still use Discord for a voice call, but nothing that needs to be searched up or something I want for archival purposes will live on Discord.

[Kami]

Jun 27, 2023 16:00:23 GMT -8 Josh Average said:

Jun 27, 2023 15:43:46 GMT -8 Kami said:

as an example, in the games industry, players are getting really fed up with important information only being conveyed in private discord servers or on twitter and missing out on a source of truth / easy way to communicate with other players that doesn't require always being active in a rapid-fire chat.

That's a huge thing for me! The amount of Discords I've gone through just to get simple questions answered, or any type of necessary download, when those could have been easily-searchable forum posts is baffling. There is a Pokemon fan game that I'm a huge fan of, but every time I feel like I need to update my downloads and make sure I have the latest version I get so mad that I have to, once again, rejoin a server I'm never going to post in. I feel like a lot of communities are flocking to Discord when a message board would have been fine, or even better. Lots of "when you have a hammer" thinking, it feels like.

Even personally with my own YouTube/Twitch projects I've been trying to move to message boards as a more permanent, searchable platform. Yeah I'll still use Discord for a voice call, but nothing that needs to be searched up or something I want for archival purposes will live on Discord.

Yeah absolutely. I think ultimately things will balance out. Discord / socials have their place alongside forums, but they could never 100% replace those communities, if only because of the lack of archival content.

[bricabrach]

     With all the chaos pervading "modern" social media -- not to mention their algorithms which appear to promote such chaos -- I'm hoping to see forums come back.  In fact, forums of popular utility (such as a manufacturer's help board) still hold their own to this day.  Yet, we do have a perception issue.  One member of a forum I'm on made a comment which epitomizes this thinking.  I don't feel comfortable quoting it without their permission, so here's a paraphrase:

... Today's web surfer doesn't feel like bothering with an online message board from the days of landline phones ... only to find it barely alive ...  Platforms come and go, and this one is dated.

     In other words, some think that forums have gone the way of (well, see my avatar).  Of course, not everyone feels this way, yet the perception is hard to shake.  How does one answer criticism like this?

[Kami]

Jul 2, 2023 15:11:08 GMT -8 bricabrach said:

     With all the chaos pervading "modern" social media -- not to mention their algorithms which appear to promote such chaos -- I'm hoping to see forums come back.  In fact, forums of popular utility (such as a manufacturer's help board) still hold their own to this day.  Yet, we do have a perception issue.  One member of a forum I'm on made a comment which epitomizes this thinking.  I don't feel comfortable quoting it without their permission, so here's a paraphrase:

... Today's web surfer doesn't feel like bothering with an online message board from the days of landline phones ... only to find it barely alive ...  Platforms come and go, and this one is dated.

     In other words, some think that forums have gone the way of (well, see my avatar).  Of course, not everyone feels this way, yet the perception is hard to shake.  How does one answer criticism like this?

IMO with design. PB's biggest issue (that is not inherent to software functionality / that is something admins can address) is that PB's UI is incredibly outdated. Outdated UI inevitably leads to a lacklustre user experience (UX), which leads to churn.

In addition, I think folks need to look at how communities are run lately; there is a lot of value in archival information, but certain forum genres will have more success than others simply because archival information is important. For instance, general chat forums will likely be more difficult to "keep alive" if they don't already have an active user base, where as tech forums and roleplays are best when you can see history.

Ultimately, I don't think comments like that are worth responding to. People who have already made up their mind about a platform being "outdated" aren't people you're going to convert. I think the best thing in these situation is to be empathetic, and ask for specific pain points that you can address either procedurally or through plugins / theme. If all they've got is bellyaching about forums being outmoded, theyre not going to change their mind no matter what you really do.

[Sonikku1011]

Jun 27, 2023 16:00:23 GMT -8 Josh Average said:

Jun 27, 2023 15:43:46 GMT -8 Kami said:

as an example, in the games industry, players are getting really fed up with important information only being conveyed in private discord servers or on twitter and missing out on a source of truth / easy way to communicate with other players that doesn't require always being active in a rapid-fire chat.

