Growth If forums are dying, who's killing them? (4 Viewers)

[Cpvr]

These days, we hear a lot of discussions that "forums" are "dying". but this is something that’s been going on for many years now. And yet, forums are still here. They’re still pushing forward.

Sure, you have Reddit. You have Discord. Reddit is basically another form of social media, a bigger online community, but not an indie online community that’s run by independent owners. We are not giants. We’re not powerful companies with millions of dollars to spend on marketing or advertising campaigns.

So, who's killing forums outright? Who’s making them die?

The water. The seed. You have to water the plant. Without water, forums won’t sustain the very growth foundations that make them great. We have the methods. We have the means to keep them going.

We’re not dying. We’re sustaining. As long as we continue as owners, we will prevail.

That whole "forums are dying" thing? It's moot, especially if a forum is steadily getting 5–200 posts a day. A forum that’s dead isn’t getting any posts. No traction. No visitors. No discussion. No nothin’. It's like a graveyard, but with no bodies.

It’s a place that’s been forgotten, lost in time.

Is that what forums are? Absolutely not.

Forums are here to stay. Keep striving. Keep working. Keep pushing forward.

When the rockets go off, and your forum’s flying high, you’ll know you did something great. Your forum prevailed. It didn’t die. It didn’t get lost. It survived. You won.


With that being said, where do you stand on this?

Who’s killing forum, if they’re dying?

Social media? Facebook? Reddit? Discord?

Let’s talk.

 

[Demon_skeith]

Mostly discord, but its also the instant messaging one could get from Discord as well, forums can be a bit slow in seeing replies.

 

[Ravenfreak]

It's people's laziness is what it is. People don't want to take the time to join a forum to engage in conversations like they used to. They want to be able to access communities with a few clicks and be able to participate in them. Whenever Reddit increased the price of their API for third party apps, many people were freaking out because of the blackouts and didn't know what to do with themselves. I mentioned in one thread that I didn't have a problem with the Reddit blackout since forums exist and I got responses from people saying "They didn't like having to sign up on a few different websites." They preferred Reddit because you have one global account. I mentioned Proboards and how they have one global sign in account but it fell on deaf ears. Likewise Facebook falls under this same category because Groups exist and if you have a Facebook account you have access to groups if you join them. Sure there's still people that use them, and honestly I feel that the people like us who like forums still are more creative. We take the time to make our own spaces to share information with likeminded people. Whereas most of society prefers to use premade places that can be shut down at any moment and they just don't even realize it.

 

[Cpvr]

It's people's laziness is what it is. People don't want to take the time to join a forum to engage in conversations like they used to. They want to be able to access communities with a few clicks and be able to participate in them. Whenever Reddit increased the price of their API for third party apps, many people were freaking out because of the blackouts and didn't know what to do with themselves. I mentioned in one thread that I didn't have a problem with the Reddit blackout since forums exist and I got responses from people saying "They didn't like having to sign up on a few different websites." They preferred Reddit because you have one global account. I mentioned Proboards and how they have one global sign in account but it fell on deaf ears. Likewise Facebook falls under this same category because Groups exist and if you have a Facebook account you have access to groups if you join them. Sure there's still people that use them, and honestly I feel that the people like us who like forums still are more creative. We take the time to make our own spaces to share information with likeminded people. Whereas most of society prefers to use premade places that can be shut down at any moment and they just don't even realize it.

Facebook groups are also a mini community in itself, and they can be used as a promotional tactic to drive users onto our forums as well, especially if these particular group owners allow promotional posts. The key is to talk to the owners of these groups and see if promotional posts are allowed. If they are, then by all means, promote your forum. It's not all about being lazy, it's about the effort and going where the users are. If users aren't aware that forums exist, they won't be able to find them.

Facebook nor Reddit were able to attract attention without the willingness to go above and beyond to find users, they were able to step out of the box. Every outlet should be utilized in order to bring in users, especially if you're willing to do it. The fact is, you're able to implement OAuth login systems that enable users to join a forum under their Facebook account or their Reddit account, so that's a means to get their users on board.

A direct global account would definitely work for every single forum, especially XenForo. However, it probably won't happen anytime soon. Which is why we have to utilize Google's direct login, Facebook's, Twitter's, etc., in order to enable quicker signups on our forums.

Users that enjoy forums like long-form content and safer spaces, yes, however, if you search social media, you'll notice that some users actually prefer forums over social media. The fact is, they hang out on social media because their friends are there, but if owners promote on social media, utilize hashtags, and drop important keywords, more content will display on the search engines, which in turn will drive more users to forums. Content on social media is crawlable and indexable by search engines. It also helps to build backlinks to your forum, especially if you're utilizing Bluesky, Threads, Tumblr, or Reddit. This kind of marketing creates extra visibility and publicity. You never know who will see your post and join your forum based on what you say. It pays off in the end.

