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Did facebook kill off internet forums?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Let's face it, this place (as well as hundreds of others on the web) is DEAD.

I remember visiting here years ago, maybe 2005/2006 and it was a hive of activity. Is it time to collectively accept defeat and hang up those forum boots? People just ain't interested any more it seems
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Comments

  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    I think closing down the place would be a severe overreaction but it's true forums aren't what they were.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I much prefer coming here than using facebook. The sooner facebook ceases to exist the better.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    First and foremost this is a place to get advice, often anonymously. Facebook is no substitute for that. Would like this place to be a bit by busier tho.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Skive wrote: »
    First and foremost this is a place to get advice, often anonymously. Facebook is no substitute for that. Would like this place to be a bit by busier tho.

    Exactly. Facebook is good for organising meet ups, having a laugh, etc.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Agree completely. How do we make it busy again?!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think it wasnt facebook, just people getting older. I mean forums all over the place were flourished with users, back when the internet was still a relatively new thing for many. Those who are starting to use it now, have already been exposed to it from a relatively young age and might just not be steered towards places like this anymore.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    I much prefer coming here than using facebook. The sooner facebook ceases to exist the better.

    would be a shame, as its one of the only ways me and Gs family get to see pics of the kids etc
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you had to deal with stuff at work like I do because of Facebook you'd want to see it gone too!
    Graffe, I think you're right, it's a shame too
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Like Skive says, forums like this are good for anonymity. Something you just don't get with facebook. There are things I would (and do) discuss openly here, that I would never discuss with my friends and family. So I would like to see thesite keep on.

    On the other hand, facebook really did a number on myspace, and the sooner that is put out of its misery, the better.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    G-Raffe wrote: »
    I think it wasnt facebook, just people getting older. I mean forums all over the place were flourished with users, back when the internet was still a relatively new thing for many. Those who are starting to use it now, have already been exposed to it from a relatively young age and might just not be steered towards places like this anymore.

    Ooh, remember the days of yahoo chat!

    Things come and go, they serve their purpose and sometimes something comes along to replace it. As others have said, I don't think you can really compare a website forum ment to help people and give advice with facebook. Apples and oranges. Other forums may be dead, or something better might have come along. I think they still serve their purpose :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    If you had to deal with stuff at work like I do because of Facebook you'd want to see it gone too!

    I wouldnt, although i know that there are issues with it of course
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The decline in the use of bulletin boards has been happening since the mid 2000s, which does correlates with the rise of social networking sites such as Facebook.
    The flaws of bulletin boards have been made more prominent by changing habits in internet usage, the pushing of messages to each person involved in the communication and the ability for a new users to begin participating has become more important to users.

    For example, to reply to a thread its necessary to be aware the thread in the first place, which is only possible if you visit the bulletin board, then read all the messages in the thread (which aren't sub threaded) and then compose a reply and remember to check back in a few hours for a response (I know about 'watched threads', but this has to be done by the individual user each time they respond to a thread).

    Compare this to an email list, where you can register, receive all emails to the list, reply to any that interests you and see all messages threaded in different ways in your email client and you'll see why forum posting is so laborious.

    In my opinion, social networking sites are maintain the dynamics of email lists with web forms and embedded content.

    TL;DR is that bulletin boards are a pull technology, the user goes to board and pulls what they're interested in whereas more popular things are push technologies, what interests the user is delivered to them.
  • Indrid ColdIndrid Cold Posts: 16,688 Skive's The Limit
    For example, to reply to a thread its necessary to be aware the thread in the first place, which is only possible if you visit the bulletin board, then read all the messages in the thread (which aren't sub threaded) and then compose a reply and remember to check back in a few hours for a response (I know about 'watched threads', but this has to be done by the individual user each time they respond to a thread).
    You can set that to happen automatically.
    Compare this to an email list, where you can register, receive all emails to the list, reply to any that interests you and see all messages threaded in different ways in your email client and you'll see why forum posting is so laborious.
    Try the "Display" menu on the top right of this page.

    I'm not saying you're wrong, but these two points are poorly made IMHO.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    I much prefer coming here than using facebook. The sooner facebook ceases to exist the better.

    No joke!

