The disappearance of forums, and remembering the charm of them.

I grew up with various internet forums almost fifteen years ago as a teen, and back then before Discord and their servers were even a thing, I never really appreciated the beauty of forums until I signed up here very recently.

Not only I find it far less overwhellming and overstimulating to discord servers, but also I feel generally more relaxed in terms of posting. I feel the fast pace and the difficulty of searching topics in discord servers is what made me realize forums should make a comeback as difficult as it is in the current era where we see valuable sites such as Den of Angels closing down. I still do use discord servers as it is where majority of my friends are, but being here made me appreciate forums alot more, and wished I did back then.

I wanna know everybody else's opinion and thoughts on the matter, hence sharing my thoughts and my recent observations after using hobby related forums after so long.👀

I've tried Discord for a lot of different hobbies and interests, I think it works for somethings well, but for something like dolls is just too fast paced.  This isn't a fast paced hobby like gaming, and I find that forums just offer a slower pace that allows space for everyone to be and not have their hard work buried under a lot of drama comments or spam.  It's really easy to blend into the background and be missed on Discord, especially if it's a big server.  

Then again, like you, I grew up using forums, so I'm very used to the format and speed.  I could see where people used to Discord or Tumblr might find the speed on forums glacial.  

I grew up with discord and social media but I hate it. Discord is too fast and had too much drama. Social media was the same thing, so I've been a forums only person for years now. I've seen a trend of people moving away from social media in general that makes me very happy, so I'm hopeful we see new forums for other hobbies begin to popup as well. I don't see them ever totally disappearing. 

3 hours ago, sunlightandtea said:

I grew up with discord and social media but I hate it. Discord is too fast and had too much drama. Social media was the same thing, so I've been a forums only person for years now. I've seen a trend of people moving away from social media in general that makes me very happy, so I'm hopeful we see new forums for other hobbies begin to popup as well. I don't see them ever totally disappearing. 

Same. With the way moderation is going so bad due to the AI run moderation on so many platforms, I started to go in the more....Old fashioned internet ways to the point I even turned to blogging as I am starting to feel alot calmer doing that haha. And I agree I hope this means we can get forums back more in the future ^^

 

4 hours ago, DesertPhantom51 said:

I've tried Discord for a lot of different hobbies and interests, I think it works for somethings well, but for something like dolls is just too fast paced.  This isn't a fast paced hobby like gaming, and I find that forums just offer a slower pace that allows space for everyone to be and not have their hard work buried under a lot of drama comments or spam.  It's really easy to blend into the background and be missed on Discord, especially if it's a big server.  

Then again, like you, I grew up using forums, so I'm very used to the format and speed.  I could see where people used to Discord or Tumblr might find the speed on forums glacial.  

Yeah, its really easy to get your question swept away and get forgotten, that is one thing which irks me sometimes. For forums, even if it takes months, someone will eventually get to your question and give you an answer. And also omg the drama LOL, they tend to bubble up on the surface needlessly and it can drain dem spoons. Also I think its easier to find valuable resources on forums, too that pain when the google doc of resources get deleted sob

Discord is def good for fast paced things like gaming TTRPG and whatnot for sure.

sorry mods i forgot multiquote was a thing....

I grew up using discord and such, but even after years of using it I still find it overwhelming. Joining a new server and feeling like a complete outsider, channels being too fast paced and questions being ignored, or not being able to even ask anything because people are already talking and you dont wanna interrupt, and dont get me started on the drama,,, I dont join or interact with them anymore outside of some friends servers and doll related ones. 

Forums feel a lot nicer and quieter, like you’re actually part of a community here. I wish they were more common and active like they were years ago, I was too young I think to really experience proper forums, thou I definitely remember browsing some on occasion. I’ve been meaning to post more about my dolls on here but just haven’t had the time to write anything 💔 soon thou,, 

I have seen a sort of resurgence in people wanting the ‘old internet’ back, when everything was forum and website based and current social media platforms didn’t exist. I hope that continues to grow and more people seek out forums and start creating them again. In a world where everything is so fast paced and content is constantly being thrown at you, I think a lot of us could do with going back to the good old basics of the internet 

I grew up with forums, too, and I'm glad that some of them still resist extinction. Unfortunately, the advent of social media first, and then Discord, has led to the closure of many of the ones I used to frequent.
I'm also on Discord and I love it for my friends and the communities I'm part of, but I can't see it as a substitute for a forum. It has its purpose and pace, and it's great for certain things, but it's meant to be lived in the moment. The past is quickly forgotten.
A forum has a slower, calmer pace, not like a chat, and above all, it allows for clear topic organization and a clearer search than a Facebook/X page or Discord (even though it also has the ability to be organized with forum-like topics).
For me, there should be coexistence, not substitution. The role of certain things can't always be destroyed in favor of the newest thing. Hell, I still have my figure review blog XD.

