Are specialist forums dying?

Associate
Joined
5 Jan 2004
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Location
Wiltshire
It wasn't long ago when this forum had hundreds of people online at any one time. Other specialist forums, pc and other stuff too, all seem the same with only a few online.

Has the scrolling mentality of people using facebook, twitter, reddit etc and other newsfeed type apps resulted in forums being customer service portals for shops and no longer the community based and information based place to hang out?
 
Soldato
Joined
24 Nov 2006
Posts
4,922
GD has definitely declined in traffic, used to be so many posts that 2 or 3 pages would still be today. Now there are threads updated on Friday on the first page..

I think you're right along with the second thoughts before posting that people have so they don't bother as much.
 
Associate
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France
Forums have largely become redundant for actual information gathering, as most information sharing has now moved over to video platforms such as Youtube. Downside of Youtube is the lack of proper debate, so while forums will continue to decline, they won't die out completely.
 
Commissario
Joined
16 Oct 2002
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2,653
Location
In the radio shack
It wasn't long ago when this forum had hundreds of people online at any one time. Other specialist forums, pc and other stuff too, all seem the same with only a few online.
Ignore the stats on the front page showing who's online, that's broken at the moment.

We do generally have hundreds of people online at any one time.

I think that forums are quiter than they used to be. I'm a member of a few of them for various radios and RPi projects and they all have a core membership that chat regularly but they are nowhere near the size they used to be.

Facebook groups have taken a lot of people away from forums and I think it's a shame. I much prefer a good forum to a Facebook group. It's easier to navigate, it's easier to follow and I think it's easier to have conversations.

FB completely destroyed a forum I used to frequent regularly, people drifted away to FB and eventually the forum hosting just didn't get renewed. As I've dumped my FB account recently, I've lost contact with the majority of these people.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Nov 2005
Posts
12,970
This is the best place for online chat I know of, I don't use much just the usual suspects of social media, but this is a mainstay and hopefully for years to come. Even for all the cranks on here, it's all good debate... and you always get an answer/help about anything, such variety of knowledge, experience and views which is what makes it what it is.
 
Caporegime
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In acme's chair.
Car based forums have been hit the hardest. They are almost all dead. A few are hanging on, like the NPOC, when they shouldn't be, they should have closed down because they get about 1 post a week.

As an aside, it would have been quite funny (in a sad way) if this thread got no replies... :p
 
Don
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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56,452
Location
Cornwall
Car based forums have been hit the hardest. They are almost all dead. A few are hanging on, like the NPOC, when they shouldn't be, they should have closed down because they get about 1 post a week.

As an aside, it would have been quite funny (in a sad way) if this thread got no replies... :p

Yep it's sad scoobynet is like a ghost town, used to be awesome :(
 

SPG

SPG

Soldato
Joined
28 Jul 2010
Posts
10,231
Yes, facebook has not made the world a better place only worse.

Yet somehow they have hoodwinked a generation of what can only be described as "noobs" for seeing the benefits of a proper forum.

I.E

Spec me a Dishwasher
Spec me a PC for £500 (This was in 2004)
Spec me collar for my dog (yes its really for a dog)
How to combat flies in my loft

Somehow the blue is the last bastion.
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Nov 2005
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Location
Guernsey
Don't know if it because am fairly old so am more used to using forums

I can't get on with facebook as almost every time i log onto facebook i seem to get loads of random junk showing up on the main page :confused: not sure if anyone gets this :confused:
 
Caporegime
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In acme's chair.
Don't know if it because am fairly old so am more used to using forums

I can't get on with facebook as almost every time i log onto facebook i seem to get loads of random junk showing up on the main page :confused: not sure if anyone gets this :confused:

I'm 25 and I don't like Facebook. I use it because I feel it is necessary, most of my friends are my age +/- 5 years and an awful lot of them use Facebook exclusively as their means of communication with the outside world. So at the very least I have to have Facebook Messenger active...

I tried disabling my Facebook account a couple of times but I quickly found that car forums are not a replacement for owners club Facebook pages anymore. I had to re-activate my account to re-gain access to the knowledgebases... It was also awkward constantly having people ask "did you see my status?" when I ask them something, or having people message me asking why I wasn't at X or Y event "there was a post about it", even simple things like people linking me to posts and being unable to view them...

I removed 75% of my Facebook friends instead to reduce some of the nonsense I don't care about and posts from people I only vaguely know, unfollowed/left most pages, and begrudgingly still use it...

I'd love it if people would all migrate to something else but I can't see it happening. I wonder what percentage of people use it because "everyone else does" and like me they see it as a necessary evil. It would be interesting.
 
Caporegime
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In acme's chair.
I really enjoy browsing OCUK forums!!!
Me too, as is evident from my post count, which I'm sure many wish was substantially lower... :p

It makes up an embarrassingly large piece of my day to day life, and my life would genuinely be very different if I had never signed up... I've made friends, been supported in decisions, learned a lot, etc.

Always have OcUK open in a tab, and its the most visited site on my phone.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
Posts
12,305
I think it also depends on the "specialist subject", I see home automation forums getting busier as more people start to dabble in smart home tech.

Reddit is also quite a popular platform for discussion.
 
Soldato
Joined
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8,116
Location
The Land of Roundabouts
I think forums are getting back to there roots, in the early days you had to know a thing or to about the internet to be able to use it in any sort of capacity so fourms were full of people with an invested reason to be there, then it became easier and the masses signed up here there and everywhere. Now we have facebook for the users who dont want to invest themselves too deeply in anything leaving the forums to the more hardened users. If anything im finding forums more useful for the subjects im interested in now.
Reddit is also good, though that is getting filled up with users who just want quick fixes for themselves (and to be honest im probably guilty of that to some degree....).
 
Soldato
Joined
11 Oct 2005
Posts
4,796
Location
Manchester, UK
There's too many places to share information nowadays. It's sad as I much prefer the functionality of forums over things like Facebook groups.

Weirdly, I also prefer the username / anonymity of a forum as I'm less inclined to judge someone, so everyone's input is valid. It can't just be me that browses the Facebook profiles of the prolific posters in groups? It's not the same when you realise you're speaking to Keith the accounts administrator from Sheffield instead of <TigerFury27> or something.
 
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