The Future of Forums?

Anybody besides me thinking that Forums are slowly dying out?

The Astronomy forum (that was run by the magazine) that I have used for years, shut down without explanation, but I had noticed that far fewer posters were in evidence in the last year.

JustLinux used to be so busy that it was impossible to read all the posts in a day - now some of the sub forums have last post dates of months ago.

This site still seems to be fairly active, but the moderators would know for sure. I am not sure what would replace a forum since people of like tastes and needs would still need a place to connect. Certainly not Facebook - that place should be called Babblebook and would be useless for technical stuff or searching problems.

Just an observation.

cptkrf said:

The Astronomy forum (that was run by the magazine) that I have used for years, shut down without explanation, but I had noticed that far fewer posters were in evidence in the last year.

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Just one example. Forums can come & go…there's lots of competition. I bet if you look hard enough…there are probably plenty of successful & busy astronomy forums out there.

It just so happens (coincidence) that the one you frequented folded-up.

- Nick

Are forums dying? No, that's likely not the case. I've belonged to many forums over time and as my interests have changed and varied, I've left some and joined new ones. I've joined forums based on the vehicles I've owned and my technical hobbies.

Through the years, I'm likely the most prolific on Mac-Forums as compared to the other technical forums and each has gone through its up and down swings..

I think of forums as more than a place to just get technical questions answered (even if the forum is technical in nature). It's more about community and being able to connect with others beyond just the shared interest/topic.

For purely technical answers, I use sites like StackOverflow.

I'm old enough to have been part of the early social network/community known as BBS that provided that community feel while striving to do other things as well and I think of forums, to some extent, to be similar and an extension to foster that similar environment..

A lot of members who come here do have a technical question they need help with and once it's answered, they don't come back, but there are countless other members that have been part of Mac-Forums for many years and participate in all of the sub-forums..

Raz0rEdge said:

I'm old enough to have been part of the early social network/community known as BBS that provided that community feel while striving to do other things as well and I think of forums, to some extent, to be similar and an extension to foster that similar environment..

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Ah yes. The magic of acoustic couplers and 300 baud - and, much later, as fast as 1200 baud. I remember those days also. And 8080s and the rich kid on the block that had an unheard-of 64k in his Micro. Or, also unbelievably, maybe an 8 inch Diskette Drive that held a massive 128k. (They'll never need to be bigger than this - two or three diskettes will hold a lifetime of programs.)

And what was the name of that huge magazine with pages and pages of BBS listings? Computer Shopper. It went from a little rag to a gigantic tome, then shrunk back to nothing again.

The good old days, just to coin a term. And a lot more fun than now - at least in my memory.

I think I still have a couple of Computer Shopper magazines lying around, they make stands because of their thickness..

I am another in the 'No' camp. Personally think Linux has had its day in the sun. MUGs were the forerunners of forums so things do change.

cptkrf said:

The good old days, just to coin a term. And a lot more fun than now - at least in my memory.

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I would say that there definitely are areas where I would agree. But when it comes to computers, electronic devices, the internet, etc…I'm having way way way more fun now than I did when the internet/world wide web was young (mid-1990's). And before the world wide web (compared to 2014)…it was like the stone age…especially when it comes to information & knowledge.

Now when I have a question, need some DIY info for just about anything, etc….I just pop on the computer. I usually have an answer within seconds…and for more unusual topics…maybe 5-10 minutes. And of course…lots & lots of internet forums to join to get info for specific topic areas.

Prior to the world wide web…if someone had a question…you would have to:

- "phone a friend" (and maybe they would know the answer…maybe not)
- go to the library (but even the library of yesteryear had it's limitations compared to the internet now)

Of course there are the down-sides of the current world versus years ago. But that's the way it goes with just about anything (pros & cons).

As far as fun (non-internet related). I can't think of too much (off the top of my head) that I liked to do 10, 20, 30, even 40 years ago…that I can't do now..and can't do better.

