Forum Sites Are Dying

[Catalyst]

I've noticed that many of the popular forums are dying off or becoming inactive. A few of the forums I used to go to were quite active until some started college etc, or just started getting bored.

Some have mentioned that over the years it's become a 'fad' or a 'trend'. Then something else pops up and you go to that, and sometimes they come back and post about it for a while and disappear again.

I'm not trying to put down ffnet.net, or any other site in general - it's just there's so many that cover the same topics. There's probably hundreds of game-related forums, or even specific-game forums out there. i believe that if it covers an unusual or rare topic it'd be a bit more popular, such as a game developer site, or that has material of it's own, such as newsletters and so on. Such as Gamespot, IGN, EGM and so on.

In today's 'forum world', it's beginning to really die down, what do you guys think?

[Seyluv]

I hope not, but it really depends on what the forum brings and what their members bring to keep a forum alive. I like forums way more then just a web site, we can talk here, get help, and tons of great stuff. Chat rooms are fun, but ot not the same as being in a forum.

[Catalyst]

With chat rooms, I remember when the MSN ones were free and open until they closed them for "safety". That really frustrated me because I was in them a lot.

I agree. Forums add a lot, but they can also redirect people from the main "important" part of the site, visual updates and so on. For instance, look at Gamespot. Their forums are a minority because they have so much main content that people read, which is a lot. The content is fairly long, but it contains updates, reviews, pictures, downloads, and so on. If you look at forum posts, they are very short, and they seem to not be modded as often as lets say here for instance.

Back to the chat rooms subject, the majority of them are all porn spam bots like, "Free <enter stuff here> for free" and you can pretty much figure out the rest.

[Zeromus_X]

I don't think forums are dying down at all. It's just that frequenting an online message board is an extracurricular activity- if events in a person's life prevent them from visiting a forum, then, that's just how it goes.

That being said, there will always be forums for people to talk about whatever things they're interested in. At any rate, I don't think it's a trend or that it'll 'die out' anytime in the near future.

[Catalyst]

Hey Zeromus, check out this thread I made as well.

http://www.ffnet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2278

[Andrew Scaves]

Yeah they are I have plenty of threads that never recieve replies and the biggest ones are now boring or filled with immature people full of false grandeur. There's also not that many interesting topics to discuss anymore either.

[Catalyst]

That's what happened to FFGON. It was an awesome place, probably the best Final Fantasy forum out there. Then some people came in, and started to influence and get along with other members. Then unfortunately, the admins became somewhat lazy and the member base became totally immature, thus the site started losing people and Darkwaltz4 shut it down and I was like "WTF MAN?!" but we're still in contact

That was way back when I had little-to-no computer skills and a typing speed of like, less than 10 WPM. Heh good times.

[Hydra]

Forums, in general, won't die out in a long time. When one's done, there'll always be another on the internets. I mean, think about it. The internets is a BIG place. As long as someone has an idea, and wants to be a local internets person, there'll always be a forum.

Forums, like anything else, die out. I got introduced to forums by a Yu-Gi-Oh forum, when it FIRST got introduced. It lasted for five years, and it suddenly died. That was when I was not very good on the keyboard. XD Either way, you gotta move on, and find another to become attached to. Because there'll always be one.

On the chat subject, not all chats have pr0n related sbujects. Hell, some people even go out and pay money to remove the ads, to benefit their members. =D I don't mind chats. Wouldn't want one on here though. Advertisers would go wild. XD

[Catalyst]

Kind of like I just picked up the Final Fantasy III OST for $17.97...well 40% off because the stores closing...

[Hydra]

Forums are like flea markets. That fun place where you get cheap stuff, until it closes down, due to low sales. =D

[Catalyst]

Well it was a kiosk at one of the malls here in Winnipeg. Just as I'm starting to buy some anime stuffs, it starts 40% off sales, so I bought the Final Fantasy III OST, two Beyblade books, and the first book of ZatchBell.

[Hydra]

Wish I could find a store like that over here. =P

Nevertheless, let's continue the dying forum discussion. =D

[Catalyst]

Yeah way to go off topic.

Anyways, did you check out that last thread I mentioned earlier in the topic to Zeromus_X?

[Hydra]

Well, now I did. =D

[Catalyst]

Check it again! Muahaha...aww...

But yeah. it's basically we need a lot to happen, but for things that are popular and easy to discuss to happen. A hard example would be something about what stars are made of, and different variations / forms of stars. Some people might know very little, and it's not a big subject. I don't even hear talk about Pluto not being a planet anymore (It isn't anymore...)