Forums.... Disappearing from the internet?

[Hayashida]

eh what are you saying

[Celestial-Fox]

I think some forums are fairly active, so it's definitely worth it. I just think forums often need to keep up with "peripheral" networking—meaning, to keep the community tight and active, chat rooms, real life meetups, contests, and social networking integration become increasingly important. I webmaster a site, and adding features like chat rooms has really helped centralize our active user base, and we plan to have a forum up and running by this summer.

The slower pace of forums is nice, especially when accommodating people in hugely different time zones. Facebook-style instant networking is nice for some things, but it's easy to lose track if you are out for a day or two.

[GunZet]

Forums aren't going anywhere.

/thread.

[Fenn]

I've been on a few forums that I've watched decline in activity over the last few years, and a common theme seems to be over-generalization. When the forum starts it's very focused, and everyone who joins is doing so to discuss the topic of the site, be it a art form, a video game, a lifestyle aspect, etc. When the forum is at it's peak, it's a brilliant source of information on the topic at hand.

Things seem to slow down and start decaying when the "off-topic" section, which is usually a single board to begin with, starts to grow. Suddenly you have as many off-theme forums as on-theme ones, and the forum becomes less reliable as a concentrated source of info on the original topic, and more of a social media site. At this point the oldest members have also set a tone on the forum, which limits the growth to those who more or less agree with this tone. The combination of those two factors together reduce the level of activity over time.

I've seen it happen to a degree on this site, and even more so on other forums I've joined. In fact, this site is has persisted far longer than others I've joined. The good news is this decline usually seems to level out at some point, usually when there's a solid enough bunch of regulars to keep it alive.

[Sylux]

See? Fenn knows what the heck I'm talking about man.

[Black_Shaggie]

I say we all just get a gang of stamps & stationary & go back to snail mail...

[Rio]

Carrier pigeon is better than snail. And it has to be encrypted lest it fall in enemy hands. <_<

[Ooocast]

What if the pigeon gets shot though?

[Sylux]

Then you'll just have to... Double post.

[Joosh]

A couple members and I have a Skype group that used to be really active. While we try to keep it alive people just don't contribute as much anymore (Including myself.)