Forums are losing attention due Social Networks ?

[YoshiGM]

First topic message reminder :

Hi all,
I have opened this topic because I would like to know your opinion about the current situation of the forums in general.

I have come across a lot of people where I tell them about being part of a forum, but most of them back off because they prefer faster and easier places, where it doesn't take them long to reply to a message or comment.. Social networks like Discord, Twitter or even Facebook, fall into this category.

So, my question is ... Do people currently do not like forums because they are lazy? Or What do you think is the reason why people do not want to be part of a forum?

And also.. How do you recommend to people that a forum is also a good option to talk about everything that they are passionate about?

[johnv]

Hi all,
I have opened this topic because I would like to know your opinion about the current situation of the forums in general.

I have come across a lot of people where I tell them about being part of a forum, but most of them back off because they prefer faster and easier places, where it doesn't take them long to reply to a message or comment.. Social networks like Discord, Twitter or even Facebook, fall into this category.

So, my question is ... Do people currently do not like forums because they are lazy? Or What do you think is the reason why people do not want to be part of a forum?

And also.. How do you recommend to people that a forum is also a good option to talk about everything that they are passionate about?

Unable to create a topic, I suppose this is the nearest I’m able to get to explaining my views on Forumotion and forums in general.

Forumotion Review

I first started using Forumotion nearly a decade ago whilst living and working in China. BB2 was all the rage then, but obviously now looking pre-historic because of its age.

I used it as a place to store my long-form work essays, because one of the endearing qualities of Forumotion is that it’s timeless. I used it as a reliable external back-up hard-drive for a long time. Come back after years and your content will still be there. Google+, another free storage site came and went, Forumotion didn’t.

I recently deleted my years old friend as I’m now retired back in the UK, upgraded to BB3 and started using it as a blog type of forum. Early days and I don’t expect many posters if any, but writing was once part of my work and old habits die hard.

Pro’s and Con’s.

It’s free. On other sites I continually read about people paying ridiculous amounts for forums with add-on bells and whistles guaranteed to produce hordes of posters … Only to hear complaints that it’s not happening amid a chorus of spam sales offering to sell ‘magic’ keywords or get them top rankings on page one of Google. In your dreams!

Having said that, the problem with ‘free’ is that it never is. No one is going to give you server space and bandwidth for nothing. Forumotion is a business not a charity. You get financially free and they get the advertising coming in from the server end which you have no access to. Your job is to weigh up whether that’s a good deal. For me it is because I use Forumotion as my personal brand advertising, but anyone using the forum for its intended purpose of attracting posters, probably not.

The original HTML coding is abysmal and the CSS is bloated beyond belief. On and off it took me a week before I got a perfect HTML score on ‘The WC3 Markup Validation Service’ (WC3) by direct input, yet when I put in the URL it came up with 152 errors! Which means even the content coming in from the server end is badly written. Who writes this stuff?! Additionally, how about updating the outdated JS library for security reasons? It’s 2022, who on earth still uses outdated ‘snowstorms’ on their sites, or scrolling text?

Conclusion

Forums don’t get much exposure because they generally lack long form content of a minimum of one thousand words. Google is looking for original quality content, not an endless succession of one liners ending in a smiley face. The bottom line is that if you have a forum on any topic and can’t or won’t write an original quality piece for posters to engage with, you can’t reasonably expect someone else to come and do it for you, or others to reply to something that isn’t there. “What do you think about …?” isn’t going to get much response from anyone, including Google.

Of course, everyone has their own opinion, but I hope you’ve found mine interesting and perhaps even thought provoking?

[johnv]

Why the people prefers to use any social network if they social steals his personal information ?

If you’re on the Internet, use a credit card, shop on Amazon, have a mobile phone, an email address … Your location and personal details are already public knowledge. Social networks are simply an extension of this. How many put their resumes online and then complain social sites are selling their personal information?

[Galra Keith]

Mostly I think that Social Media dose kill forums. Facebook is number one of killing forums off for a long time after 2010. I seen a lot of good forums not just forumotion many others have not been like the old days anymore seems to be mostly gone or just abandoned. Now Facebook seems to be not doing so well now and peoples are leaving Facebook for good (like me) There could still be hope for forums.

I don't care for Discord. For me it's not really a good place to be on

[ezL]

I do use social networks, but i think forums for better.