Are forums truly becoming like ghost towns?

Now that we truly have a wide variety services allowing you to keep in touch with each other such as Discord, dedicated forums in turn essentially feels like relics from a different age. While I can find activity here daily, that's just about it I guess. No new posts beyond 3 days or so for example. The fact that you have to separately write each post and reply just adds to it I suppose.

Moved this over to Internet & Technology where it might be a little more fit. :)

I mean... no. I suppose it really depends on where your interests lie.

Forums are definitely a lot less popular than they were say, ten or even fifteen years ago, but that doesn't mean that they're dead off the internet, completely. While there are certainly advantages to live chats such as Discord, there are also advantages to forums, as well (namely the fact that it's easier to condense lots of information into one place rather than going back hundreds of messages in Discord's case).

As far as Pokemon forums go, then yeah, you may have a point. It's really us, Bulbagarden, Serebii, and maybe Smogon if you count the competitive Pokemon community. There's also a pretty lively Pokemon TCG community forum that's still kicking. I dunno, it really depends on what you're looking for. Really specialized forum interests outside of the Pokemon realm seem to have a decent amount of activity, as well.

In short, I don't think forums are necessarily on life support or are in some sort of disaster scenario or anything. Of course, as time progresses, we'll probably get quieter and quieter because that's just the nature of things. Older folks will have a natural gravitation towards forums since it's something they're much more used to but as their lives get busier and busier, they'll have less time to dedicate to socializing on the internet. Such is life and how things are. But right now, although I do personally miss the days where there were posts pretty much every minute in the DCC, I think we're actually doing pretty ok in the grand scheme of things.

Forums will probably still be around for a while yet.

I think the issue is that after so long, things are starting to become more streamlined and less fractured than they were in the past.

Part of that is because people have little to no interest in making multiple accounts to keep up with the same information and would rather a centralized platform (for better or worse).

Personally, I just miss IRC...

It's kind of a shame, forums are neat and the customization is something I really like. However, it's pretty clear most people these days prefer app social media than huge forums. Whats interesting about that to me is that forums are "big and intimidating" to some people, but there's way more people on social media. Difference being is that your own account is quiet until you follow people, and with forums the homepage shows you how many hundreds of people are online at that time. Maybe that's a "yikes" to some people? Maybe forums look messier? I actually think they're way more organized than social media, but you know. To each their own.

I like hearing news elsewhere and then coming onto PC to talk about it, but it's understandable that some people would want all their action condensed into one platform.

I've always just seen forums as big playgrounds. Places you go if you want to meet many like minded people that you want to have fun with as a community.

Social media I've never really been a fan of. They seem more of the type of "build a community around you" kind of deal. You don't want to contribute, you want to be the focus of other peoples contributions. Sounds awfully cynic, I know.
For all I know I could be wrong, given that I only occasionally go on Twitter (which is pretty much the only platform I'm on) in order to check if some streamer is live.

Seliph said:

I've always just seen forums as big playgrounds. Places you go if you want to meet many like minded people that you want to have fun with as a community.

Social media I've never really been a fan of. They seem more of the type of "build a community around you" kind of deal. You don't want to contribute, you want to be the focus of other peoples contributions. Sounds awfully cynic, I know.
For all I know I could be wrong, given that I only occasionally go on Twitter (which is pretty much the only platform I'm on) in order to check if some streamer is live.

Click to expand...

I don't think you're wrong in your assessments! Contributing as far as "social media" goes I feel is worlds different than contributing to forums. I feel like you'd (generally speaking, not specifically) want to have conversations here, to get to know people here and all. I think it's a bit harder to do that on social media to an extent whereas forums, because of their age, tend to be tighter-knit and you know what kind of community you're getting yourself into, if that makes sense.

Hard to say. I think the younger generation (oh god help me for referring to teens that way...) are defintely less interested in forums than I was when I was a teen, and that people who grew up with them like me have less time for them than they used to because life responsibilities changing interests blah blah blah but at the same time there are a lot of people dedicated to preserving forums because internet friendships and relationships are real and they've been around for years now so why stop?

I think it more accurate to say forums are becoming more cliquey cosy than they used to be? Entry barriers are ridiculously high everywhere because people have known one another for so long and joining a new place it's hard not to feel like an outsider...so of course, not many people join or stay for the long-term because forums are not a new thing the way they used to be, and why make a new forum when social media platforms exist, etc. A forum has to survive for at least 5 years to avoid becoming a ghost town, though, and it needs a core group of people who have been posting on there for all that time. New forums tend to die pretty quickly in this day and age.

...anyone else remember the Invisionfree forum fad of the mid-2000s where there were like 10 new forums popping up every hour? Good times. xD

even with discord forums are not exactly dead yet as atleast on here its easier to maintain topics and stuff

Seliph said:

I've always just seen forums as big playgrounds. Places you go if you want to meet many like minded people that you want to have fun with as a community.

Social media I've never really been a fan of. They seem more of the type of "build a community around you" kind of deal. You don't want to contribute, you want to be the focus of other peoples contributions. Sounds awfully cynic, I know.
For all I know I could be wrong, given that I only occasionally go on Twitter (which is pretty much the only platform I'm on) in order to check if some streamer is live.

Click to expand...

I completely agree! Forums feel so much more community driven than social media and I've always liked the idea of being a part of a greater whole, you know?

As for if they're dying or not.. I mean, it depends on the community. I know there's a classic car community who THRIVES on forums just like this one. There's no doubt it's becoming / is / has been for a long time an outdated medium, but I definitely think there are some groups who just prefer it.

There are slow periods, sure. A forum like this will always be as active as the popularity of the latest game in the series, if that makes sense. Let's Go didn't exactly win many people over, so, we're in a down period.

They have slowed down considerably compared to even five years ago and a lot of the younger generation do prefer other platforms, but I think there will always be a niche that keeps forums alive. Forums tend to provide more customization options than subreddits and allow you to make connections easier (I find subreddits to be more of talking at rather than with each other), and allow you to build up and look back on your account in ways that Discord can't. Plenty of people enjoy all the history and decoration that can come with a forum account. I personally enjoy subreddits as well, but find that forums are more for me in the long run. 👍

I think forums are a slower version of DIscord per say. Discord is like the chat rooms of the 90's where forums are more laid back and not so quick. You have time to think about what you want to say and not just on the spot.

^ I really like forums for that reason!

Sometimes I'm in the mood for live chatting, but often I like to just... relax and read replies.

Forums are like: Three paragraphs on why Hoenn was a good region

and Discord is just: may hot 👌😜

I don't tend to find as many big forums anymore, but I do still find plenty of active, smaller forums whenever I randomly browse around. They may have cooled off quite a bit compared to previous years but I don't think forums are in danger of going extinct just yet.