6 ms·

There is no need to “bring back” forums, there are plenty that already exist. You just need to participate in them if that’s what you want.

8-prime 3mo ago
With how many times I have seen the "forum" for a community be a Discord server I would say that there has been a noticable shift away from independently hosted forums. Which is what I would associate with a "proper" forum.
prmoustache 3mo ago
This, I don't really understand this "bring back" things, there are a handful of forums I am visiting almost daily. And they are probably my most visited websites alongside hackernews and a couple of others.
- salaryman777 3mo ago
  Could you list a few?
  - prmoustache 3mo ago
    electronic music production (hosted by elektron but discussion about other gear is accepted): https://elektronauts.com https://elektronauts.com cycling: https://velocipedesalon.com https://velocipedesalon.com https://forums.thepaceline.net https://forums.thepaceline.net simracing: https://simracingonline.co.uk https://simracingonline.co.uk https://www.lfs.net/forum https://www.lfs.net/forum https://www.overtake.gg/forums/ https://www.overtake.gg/forums/ And a few others I visit less frequently but I won't mention because I have already leaked a lot of information :-) I guess there are still a ton of forums that cover a wide variety of hobbies/interests.
  - mlrtime 3mo ago
    https://www.avsforum.com/ https://www.avsforum.com/ has been running for around 30 years. Still my go to for in depth HT discussion. Much better than reddit.
  - ptx 3mo ago
    FreeBSD forums, using XenForo which doesn't seem to be open source: https://forums.freebsd.org/ https://forums.freebsd.org/ Arch Linux forums, using FluxBB: https://bbs.archlinux.org/ https://bbs.archlinux.org/ Free Pascal forums, using Simple Machines Forum: https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/ https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/ Python forums, using Discourse: https://discuss.python.org/ https://discuss.python.org/ Nim forums, using their own nimforum software written in Nim: https://forum.nim-lang.org/ https://forum.nim-lang.org/
    - cwnyth 3mo ago
      LinuxForums has been going strong for decades. My account there dates to 2004.
  - HiroProtagonist 3mo ago
    A small but great little community: https://leviathanalpha.com/ https://leviathanalpha.com/
  - wpm 3mo ago
    68KMLA (68K Macintosh Liberation Army): https://68kmla.org/bb/ https://68kmla.org/bb/
  - ddejohn 3mo ago
    I still regularly visit TheGearPage forum for musicians (mostly guitarists), and it's still active. There's also Hardforum for hardware related discussions, though I don't visit as often anymore. Many others I used to visit are dead.
  - sph 3mo ago
    Motorsports: forums.autosport.com is very much alive Also f1technical.net
  - saguntum 3mo ago
    Bogleheads forum is great: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php There's a Spain equivalent forum also if you poke around
- kthartic 3mo ago
  Such as?
  - boofus 3mo ago
    https://tl.net https://tl.net is a great old school forum if you like RTS games
LightBug1 3mo ago
True, but I genuinely think we lost something over the years. This all might be a feeling that we lost what was, and that we know we can do it again, but it's impossible to replicate what we had (format and, more importantly, the users). It might not be a platform issue, but a "corporate X decide to scrap forum Y", and it never was the same again. I've seen this a few times, and it basically blew up incredibly tight and excellent groups.
- m4rtink 3mo ago
  Yeah, ideally the system used should be something distributed like NNTP or a free software forum software with an easy import/export option + frequent export snapshots anyone can download. Then if the forum goes down for whatever reason, one or more community members can rehost it elsewhere.
cwnyth 3mo ago
Even there, though, a lot of the forums are dead or decayed or have disappeared. It's not like it was even 10 years ago.

8-prime 3mo ago

With how many times I have seen the "forum" for a community be a Discord server I would say that there has been a noticable shift away from independently hosted forums. Which is what I would associate with a "proper" forum.

prmoustache 3mo ago

This, I don't really understand this "bring back" things, there are a handful of forums I am visiting almost daily. And they are probably my most visited websites alongside hackernews and a couple of others.

salaryman777 3mo ago
Could you list a few?
- prmoustache 3mo ago
  electronic music production (hosted by elektron but discussion about other gear is accepted): https://elektronauts.com https://elektronauts.com cycling: https://velocipedesalon.com https://velocipedesalon.com https://forums.thepaceline.net https://forums.thepaceline.net simracing: https://simracingonline.co.uk https://simracingonline.co.uk https://www.lfs.net/forum https://www.lfs.net/forum https://www.overtake.gg/forums/ https://www.overtake.gg/forums/ And a few others I visit less frequently but I won't mention because I have already leaked a lot of information :-) I guess there are still a ton of forums that cover a wide variety of hobbies/interests.
- mlrtime 3mo ago
  https://www.avsforum.com/ https://www.avsforum.com/ has been running for around 30 years. Still my go to for in depth HT discussion. Much better than reddit.
- ptx 3mo ago
  FreeBSD forums, using XenForo which doesn't seem to be open source: https://forums.freebsd.org/ https://forums.freebsd.org/ Arch Linux forums, using FluxBB: https://bbs.archlinux.org/ https://bbs.archlinux.org/ Free Pascal forums, using Simple Machines Forum: https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/ https://forum.lazarus.freepascal.org/ Python forums, using Discourse: https://discuss.python.org/ https://discuss.python.org/ Nim forums, using their own nimforum software written in Nim: https://forum.nim-lang.org/ https://forum.nim-lang.org/
  - cwnyth 3mo ago
    LinuxForums has been going strong for decades. My account there dates to 2004.
- HiroProtagonist 3mo ago
  A small but great little community: https://leviathanalpha.com/ https://leviathanalpha.com/
- wpm 3mo ago
  68KMLA (68K Macintosh Liberation Army): https://68kmla.org/bb/ https://68kmla.org/bb/
- ddejohn 3mo ago
  I still regularly visit TheGearPage forum for musicians (mostly guitarists), and it's still active. There's also Hardforum for hardware related discussions, though I don't visit as often anymore. Many others I used to visit are dead.
- sph 3mo ago
  Motorsports: forums.autosport.com is very much alive Also f1technical.net
- saguntum 3mo ago
  Bogleheads forum is great: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/index.php There's a Spain equivalent forum also if you poke around
kthartic 3mo ago
Such as?
- boofus 3mo ago
  https://tl.net https://tl.net is a great old school forum if you like RTS games

LightBug1 3mo ago

True, but I genuinely think we lost something over the years. This all might be a feeling that we lost what was, and that we know we can do it again, but it's impossible to replicate what we had (format and, more importantly, the users). It might not be a platform issue, but a "corporate X decide to scrap forum Y", and it never was the same again. I've seen this a few times, and it basically blew up incredibly tight and excellent groups.

m4rtink 3mo ago
Yeah, ideally the system used should be something distributed like NNTP or a free software forum software with an easy import/export option + frequent export snapshots anyone can download. Then if the forum goes down for whatever reason, one or more community members can rehost it elsewhere.

cwnyth 3mo ago

Even there, though, a lot of the forums are dead or decayed or have disappeared. It's not like it was even 10 years ago.