Topic: Who doesn't love forums

I spend hours on Neo Gaf, For real I don't understand why people don't use forums, the internet is a dark place, we should go back to the roots, forums are really good, like old SMS based messaging, you are only meant to do it once. I want to understand why people are not using forums but use reddit which is a big forum

@Snorlaxcat I wish I knew the answer. I'm more comfortable in a forum than on Reddit; that is for sure! Forums can often be quite unwelcoming towards people who have less knowledge than the regulars though, so probably puts some people off.

Yeah, we can make the onboarding more welcoming!

I've long been of the opinion that old-school hobby forums will be the bulwark against big-tech domination of the internet. Unfortunately participation is a little more difficult to manage, with busy life styles meaning our attention is limited for multiple communication channels, especially as few forums have mastered the mobile friendly bit.

My 2c on why Reddit continues to dominate is 2 things: 1) critical mass on an established platform and 2) Reddit is essentially the everything forum, where 1 account gives you access to tens of thousands of sub-forums in every size of broad or niche interest.

It is also the anti-social-media social media where a lot of millennials grew up, therefore retention is a case of friction; how enshittified does it need to make people overcome the familiarity and leave? Personally I still lurk using a Redlib front-end; if that gets defeated, I would drop it entirely.

And yes, definitely +1 to antdickens comment; established forums (like subreddits) tend to foster individuals who take up all the air in the room, who love to crap on others...

Rambling aside, what can we do? IDK man... but a start is each of us doing our bit to foster participation and community around our shared passion, and hope people are drawn to it like moths to the light