What is/was your favorite internet forum?

Jean-F · 12 Jun 2019 at 23:46

Some 7 or 8 years back, I was on Digital Spy, it was great IMO, and I lightly fenced with a few contributors, I even drew the admiration of a 30 something teacher, and we almost got together, but not quite.
There were many interesting threads, and I was enjoying myself immensely.
Then someone started a thread about travellers, and the many antisocial things that they were guilty of, and disliking them intensely, I jumped in, feet first.
Unfortunately, but truthfully I thought, I labelled them untermenschen, and some offended soul picked up on the fact that that was the word that the Nazi regime employed to describe Jews and Slavs.
Shazam! A permanent ban!

PiKe · 12 Jun 2019 at 23:51

Wireplay.

dowie · 13 Jun 2019 at 00:20

danlightbulb said:
I do wonder why forums have to be moderated really. If offensive comments are written then so what, we are all adults here. Is there a legal reason why offensive comments cannot be publically stored on a forum?

Content that breaks the law(threats, hate speech etc...) or is perhaps libellous, infringes copyright etc... still needs to be moderated. It’s also useful to moderate spam bots etc... but yeah you could have a forum that is not moderated much. You might have issues with blatant trolls though.

Obvs in the case of this forum there is an associated business to worry about too so they have an image to protect.

Yadda · 13 Jun 2019 at 00:23

Jean-F said:
Some 7 or 8 years back, I was on Digital Spy, it was great IMO, and I lightly fenced with a few contributors, I even drew the admiration of a 30 something teacher, and we almost got together, but not quite.
There were many interesting threads, and I was enjoying myself immensely.
Then someone started a thread about travellers, and the many antisocial things that they were guilty of, and disliking them intensely, I jumped in, feet first.
Unfortunately, but truthfully I thought, I labelled them untermenschen, and some offended soul picked up on the fact that that was the word that the Nazi regime employed to describe Jews and Slavs.
Shazam! A permanent ban!

Well that's ******* really interesting that tho.

danlightbulb · 13 Jun 2019 at 00:34

dowie said:
Content that breaks the law(threats, hate speech etc...) or is perhaps libellous, infringes copyright etc... still needs to be moderated.

But how is that the fault of the forum itself, its the users who are typing the content who are accoubtable.

dowie · 13 Jun 2019 at 00:47

danlightbulb said:
But how is that the fault of the forum itself, its the users who are typing the content who are accoubtable.

Because the forum is hosting it. Sure the initial comment isn’t their fault, the failure to deal after it is highlighted/noticed is their fault though. If a US website gets a DMCA notice or a UK one gets a cease and desist letter then they’d best deal with it if required else face further legal action.

Josh · 13 Jun 2019 at 06:26

SHMCC later to become SM.

Jean-F · 13 Jun 2019 at 06:36

Yadda said:
Well that's ******* really interesting that tho.

I can only explain it to you, I can’t understand it for you.

FortuitousFluke · 13 Jun 2019 at 06:37

Orionaut said:
(Do not say OCUK!, that's cheating! )

I recall people like "Lady Luxury" (I am guessing, at the time, a smart mid teen girl)

I believe you mean 46 year old man.

I used to post on the guardian's gaming pages, they had a page called chatter box which was basically a dummy article where the comments formed a kind of forum. Nice community.

azazl187 · 13 Jun 2019 at 06:38

Ocuk of course...

garnett · 13 Jun 2019 at 06:52

Jean-F said:
Some 7 or 8 years back, I was on Digital Spy, it was great IMO, and I lightly fenced with a few contributors, I even drew the admiration of a 30 something teacher, and we almost got together, but not quite.
There were many interesting threads, and I was enjoying myself immensely.
Then someone started a thread about travellers, and the many antisocial things that they were guilty of, and disliking them intensely, I jumped in, feet first.
Unfortunately, but truthfully I thought, I labelled them untermenschen, and some offended soul picked up on the fact that that was the word that the Nazi regime employed to describe Jews and Slavs.
Shazam! A permanent ban!

You labelled travellers "untermenschen" and somebody had the temerity to draw a link to the Nazis?

Eurofighter · 13 Jun 2019 at 06:58

The Westwood forums were where I got started on the net. Discussing Red Alert and Command and Conqueur.

Also there was this one called Totse where people discussed drugs. Loads of prescription drug addicts taking all sorts of stuff. Not surprised it closed.

Malevolence · 13 Jun 2019 at 07:01

Netwings.org

robgmun · 13 Jun 2019 at 07:15

da_mic_1530 said:
Xda

The snobby on that forum was idiotic. Like they were born with that knowledge and any newbe was to be looked down on. Most of them were a bunch of ***** and i only went there out of necessity

Efour · 13 Jun 2019 at 07:22

Barrysworld i think i used to lurk on a lot. PLayed HLDM and the then mods like CS and TFC Day of Defeat.
THen as I moved to MMO games like Dark Age of Camelot, that forum was vaguely important I remember. I think they had an mIRC channel too.... Seriously it was 20 years ago and i can't remember yesterday...

Luckystrike123 · 13 Jun 2019 at 07:32

I spent a lot of time frequenting Muscletalk which was my favorite forum along with OcUK.

Like most forums it's nothing like it was 10-15 years ago, but it's nice to see that James (board owner) appears to be doing well with his Huel venture.

da_mic_1530 · 13 Jun 2019 at 07:45

robgmun said:
The snobby on that forum was idiotic. Like they were born with that knowledge and any newbe was to be looked down on. Most of them were a bunch of ***** and i only went there out of necessity

I've never posted, but the information and output from that community is something I've valued over the years

wez130 · 13 Jun 2019 at 07:56

The first forums i frequented on the internet was 'mpfreescene', later renamed to 'mpfspromotions', it was a Trance music based forum, i know there are 1 or 2 other ex members of those forums on here, one of those is @krooton. I miss those forums, they were great back in the day with some really interesting members.
I also spent a lot of time on 'talkphotography' forums when i bought my first DSLR back in 2003.

Although not forums, my first 'social' experience on the internet was Excite Chat chatrooms, had some really good times on there, lots of social meets too! I was gutted when Excite stopped supporting them

Bickaxe · 13 Jun 2019 at 08:07

PC Zone and then CVG when it took over.
Then the console loving teenagers joined in when Future merged everything and I stopped using it.
Wireplay before that.

krooton · 13 Jun 2019 at 08:09

wez130 said:
The first forums i frequented on the internet was 'mpfreescene', later renamed to 'mpfspromotions', it was a Trance music based forum, i know there are 1 or 2 other ex members of those forums on here, one of those is @krooton. I miss those forums, they were great back in the day with some really interesting members.

Good Times! MPFS and TranceAddict were my first ever forums, followed by OCUK and HarderFaster.

Non forums would be B3ta, Sinfest and RatherGood.