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.