Hatchling Cockatrice Alorael at Large Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Are forums, as a whole, dying out? I've seen no evidence of it myself and read nothing suggesting that it's the case. Instead, what I've seen is a new, larger crop of people turning to the internet, but only for the social network model of, well, social networking. —Alorael, who doesn't think there's so much of a leap from Facebook whatever-it-is where people can all comment on some interest to a forum for that interest. It's the leap from talking to friends to sharing interests with strangers that's the big one, but it doesn't really touch forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Randomizer Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Social networking limits who you have to interact with compared to forums openness. It mirrors real life in that like minded people congregate together to the exclusion of outsiders. Forums still have more strangers than social networks because you can limit those invited in to the interaction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Tycho Maudd Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Wow, I'm surprised at the age here! Nearly a quarter are 10+ years, makes me feel less special for having been here that long, at least I still remember the old forums. Edit: At least I have the oldest account of the people posting here, I've got something going for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Goldengirl Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Originally Posted By: The jury of your fears Are forums, as a whole, dying out? I've seen no evidence of it myself and read nothing suggesting that it's the case. I did once read an article suggesting that that was the case. However, I cannot find it again, and even if I did, it was just an opinion piece. However, some simple logic can help support our assertions. Given that people are spending the same amount of time online as always, and given that social networking sites like Facebook are becoming more prominent (which can be backed up by statistics if need be, but I think this can be taken for granted, yes?), then at least some people are taking off time from online forums in order to use social networking sites instead. It's essentially a zero-sum game in terms of where people spend time online, is what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying it's the greatest factor ever in our retention rates at Spiderweb, but it probably contributes in some fashion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt Arch-Mage Solberg Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Here are the current results! Click to reveal.. Just joined! 3 (06%) over 1 year 2 (04%) 2 years 0 (0%) 3 years 1 (02%) 4 years 4 (9%) 5 years 5 (11%) 6 years 5 (11%) 7 years 4 (9%) 8 years 5 (11%) 9 years 6 (13%) 1 decade and up! 12 (26%) I've been here for 10 1/2 years. Most of that time obviously lurking. Post #662 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast keira Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Based off anecdotal evidence, I would say forums as a whole are stable, and social media is growing exponentially. As web communities get less "unhandy", their point of stability rises. For most people, email mailing lists are not very user-friendly (I don't see why personally, for me it could not be simpler, you send a damn email), and thus have a relatively low stability point. Personally, I've only seen mailing lists used in FOSS software contexts, but I'm sure people use them for other stuff. Social media, on the other hand, has a high stability point. Most people see Facebook and other social sites as being not unhandy (again, I can't see how, but w/e), so they will support a higher userbase. Forums lie in the middle, a meeting point between the relatively unhandy mailing list-type medium and the handy social media medium. I also think that it's a matter of what the communication medium is carrying. Facebook is a cesspool of communication, you can pretty much talk about whatever with anyone. Forums usually have a set context, for example SW is about SW games, /r/mylittlepony is about MLP. Mailing lists and their relatives usually have a very narrow scope. nightly-testers is for talking about testing Nightly. Stepping outside the bounds in the medium is also taken into account. If I were to talk about ponies on savonet-users, and it wasn't about my awesome pony radio station powered by liquidsoap, I would be shunned by the list and voted off the island. If I post ponies on SW it causes minor chaos but i am not voted off the island (yet ). Again, anything goes on FB. In conclusion, handiness is directly correlated to activity and userbase, and openness of discussion context is also directly correlated to activity and userbase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrulous Glaahk Tycho Maudd Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Originally Posted By: Arch-Mage Solberg Here are the current results! I've been here for 10 1/2 years. Most of that time obviously lurking. Post #662 Beat you by over a month, with more lurking I might add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnificent Ornk Dikiyoba Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Originally Posted By: Goldenking Given that people are spending the same amount of time online as always, That's an assumption I wouldn't make. It's a lot easier to get online now than ten years ago, or even five years ago. It's also more mainstream and socially acceptable now to spend time online than it was five or ten years ago. My bet is that a larger and more varied population accesses the Internet now than five years ago, and that the average amount of time spent online has gone up. Dikiyoba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall The Ratt Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Originally Posted By: Dikiyoba Originally Posted By: Goldenking That's an assumption I wouldn't make. It's a lot easier to get online now than ten years ago, or even five years ago. It's also more mainstream and socially acceptable now to spend time online than it was five or ten years ago. My bet is that a larger and more varied population accesses the Internet now than five years ago, and that the average amount of time spent online has gone up. Dikiyoba. But I think his point that more of that time is being spent on places other than forums is still correct, otherwise the amount of time spent on forums should have a positive correlation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer Dire Hobbit Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Were the old forums something like this ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Well-Actually War Trall Actaeon Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 That's nifty. In 2005, when I joined, they looked more or less like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast The Mystic Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 I remember those old boards. *waxes nostalgic for a minute* I clicked the link, and it was nice to see the now-defunct SubTerra board up and running again, even in its dying days. That was what brought me here in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ineffable Wingbolt Arch-Mage Solberg Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Originally Posted By: Tycho Maudd Originally Posted By: Arch-Mage Solberg Here are the current results! I've been here for 10 1/2 years. Most of that time obviously lurking. Post #662 Beat you by over a month, with more lurking I might add. Over-achiever! Post #663 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unflappable Drayk ĐªгŦĦ Єяŋϊε Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 Originally Posted By: ЪŘŦĦ ËRÑÏ˸ btw what happened 2 years ago that noone joined then? looks like we got our 2 year poster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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