Internet forums becoming irrelevant?

[FnG]magnolia;21651911 said:
Seek doesn't like other opinions. That's me in the corner, all covered in surprise.
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Nice argument. Wonderful debating with you bro.

Remember my earlier comment about forums being reduced to elitist *****s? Seems Very relevant right now... :)
 
I visit forums to debate, be challenge, listen to new ideas & understand people I wouldn't always choose to socialise with.

While I may not agree with many of the people hear, It's important to understand all points of view - even the ones you disagree with.

SN sites are used to keep track of friends, get ***-bit updates but nothing of any real substance.

I've just use it as a news-feed (linked up-to various groups, RSA, political groups, technology companies) - my "news feed" is news.
 
mrbell1984 said:
Did everyone hear the latest rumor OcUK are to charge for a subscription to the forums very soon!
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Cat amongst the pigeons.

One of the things that I think is sorely lacking in most people in this country is the ability to discuss and reason which is (should be) the basis of forums so I think they are a great thing. I hate the fact that social networks tend to keep people in their own little bubble where friends feed delusions and idiotic views and anyone who tries to have a reasoned discussion is attacked as if they have launched a direct attack on their friend.

We are a society that puts far too much emphasis on having a view on everything and not enough on actually being able to back it up with anything more than emotion.
 
Forums exist as a form of discussion and way of sharing information, it's a pretty basic human social aspect, fundamentally it's no different to what people are doing on social networking sites and similar. The only thing that changes is the sites and methods that people do it through.

You only need to look back through the internet's relatively short history to see how quickly it changes. Thirteen or so years back, I remember everyone tended to communicate using ICQ, that didn't last.
 
Nexus said:
Forums exist as a form of discussion and way of sharing information, it's a pretty basic human social aspect, fundamentally it's no different to what people are doing on social networking sites and similar.
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I really don't believe that social networking sites encourage discussion at all. They are designed to link you with people that are a reflection of your own views and hobbies. They are great as a social interaction tool and a method to contact like minded people but we should be trying to expand peoples views not surround them with yes men.

If you go to a facebook group about how god created the world you are not going to find a lot of reasoned discussion. Look at youtube; almost every video is just full of comments that make you doubt the viability of the future of the human race.
 
Nexus said:
It's still discussion though, not necessarily great discussion.
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Hmm, I personally think that is a very dangerous path to go down. Horrendous example but do you think that terrorist organisations indulge in reasoned discussion.

When you live in a democracy you are kind of relying on the people voting having at least a basic understanding of the issues they are weighing in on. We laud the "average voter" as the bedrock of politics yet when listening to the interviews with joe public around elections I find myself despairing of the outcome. Emotion and self-interest have never been the building blocks of a good discussion in my experience.
 
Tyron said:
But who is to say they wont have a discussion with them at some point in time?
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I don't think we are dismissing social networks as a place devoid of reasoned discussion but go on your facebook and see how much of it is filled by people being stupid and fishing for affirmation of their misguided views.
 
mrbell1984 said:
Not really a discussion though is it? if your just connecting to people without the actual talk part like what value OcUK Forums have.
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You are aware that there are places you can discuss with posts in a somewhat forum style on Facebook, such as pages and groups?

Ultimately I think there is also something of a generational aspect to it. There will be many using the internet who have used forums because they existed long before social networking sites did. However you've got many who are now growing up with Facebook and similar, so see that as a way of discussing things in groups.

You also have the fact that many people want to casually ask something without having to register to post. That's again where Facebook or Google+ is useful because you can do it through your account, in much the same way that so many apps are offering logins through Facebook now.

I personally used to use many forums in the past. The only ones I use these days are this as a fairly general one (despite it being a computer shop) and I'll go to anything specialised if I require knowledge of something that is difficult to get elsewhere.
 
I would only ever post a computer hardware/software or general IT (such as PS3) questions on here. I ask car questions here too.

I would never ask those questions on a social networking sight as the answer would probably be wrong.
 
Stev said:
Personally I adore forums, especially this one due to its central theme, computing. But also due to is sheer range of different subjects!

While everyone agree's they are here because of their pc/mac Im always astounded by the forums acceptence to include sub forums on every other hobby we seem to have, from cooking to sailing, cars to gardening(although that got closed :P) movies to stockmarket wizzes

cant get that on a social networking site...sure you can group people in their interests but you cant discuss them as easily.
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None of you will know me because I'm new around here, but I have to agree that diversity is great in forums. I'm quite active on UG as well, which is one site that came to mind. The central theme might be guitars, but subjects for threads can be just about anything over there, especially in the Pit.

While forums as a place for general banter are arguably in decline, I think that those with specific themes - like guitars, computers, or refurbishing teddy bears - will continue to thrive as places for specialist knowledge, and the off-topic side of things will continue within these forums.
 
What are forums BUT specialist? I find a place that has like minded people on a particular subject... on a social networking sight there are going to be those with me, and those that are just frankly, plebs.

For example, on a car forum I may express my opinion on chav car's, but when that's attached to my personal social site that may cause offense. The vast majority won't be interested that my car has a particular engine part.

I think that social sites are actually in 'danger' as more laws come in to check on what you are doing, and employers do more and more 'personal checks' on you before considering for employment. Forums (and possibly other places) may become the places for anonymity.

I don't talk about my computer geek side on facebook etc, the vast majority of my mates wouldn't care a h00t that I've got a AnteD Celery 27000+ X16 CPU with 128Hephal Pickles of Memory.

I would say that social networking sites have simply replaced chat rooms and to a similar extent instant messengers.
 
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Maybe OcUK will require a facebook login soon - a lot of places are doing it! (which is annoying when you don't use facebook..)
 
Nexus said:
Ultimately I think there is also something of a generational aspect to it. There will be many using the internet who have used forums because they existed long before social networking sites did. However you've got many who are now growing up with Facebook and similar, so see that as a way of discussing things in groups.
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I definitely agree on that one but when people discover good forums they appreciate them regardless of age. I don't think they are losing their relevance its just that the youth has always followed trends more than they have looked for the previous generations gems.

Groups again are generally aimed at a particular topic and a particular view on that topic. A lot of the groups on facebook are very polarised and the best comparison I can make is that of Mac vs PC. Both sides descend into insults and digs because the topic is too tribal.
 
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