Are forums obsolete?

[Dan]

So recently I was re watching my favorite drama Zelda dungeon. I decided to watch season 22 episode 13, and yes I know that season was notoriously bad as axle the beast was played by Adam Sandler at that time. Anyway mases made a cameo appearance and stated that he wasn't too fond of the forums anymore as new websites kept his community together like youtube, twitter and Facebook.

Anyway my question is are forums becoming obsolete are they really a necessity for a online community anymore? Obviously answers are going to be quite bias considering this question has been asked on a forum but I just honestly want someone to give a clear reason as to why a forum may be obsolete. If you ask me you can't even compare a forum to youtube, twitter and Facebook.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Forums are cool for specific topics where you take a form of entertainment/specific hobby and build a small community around it. They're not exactly thriving now, no, but I still think they have their niche within the mass network of online social sites.

 

[Beauts]

I don't think forums are obsolete, I think the way they are relevant on the internet has changed. Social networks like Facebook etc are about staying in touch with friends and extending/making new friends in general, forums are specifically designed for discussion of a particular topic or world of interest. Back when the only websites designed for social networking were MySpace and Bebo, more people would seek out forums to talk about their interest or whatever. Then we had things like Livejournal, which is more like the fore-runner to tumblr and the like, where you could have your own journal but post into communities relating to a particular interest. I mean, that pretty much bridges the gap between the two types of network, forum and social. Now that social networking is so huge and easily accessible, forums to a lot of people seem like just for nerds. Which maybe is true.

 

[Vanessa28]

I think forums are becoming less relevant with the changes in the internet in general. Like Beauts said we have social networks which have taken over the part forums used to have. Still I think people get tired of networks and like to go to forums from time to time. Especially those who already were part of a forum before facebook or tumblr became very popular. And let's use ZD as an example. ZD has more than just a forum. Many people who come here often checked the walkthroughs or news all available on the homepage. And when you visit a site pretty often it can happen you notice the forums and check on it and get in touch with fellow people. I don't see forums disappear forever but I do see it being used less and less often.

 

[Dan]

I still don't really see it. A forum is so much easier to have a huge discussion based on a specific topic. Sure I could create a facebook group called "Zelda Fans united" but nothing would be nearly anywhere as organised. A forum was designed around creating discussion, that's it's specialty. It's a lot easier to have tons of topics afloat than it would be facebook. I agree that they may be partially less relevant in some areas though. I suspect if Facebook designed their groups to behave a lot more like forums we would then see less us for forums.

Also on Facebook they don't nearly have as many cool emoticons!. :bestcoolsar:

 

[misskitten]

The way I see it social media does more and more have a lot of the functions that you have on forums in general, however as a result your wall might get flooded with a lot of content you aren't as interested in getting, while on forums you can still pick and choose what you engage in. So I don't think forums will go away in entirety, but more they will continue to exist alongside social media groups and pages.

 

[the8thark]

The idea of people wanting to communicate with each other will always exist. In the past (70's to the mid 90's) the BBS (Bulletin Board System) existed. That died with the emergence of the internet in the mid 90's. And now we have internet forums to take over this need of people. And in the future something will take over the forums to fill this need people have.

Overall I think forums are a great way for people to chat about similar topics, get to know each other, and even make new friends. So for the time being I think forums are very needed and serve their purpose very well.

 

[Dio]

So recently I was re watching my favorite drama Zelda dungeon. I decided to watch season 22 episode 13, and yes I know that season was notoriously bad as axle the beast was played by Adam Sandler at that time. Anyway mases made a cameo appearance and stated that he wasn't too fond of the forums anymore as new websites kept his community together like youtube, twitter and Facebook.

Anyway my question is are forums becoming obsolete are they really a necessity for a online community anymore? Obviously answers are going to be quite bias considering this question has been asked on a forum but I just honestly want someone to give a clear reason as to why a forum may be obsolete. If you ask me you can't even compare a forum to youtube, twitter and Facebook.

On youtube and things like that you put a question or make a statement and it is probably not going to be answered, it is going to be skimmed over by viewers and never given a second thought. On a forum however you can create a topic in which people can reply to you because you are in an environment where people actually want to discuss things more in depth rather that just to put a couple of words to comment on something, probably not putting much thought in, typing the first thing that comes into their heads such as on facebook or youtube where anything more than a few sentences is TLDR.

 

[Vanessa28]

The idea of people wanting to communicate with each other will always exist. In the past (70's to the mid 90's) the BBS (Bulletin Board System) existed. That died with the emergence of the internet in the mid 90's. And now we have internet forums to take over this need of people. And in the future something will take over the forums to fill this need people have.

Overall I think forums are a great way for people to chat about similar topics, get to know each other, and even make new friends. So for the time being I think forums are very needed and serve their purpose very well.

Oh I prefer forums over social media too. The advantage the forums have is they are easier to view. Topics are more organized whil in social media you have to scroll down for a long time to find what you're looking for. The only advantage social media have is they can reach a bigger public through likes. But in general I do prefer a forum over social media anytime.

 

[Salem]

I'm not entirely forums are going obsolete, back then forums were one of the few ways to communicate in the Internet, the Internet itself was not as popular as today, so only people dedicated to a certain topic visit that forum.

Today, the internet is now more popular, people dedicated will still visit forums, like you said, it's more organised.

What I'm trying to say is, new social media like twitter and Facebook did not replace forums, they attracted people who are less likely to visit forums.

Do you get what I'm saying?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Forums are declining, they probably will fade eventually. Some people have said Facebook and Twitter are good for making new friends, maybe in ways, but most of the time people only use those sites to contact and keep in touch with people they already know. Forums are a lot better for debates, wereas social media sites are really only good for general chit-chat. Plus let's imagine I got some news on a zelda game on my facebook wall, unless all my friends and family like Zelda I'm not going to have anyone to talk about it with. Another thing about social media is that if random people try talking to you you'll probably ignore them. If some British guy who has no common friends and family of mine posted on my wall, even if it was in relation to the zelda news, I'd block the guy. With a forum that really gets thrown out the window, you might meet people from different countries but your more or less expecting it so its not as weird as if it happened on a site like Facebook or Twitter.

 

[Iridescence]

I wouldn't say forums are obsolete. Moreso that other types of communication are out there now and it's more competitive.

Forums still provide dedicated discussions, for close-knit communities that doesn't slant the visibility of posts in favor of the most popular users.

 

[DoomDash]

They are becoming less popular, that's for sure. Specifically for me the biggest changes I've noticed are on car forums. Instead of everything being done on the forums a lot of it has moved to facebook groups. Personally I prefer the old days when the forums were more active, because it was much easier to search for good information on a platform that is easy for old posts to be searched for, or just stickied.

 

[Wolf Sage]

Hell, if they aren't well on their way now, they sure as hell will be in the coming years. A quick look into the general discussion board shows that the most popular threads tend to be the ones that serve the same function as 'status updates' on various social media sites such as Facebook. See topics like "Things That Are On Your Mind." The least popular ones on the other hand are threads whose general purpose is to encourage all-around wholesome discourse. On that note, the few threads that don't quite fit the mold of 'least popular' still tend to be occupied by the same handful of members, which make for less than a fourth of the forum's 'regulars'. See the 'World of Zelda' board. Even the mature discussion board has seen better days.

This seems to be a trend on various internet forums, bar a few exceptions.

 

[Emmanuel]

I hope that message boards and forums like this stick around for a long time. I have more thoughts on the subject, but I'll just say that I appreciate the relative anonymity afforded to people on message boards that you don't experience on other social media like Facebook.