Internet forums becoming irrelevant?

Van Hellseek said:
I agree that forums have a use, but I fear the trend amongst the masses will be to favour SN over forums
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Do we really want the masses though?

Have you ever tried to read the discussions that appear on facebook? It's all illiterate ***** who seem to forget they are putting their opinions across without anonymity. We get our fair share of ***** but for the most part it's in a small enough dose that it's funny rather than nauseous.
 
This is the only forum I use and I can't see my use of it diminishing... well, I have changed as a personality since December due to full time work.

OCUK is here to stay for a good while :)
 
I would say there are fewer small forums now. Only the big ones are sticking around. It's a good thing though in my opinion - Why talk about different things on different forums when you can talk about different things on one big forum :p

I used to use many different forums, now I really only use OcUK & Reddit.
 
OcUK is 10 times bigger than when I joined 10 years ago, although I still have many old forums bookmarked that have long disappeared :(

MW
 
Depends on your preferences. I hate social media sites and I think a lot of others too so forums will always have a place.
 
I don't think the larger forums even recognise social networking (what a terrible term, really) as A Thing. It's just another fad with a catchy moniker. I can think of at least 4 huge forums which cater for

such as chatting and your favourite games & movies/music etc facebook & SN groups
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and you wouldn't even touch the surface. Not even close.
 
(Magnolia-) You've missed my point completely. I'm not referring to large forums, since they were mostly established before SN.

Lets say you want to start a forum now... Regardless of the topic, how much interest would it get?

Here's a clue... None.
 
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But that's always been the way Van Hellseek. There's always too many forums and communities springing up. Even before AOL hit the internet it was that way.
 
Sorry but facebook cannot serve my purposes.
Maybe for your average person who talks about mundane average things but it doesn't even begin to cut the mustard, I use many forums that are filled to the brim with very knowledgeable people who are great for helping each other out. Facebook can't do this.
If I have a question, I can go on any of these forums and it's great.
 
Van Hellseek said:
(Magnolia:) You've missed my point completely. I'm not referring to large forums, since they were mostly established before SN.

Lets say you want to start a forum now... Regardless of the topic, how much interest would it get?

Here's a clue... None.
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You have this the wrong way around. Very, very large forums were around before social networking became A Thing. They are still here and nothing has changed.

If you wanted to start a new forum now I'd imagine your bigger problem would be those massive forums and not 'SN'.
 
The Halk said:
But that's always been the way Van Hellseek. There's always too many forums and communities springing up. Even before AOL hit the internet it was that way.
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/\ No, not to the degree it is these days. If you really believe that you haven't been using the internet for as long as us olbies (15+years).
 
Van Hellseek said:
The only exception is very large forums (most of which were started before the days of SN), and even those seem to be fast losing popularity.

Opinions?
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Van Hellseek said:
I agree that forums have a use, but I fear the trend amongst the masses will be to favour SN over forums, unlike the old days where it was forums or GTFO.

Plus lets not forget, most posters here will be a little biased, for obvious reasons... :)
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Is that not a bit unfair? Asking for opinions then dismissing them as being biased or missing the point when they're not agreeing with you?

I use both Facebook and a couple of forums but they tend to be for different things - Facebook is for keeping in touch with friends I know personally and forums tend to be a more general thing for interacting with a variety of people, some who I'll never meet or even want to and others who I know and consider friends.
 
Van Hellseek said:
(Magnolia-) You've missed my point completely. I'm not referring to large forums, since they were mostly established before SN.

Lets say you want to start a forum now... Regardless of the topic, how much interest would it get?

Here's a clue... None.
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Forums are not an "idea", they are a tool like the internet itself. There will always be forums because people don't like to argue with their friends in general and they want to talk to people that have a different view from their own.

99% of my friends don't have any interest in discussing the things I talk about on here. Having a hundred thousand peoples thoughts going into a forum is always going to be better than talking to a couple of mates on facebook. Unlike most women I know, I hate gossiping about the same things over and over and over again with the same outcome thus I come to forums to talk about interesting topics and sometimes things I had never considered before.
 
So you mean pre 1997 when ... I can't be bothered.

e : ah, stuff happened since my post. Seek doesn't like other opinions. That's me in the corner, all covered in surprise.
 
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Van Hellseek said:
(Magnolia-) You've missed my point completely. I'm not referring to large forums, since they were mostly established before SN.

Lets say you want to start a forum now... Regardless of the topic, how much interest would it get?

Here's a clue... None.
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That assumes that large established forums have a static membership that predates SN, they don't.
 
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