I tried being on Discord and social media and they always gave me this weird discomfort I can't describe. I just want to have an outlet for my hobby.

I agree with the overall opinion that has been voiced here, I'm from a generation that grew up with discussion forums and it saddens me that they have been disappearng more and more. I'm very thankful that this one is standing strong. Like mentioned above, dolls are not a quick-paced hobby, and the pace of a forum just is so much more comfortable.

I do also think Discord has its place, although I usually use it primarily for chatting and staying in contact with friends and not as much as a platform for discussion because of how quickly it can become overwhelming. When it comes to servers I prefer smaller to medium-sized ones where the pace is not as breakneck.

As for social media ... let's just say: I miss the times in which Twitter was not total crap, even though I still use it daily.

I also grew up with forums, mostly for certain games I played when I was in my early teenage-ish years. It's pretty sad that all of them are either dead or just straight up gone now.

I've personally always had a lot of trouble trying to use discord for any hobby related stuff, and even games, largely due to the fast-pace being overwhelming and my own social anxiety. So I've pretty much entirely given up on that front and only use it for messaging people I know IRL or informational purposes.

I'm so glad these forums exist, at least! I might not post too much myself, but it's comfortable being here.

I got unmonitored internet access around the time that forums and smaller creative sites really started going the way of the dodo in favor of social media, thanks to the rise of Facebook. While I missed the forum golden age, I spent many of my teen years spelunking through internet history contained in forums. The slower pace and dedicated topicality of forums makes the information inside easy to understand, digest, and archive for later use.

I use social media, as it feels something of a necessary evil at this point, but I loathe using Discord. The gradual enshittification of the internet means that a lot of the functionality of social media has been stripped away (rest in peace, Instagram hashtags!), so the magic of social media platforms has largely vanished. Meanwhile, large Discord servers are, to echo the sentiments of others, simply too fast-paced to be actually useful. The search function leaves much to be desired and it is generally a poor option for archiving information or having nuanced conversations. It's great if you want some drive-by photo spam or need a quick answer to an easy question, but it's not really a place where you can have these kinds of long-form discussions. Even if you do, the pacing means that the conversation moves on quickly, so interesting viewpoints get missed simply because we all need to eat/sleep/work/live a life away from the internet.

I am so grateful for forums, and I hope the big push to go back to the old internet overlaps with a forum renaissance.

I do really miss the old forums I used to peruse as a wee lad. I’m glad that there’s still ones like this around. 

There’s also been a resurgence of personal websites recently and I’ve started my own! I find it’s really nice to explore others’ sites and even add them to my neighbours or join webrings! It does remind me of when I was growing up in the 2000s-2010s. If any of y’all make a neocities site lemme know so we can be neighbours! It’s not exactly like forums but it’s still got that personal connection and interests that I love about forums.

i would desperately love to see a revival of forums. i spent so much of my childhood on forums — roleplaying, chatting, whatever — and i've always found them so much less intimidating than joining a huge discord server. and i enjoy discord! but i think the larger the server gets, the more i desperately crave forums, and how easy they are to structure. the waiting rooms on DoA come to mind immediately; having an individual thread for every company, where everyone could pile together and be excited about a new release..... what i've seen on discord, it just isn't the same.

i am a big fan of the old internet revival happening, and i've dipped my toes back into coding and dreamwidth as a result, and that alone has shown me how much i really do miss these things. discord beeps at me all day, and eventually, no matter who the messages are coming from, i get overwhelmed and annoyed. meanwhile, on dw, i know if i take a month to get back to someone, it's okay, because there's this... built-in expectation of a slower pace. the same with a forum; this thread was started back in may, but here i am in july, and the conversation is still rolling along. i love that!! that's something discord simply cannot replicate.