The main difference is experience. When you're 15 years old…and doing something for the first time…it's very very exciting…and very very fun. But when you're 50 years old (for example)…and 35 years later. That "thing/activity" that was so exciting/fun when you were 15…is just "par for the course" now. When someone may have done that "thing" hundreds or thousands of times.

The "trick" as we get older is…to keep trying new things. So we can continually feel like we did when we were 15…when doing something for the very first time!

- Nick

Some of the older technology is still alive and well. Instead of dialing up your favorite BBS and download messages from FIDO and usenet, many BBS' are still on line and can be accessed directly from the net or thru an NNTP client. By the way, the free Thunderbird mail client by Mozilla also does NNTP.

harryb2448 said:

Personally think Linux has had its day in the sun.

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I don't think so Harry. Linux more popular than ever and more importantly is the underpinning technology of many more familiar names. I'm still amazed by how many Android enthusiasts don't know that their phone/tablet is running Linux at its core.

Linux is really two different things (unlike other OS'), the Kernel and the user-visible distribution. There is only one Kernel that is generated by a community effort and released by Linus. There are, however, countless number of distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, SuSE, Slackware, Arch, Gentoo, CentOS, Mandriva, Mint, Debian, ...... to name a few) that rise and fall in popularity with shifting loyalties..

You guys are REALLY scaring me! Apparently I am around our same era. I used to run a BBS that ran TBBS as a core program. I still have that machine today and it works! I just don't have the heart to tear it down and format it. SCSI was THE hardware back then. I think I still have an 8" drive laying around as well. Model I micro computers are finally gone, but not from my memory. One of these days I will clean more stuff out. I have so much SCSI stuff leftover. A lot of it is still used today like DLT drive. Acoustic modems. I remember them well. but I remember 9600 HST better ;-)
:Clint

I ran a BBS as well and I use PCBoard for it which was the more awesomest, scariest piece of BBS software that was out there..

I still have my SCSI and Adaptec controller sitting around, those 18GB though aren't good at holding much..

pigoo3 said:

…it was like the stone age…especially when it comes to information & knowledge.

Now when I have a question, need some DIY info for just about anything, etc….I just pop on the computer. I usually have an answer within seconds…and for more unusual topics…maybe 5-10 minutes. And of course…lots & lots of internet forums to join to get info for specific topic areas.

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Yes. I am in total agreement with you on that. The information availability now would have made that kid back in my youth think that aliens had landed and had given over their entire technology, just like in the grade B movies. Many times - and for days on end - I would hit the library(s), old book stores, magazine piles and anything else I could think of just trying to find that one chip pinout, or formula, or design info for something that I was trying to build or hack (warning - invalid word use for that era).

Now, the problem is weeding though the masses of information about even the most trivial subject. Heck, I am not even sure the library downtown is even still open, and why would I waste gas and time trying to find something in a billion unindexed pages?

Even a shadow of Wikipedia in those days would have been world altering.

I guess we can't talk about phone phreaking for sprint access numbers then. ;-)

ankhseeker said:

I guess we can't talk about phone phreaking for sprint access numbers then. ;-)

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Don't get me started on that and PBX's, I could still get into trouble for all the things I did back when I was young..

Ahh for the days before the 'net when MUG members would swap programs, os updates, games etc by floppy!

I hope forums in general don't die out anytime soon. I learn quite a bit from them for work and for pleasure. Since I don't Facebook or do the Twitty Pages or whatever they are using this year, I'd be in a bad place if forums dried up and new blood quit joining them. I still believe the most important members are the newbies.

cptkrf said:

Anybody besides me thinking that Forums are slowly dying out?

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Yea man they are dying out slowly.. Only a few really popular ones are surviving. Anandtechs are strong, Ubuntu and most of the Linux ones hold strong due to dedicated user base.

The issue is Social Media like Facebook. People just join their groups. The problem with FB users is that they are me me me. They post and seldom reply to others. Some do, but majority dont.

Google now has Communities on Google+, they are like FB Groups, however the user base seems more willing to communicate with others.

These are at least my observations.