Venting I wish forums were still widely used compared to the corporate platforms a la Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter.

[MercenariesofMidgar]

Just wanted to say that out loud, despite of the nature of this forum it feels so much more personal than the endless stream of content you see everywhere else. It's just the nature of Forum Boards, the main social medias are too centralized to get any good out of it imo. Just endless noise. It feels like I can have some form of actual interaction with people here.

 

[TheHolySword]

There's no money to be had from forums. Not a lot of people want personal connections from social media. This forum has to be personal, it has to be real. It's something you aren't really going to get anywhere else, even other dedicated forums. It's a pretty unique place I think

 

[waistcoat]

i grew up using forums, literally been using them since i was 7ish ~ they are so personal and close knit. i hope this style of community never goes.

 

[Opera]

The last few forums I was aware from that were "good" end up not being good anymore (Amino).

 

[ForestGhost]

Me too! I was a terminally online child who grew up on them. I personally think Discord and Reddit are the two main culprits, they're cool and all but there's something special about internet forums.

 

[WhiteRabbit]

Agreed. I miss the community feel of forums versus places like Reddit, where you feel like you're shouting into a massive crowd, and random people respond.

 

[altkey]

Just wanted to say that out loud, despite of the nature of this forum it feels so much more personal than the endless stream of content you see everywhere else. It's just the nature of Forum Boards, the main social medias are too centralized to get any good out of it imo. Just endless noise. It feels like I can have some form of actual interaction with people here.

Yeah, this is the first time I've really like *used* a forum (unless Reddit counts as one) and it's awesome, this has a unique feel to it compared to other social media types

 

[azo]

Agree completely. The quality of the conversation here far surpasses what I've seen on almost every other platform. Reddit has the advantages of being text-based and less hostile to long-form posting but ultimately the algorithm still rewards low-effort/polemical/unoriginal content.

It could be argued that this forum in particular facilitates this kind of meaningful interaction since the nature of it means that participation almost entails vulnerability of a sort.

 

[passedawayinapril]

Just wanted to say that out loud, despite of the nature of this forum it feels so much more personal than the endless stream of content you see everywhere else. It's just the nature of Forum Boards, the main social medias are too centralized to get any good out of it imo. Just endless noise. It feels like I can have some form of actual interaction with people here.

Tiktok brainwashes people

 

[Warlord's Pulse]

I think forums are much more neatly organized, if I can say so
It's easier to navigate through topics, and easier to have your own signature

 

[Forever Sleep]

Definitely. This is my social media now. I've deleted/suspended the others. It's all just such self grandiosity too. Everyone trying to sell themselves as happy and successful. Maybe some of it's true but, a lot seems trumped up as a kind of minimum standard.

It's like- when and why did this happen? With things like job interviews too. When did it not become enough to just be honest about where you worked and your experience/ skills? When did we all start embellishing or, outright lying about what we could do?!! My Dad had to interview people at one stage. He ended up running them through a very basic skills test on a computer programme because so many were lying that they were proficient in it. I guess it's just the competition we find ourselves against. I agree though, so much social media just doesn't seem genuine.

 

[ijustwishtodie]

The reason as to why places like tiktok become shit is because of the popularity. If SS were to be popular, it'd be just as shit as tiktok or other places is. The more niche this forum is, the better it will be

 

[MidnightCat]

I sure hope we could return to the good old days of forums and chats. What a time to be alive.

Nowadays, the closer widespread to a forum is... Reddit? And it's by no means the same.

For chats... I'm not really sure what people use nowadays, but when I tried to enter a chat room the experience was... Bizarre.

 

[Hvergelmir]

I'm not really sure what people use nowadays

I think Discord provides the old chatroom experience. Just like forums, the best servers are niche communities with a common interest, though.

Corporate platforms, and mainstream media in general is not about delivering the highest quality of content, but delivering content that the most people find valuable.
Silly cat videos is not the pinnacle of human creation, but it's something anyone can enjoy.

I don't think old school long form content is dying. I think it has grown since the BBS days. It's just that mainstream alternatives that didn't exists back then, have grown faster.

 

[vanibless]

Anything mainstream sucks now