I’ve never been a big forum user, even back in the day. For the last couple of years I’ve been using them a bit more. Specifically to get answers to bugs I encounter in software I try out and use, Textpattern for example. In the last couple of days I’ve happened on two examples of people using forums like back in the day, sort of an ongoing conversation, community type thing. I hadn’t spent time thinking about it but if someone had asked me I would have said forums were dead but, seemingly, they aren’t. How about you, throngs of unknown readers, forums? Use ‘em, love ‘em?
5 Comments
One of the most amiable that I spend some time at is Cre8asite Forums at
http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/
It’s tagline is ‘Building Better Websites Together’. Most visitors seem to find it a great community to be part of.
Forums are absolutely valuable. They are spontaneously-created user communities, self-organizing.
For example, in the Softimage XSI user community – there are fewer blogs there, more forums where people post questions, ask for help, post answers, and in its own way, it creates a tightly-knit environment, and it’s much less ego-involved compared to blogging.
I think they are complementary things – forums for direct user interaction, blogs to start discussion on certain topics in a more organized manner.
I personally think that forums are the backbone of the internet. It was the first public way people were able to interact with one another in one place for a common interest.
One of the reasons why I’m so pro-forums, is I am one of those “back in the day” people. And seeing how forums, before blogging became popular, was the initial way people exchanged ideas, personal anecdotes, and where people became friends, lovers, or even business partners.
Forums elicit this sense of community, as each one is slightly different. It’s like a microchosm of regular social interaction within a group of people. Like high school or college. There’s been fights and stupid fueds, cliques and favourites—it’s just another place to socialize online with people around the world, and maybe even learn from one another.
My regular forum is down today, I’m forced to actually work.
It’s interesting to see the same folks from the rec.whatever from long ago now participating on php boards, and strangely being much more civil.
I’ve recently discovered this forum from the bookslut.com blog: http://ilx.wh3rd.net/blog.php?board=54 . Checked it out and found it interesting.
Speaking of changing trends, I would like to know if chating is possible on the net without it ending up as cyber sex? I tried some Yahoo chat rooms (the most innocent sounding ones, at that!) and it seemed like most people were there to end up in private conversations, asking the typical “what sex are you?” “how old are you?” etc… Was that just my bad luck or has chating gone to the (cyber-)rabbits?