    I can't say FB will replace forums, but I can sure say it's not my favorite way to connect with people.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Is this a bit like video killing the radio star?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    oh-a oh-a
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Its true. Most of the forums are getting inactive now because of facebook. But for some users, forums are still very important. Whether it may be for finding information or asking questions.

    ____________________
    It's not the end, it's just the beginning.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    sharona wrote: »
    Its true. Most of the forums are getting inactive now because of facebook.

    ____________________
    It's not the end, it's just the beginning.

    Are they? Or is it because the older posters have moved on?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This place was so much busier/better/more interesting [delete as appropriate] back in [insert year here].

    *yawn*

    People in 2007 were saying it was better in 2005, people in 2005 were saying it was better in 2002, people in 2002 were saying it was better in 1998. 'Tis naught but the way of the world.

    FB won't replace forums (fora?) because to connect with people on FB you need to know who they are. And, even more to the point, mum and granny are on there too. Twitter won't replace FB because it's difficult to ask for advice about personal problems in 140 characters.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Melian wrote: »
    Or is it because the older posters have moved on?

    Have we though? There is still a core of at least 40-50 people here who visit fairly regularly and post. Yes, the posts might not be as often but I've been looking around the relationships and other advice boards and they're still quite active. The only real differences I've noticed are Anything Goes and politics being quieter, mainly because (I think) all the older posters have discussed everything is to discuss, lol.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Just moving this into politics and debate folks :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Which will probably kill the topic;-) move it back!!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Forums are like anything else, they were BIG when they first popped up and for a few years after that but that immediate popularity always levels out

    Facebook was huge 3 or 4 years ago and is still popular but it's becoming less so IMO.

    I don't think FB could ever be classed as a replacement for forums. They serve completely different purposes.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Forums seems less popular these days, but probably won't cease to exist

    I agree that forums weren't what they were. I still remember when I hooked up online through my old analogue modem in 95 and wen't on a few forums. Basically the activity was frantic and people tended to express a certain joy and astonishment that you don't really see today online, and there was far more activity than you see on most forums today. However, I don't think this means that forums will go away. Back in the old days, having internet was a new thing, and it's only natural that people express their astonishment about something that's genuinely new to them, and it is only natural for people to be attracted to recent inventions. This goes for Facebook too, people are less enthusiastic about it now, and many people are also quite bored of it.

    Further on, there were also fewer forums back in the days, meaning people didn't have a broad range of selection, which indicates more users per forum. Throughout the years, more and more forums have been added, and also forums tailored to a specific interest or topic making user groups more divided than in the "golden age".

    But forums will still be needed, both now in the future me thinks. You can discuss topics in Facebook, and there are lot of plugins to make Facebook mimic a forum, but it's not what Facebook is really about. Socialising with friends and people you've met before is still the core functionality of Facebook, while "real" forums don't assume you have a list of friends. Facebook is also more personal, a lot of people feel shy about discussing personal issues since all of your posts or pictures are published with your own profile with your real name. Not to mention the "social aggregation" that's done in Facebook, it's very easy for external sites/mobile units/whatever to extract information and posts from Facbook because so many are unaware about their "sharing settings". While that is positive in many ways, that also prevents people from sharing personal issues.

    So my conclusion is that forums will still be present for years to come. It will be harder to set up and keep active as it's harder now than in the beginning, it's no longer possible to just set up a forum and hope for the best in terms of active users, you have to reach a specific market, and you have to be very active yourself in order to attract users. It also helps to have knowledge in a specify fields as it's easier to attract certain user groups than just plain "everyone". But it's perfectly doable.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Forums are about to make a big comeback I reckon so don't go away.
    People are getting fed up of talking to people they know in the flesh and blood world.
    Aint so much room for bullshit and laughter after a while.
    Here have a tune ....
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Forums wax and wain depending on who comes and goes. I don't think social networking plays a major part at all, they serve a different purpose, plus FB junkies and forum posters are totally different types of people...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Interesting thread, I must say that I have noticed a decline on online forums also, and I am not a big fan of facebook, there is too much transparency for me to be active because of my job.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Comment is free killed the internet forums (and its equivalents on the BBC, Telegraph, Mail etc)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't get it....
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Whowhere wrote: »
    I don't get it....

    Nor do I, it is not an extract from a Flashman book either.......
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