That's a huge thing for me! The amount of Discords I've gone through just to get simple questions answered, or any type of necessary download, when those could have been easily-searchable forum posts is baffling. There is a Pokemon fan game that I'm a huge fan of, but every time I feel like I need to update my downloads and make sure I have the latest version I get so mad that I have to, once again, rejoin a server I'm never going to post in. I feel like a lot of communities are flocking to Discord when a message board would have been fine, or even better. Lots of "when you have a hammer" thinking, it feels like.

Even personally with my own YouTube/Twitch projects I've been trying to move to message boards as a more permanent, searchable platform. Yeah I'll still use Discord for a voice call, but nothing that needs to be searched up or something I want for archival purposes will live on Discord.

I honestly wish more communities stuck with a forum over a Discord server since you can easily find whatever you're looking for. Discord is good for Youtubers to have a place to just chill with their audience, but it can never replace forums. In fact, I've recently read on another forum I frequent that they joined a Discord server and the server admins decided to move to a forum since it fit their needs better. Sure there's Reddit, but it's not as organized as a traditional forum.

[bricabrach]

Jul 2, 2023 16:11:07 GMT -8 Kami said:

... IMO with design. PB's biggest issue (that is not inherent to software functionality / that is something admins can address) is that PB's UI is incredibly outdated. Outdated UI inevitably leads to a lacklustre user experience (UX), which leads to churn.  ...

Ultimately, I don't think comments like that are worth responding to. People who have already made up their mind about a platform being "outdated" aren't people you're going to convert.  ...

     V5's UI is quite acceptable on desktops / laptops.  On the other hand, it's difficult on tablets and practically unusable on phones.  With so many on small devices, this is problematic.  V6 was supposed to fix the mobile experience, but it looks like we'll have to wait for that.

Jul 9, 2023 15:59:39 GMT -8 Sonikku1011 said:

... I honestly wish more communities stuck with a forum over a Discord server since you can easily find whatever you're looking for. Discord is good for Youtubers to have a place to just chill with their audience, but it can never replace forums. In fact, I've recently read on another forum I frequent that they joined a Discord server and the server admins decided to move to a forum since it fit their needs better. Sure there's Reddit, but it's not as organized as a traditional forum.

     Absolutely, although on Proboards searching on multiple words finds more posts than it should.

[Kami]

Jul 10, 2023 7:05:30 GMT -8 bricabrach said:

Jul 2, 2023 16:11:07 GMT -8 Kami said:

... IMO with design. PB's biggest issue (that is not inherent to software functionality / that is something admins can address) is that PB's UI is incredibly outdated. Outdated UI inevitably leads to a lacklustre user experience (UX), which leads to churn.  ...

Ultimately, I don't think comments like that are worth responding to. People who have already made up their mind about a platform being "outdated" aren't people you're going to convert.  ...

     V5's UI is quite acceptable on desktops / laptops.  On the other hand, it's difficult on tablets and practically unusable on phones.  With so many on small devices, this is problematic.  V6 was supposed to fix the mobile experience, but it looks like we'll have to wait for that.

Jul 9, 2023 15:59:39 GMT -8 Sonikku1011 said:

... I honestly wish more communities stuck with a forum over a Discord server since you can easily find whatever you're looking for. Discord is good for Youtubers to have a place to just chill with their audience, but it can never replace forums. In fact, I've recently read on another forum I frequent that they joined a Discord server and the server admins decided to move to a forum since it fit their needs better. Sure there's Reddit, but it's not as organized as a traditional forum.

     Absolutely, although on Proboards searching on multiple words finds more posts than it should.

I don't disagree that the UI/UX on desktop is acceptable. It is. But I didn't say it wasn't acceptable, I said it was outdated. Outdated UI includes the fact that the mobile / tablet experience is not an identical experience to the desktop.

[DDude]

There's a chance there may be a mild resurgence with the recent issues with reddit and communities heading for the exit. I'm a member of one particular subreddit that has fled to Discord but we have a channel discussing where to move permanently, as Discord really isn't a great place for longform discussion. I'm trying to steer them towards Proboards lol