Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

[Bartmanhomer]

I noticed a lot of internet forums becoming less popular and less frequent now. Why? I don't know why. Maybe because people find it less exciting and ran out of ideas to talk about. Well that's just my theory. What do everybody else think of this topic?

[anunitu]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

A lot of time and effort goes into running a forum,not to mention expense...For someone to continue takes a love of the effect of allowing people to connect.

Also they come and they go...

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

I think you are talking bollocks.

[Näre]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

Some forums thrive. Others not. People grow out of the "i wanna have a forum of my own" phase. But I'm pretty sure they are not going extinct, there are just so many new ways to communicate online, forums are not everyone's cup of tea.
And as long as PF is here, I won't mind at all if some forums go down.

[DanieMarie]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

Social media has replaced a lot of them. Most people went to forums to kill time and for some casual conversation, which you can easily do on Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr. Some, like this one, have dedicated communities that stuck together, but most forums aren't like that. Most of the forums I used to post on aren't even there anymore.

This isn't even a new development. I used to have a job where I was required to interact with people on forums. I worked for one of the English-language country divisions of a global company and the office was based here in Berlin. Germans were slower to leave forums, so the result was that the German-language teams (and some other European country teams) had a lot of engagement and the company based all of our goals around their experiences. They just could NOT understand why we couldn't do it. We kept telling them that forums were pretty quiet, but they didn't want to listen to us because that's not how it was in Germany (it is now).

[Thorbjorn]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

Usage goes in cycles.

[Hickory67]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

I used to moderate a biker forum and we all got so close we connected on FB - which then became our primary channel for communication. The forum was still there last I checked, but not much activity going on.

Internet forums have their own personality and group dynamic that can be challenging for newcomers. I thought it was ironic that the biker forum I was on, which consisted of mostly "outlaw" bikers, was very warm and inclusive of newcomers (as long as they weren't cops), whereas one of the more popular Harley-Davidson forums was rude to outwardly derisive toward them. I saw the same contrast between a couple of Doberman forums I joined. The similarities between them all were that in each category, one group (forum) was full of people who had nothing to prove while the other was full of people trying to justify their own legitimacy.

This forum was the first I ventured into on the pagan topic. I haven't seen the need to look elsewhere yet - y'all are pretty cool.

[anunitu]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

Yah we be cool...it has something to do with masked one,and his pizza gods thing...something in the sauce...

[Munin-Hugin]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

Honestly, I've noticed this myself, at least in the realm on on-line gaming. I used to do a LOT of MMORPG playing, and all throughout that time, website forums were constantly used to organize folks, chat, and even do a little roleplay. Recently, shortly before I stopped playing games so much, I noticed that the drive to participate on a forum structure had vastly declined, as if it took "too much effort" to take part.

[Juniper]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

Gaming forums are supplemented by VoIP applications like Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, Mumble, WhatsApp, Line and so on.
Communication and community forums seem to be overshadowed by social networks like Facebook, MySpace, etc....

Personally, I like our forum better because there's less distractions from other outside sources. We're not free of distractions because we can freely share things from outside sources but we're not constantly bombarded by ads about shines.

[anunitu]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

I like our forum because it is one place I really feel at home..

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

I like our forum because it is one place I really feel at home..

Put your pants back on, Anunitu. You've gotten all together too comfy.

[Gleb]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

I like our forum because it is one place I really feel at home..

Same for me. :3

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Not a word about Juni's cats, guys!

[B. de Corbin]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

Not a word about Juni's cats, guys!

Anunitu's trying to wear them like pants again.

[anunitu]

Re: Internet Forums Becoming Less Popular Now

Put your pants back on, Anunitu. You've gotten all together too comfy.

Why you peeping tom you...And they are jogging pants..very comfortable BTW

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Also another reason is B. De. guaranteed to keep me on my toes...