Forums will remain at the forefront of what they do best, serving as knowledge bases and building a real community atmosphere. Social media is designed for quick chatting and reactions. Forums aren't for that, which is why forums are still leading the way.

We can't sit around waiting for people to remember forums exist. If we want this space to grow, we’ve got to go where the users are and show them why forums are still worth their time.

 

[L3gacy]

I'm a longtime forum creator. I've been building forums all the way back since 2002. I wonder if most of us who make forums these days are older. It’s starting to feel like forums are a thing of the past, and the only way they might come back is if something happens to social media and honestly, I just don’t see that happening.

Like the people in this post said: people are lazy. Even if you make it easy for them to register, they most likely won’t post. I’ve recently created three new communities: one for my business, one for Red Dead, and one for a game currently in development. Out of the three, the last one is the only one doing halfway decent and I’ve had to pour a ton of money and time into it. Even with all that effort, getting people to post is like pulling teeth.

I’ve written solid news articles relentlessly, made tools with software to support the community… Speaking of that, I initially locked access to one of the tools behind registration. When I shared the link on Reddit, people completely lost their minds. However, it was somewhat successful lots of people registered to gain access. But the feedback was so overwhelmingly negative that I had to open it up to everyone. After that, registrations plummeted. I still get a few here and there, but for the most part, people just use the content and leave without saying a word or contributing anything.

I think it's just human nature at this point, the mindset of "I want instant access and I don’t want to give anything in return, but I’m definitely entitled to it."

 

[Senkusha]

I believe that activity also relates to the type of forum you're running. If you're providing a service or product, the only content I'd expect members to create would be support and feedback. There's very little retention with that. Whereas a forum that focuses on creative writing, debate, and advice, will probably have a much higher participation.

I've started up a role playing forum recently. I understand that it's going to be slow. I'm targeting mostly GenX, older Millennials, maybe a few random GenZ. People who are comfortable with typing on a keyboard versus speaking into a camera. I'm setting up the expectation by posting what I'm looking for so that my future members have an example to guide their own posts by.

My other forum, the one I've struggled with for over five years now, I think I now understand where I went wrong. It was a work of passion. I love my hobbies, combining them made a lot of sense to me, but, I totally ignored the user base out on the internet. This isn't 2010, you build it, they will find it and come. The people on the Internet today are lazy. They want to be served. So while I built a community for role playing and anime, I think most people were expecting to find stuff to download and blog posts related to my personal review of the various role playing systems I featured. Nobody cares to discuss the minute details of dice mechanics from one system to another, nor do people really care to discuss ancient anime.

Perhaps I'm wasting my time and money with this new pursuit, however, I'm keenly aware of my target demographics this time. And already, I think it's beginning to pay off. My new site is about a week or two old officially, and I've managed to gain two members--only for me to throw them in a bear pit by migrating to a new forum software! I'm thinking about where do the people in my targeted demographic hang out on the internet? For example, I found a subReddit (OldInterent, I think it's called). Somebody was complaining about how they miss the old anime forums. While I didn't outright provide a link to my new site (it's already in my Profile), I did describe my new forum. Maybe I'll gain a new member out of that outreach. At any rate, I'm keeping front and center, in my mind, that this is going to be a slow burn, and I'll be the only person doing the majority of the writing on my forum. And I'm okay with that, because this is my expectation. I may become pleasantly surprised if I receive a huge influx of memberships though.

I believe the people who are interested in participating in forums are out there. We just need to be mindful about where to look, and keep in mind that the vast majority of people just aren't a good fit for our hobby.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

AI is potentially killing forums.

Not AI itself but users who use AI to create content because they're too lazy to be creative.

I've always considered myself a quality forum poster. I'm thinking of the words I'm posting right now and not using ChatGPT to come up with them. I've always done this because I like writing and showing good grammar and organization with my words.

You can read my past posts and see a similarity in my voice, style, and words I use.

You can see that with others, as well. There are many people on forums today, including this one, who post AI-generated content as their own content. It's obvious to. It's obvious because their voice, tone, style, and commonly used words have dramatically changed around the time when ChatGPT had become popular for using to create content.

Because of that -- it feels fake to engage with these people. I feel like no matter what I say, I'll get an AI-generated response and not really something from the pits of their emotion and soul. AI takes away their soul, IMO.

Those people are killing forums. There are many forums I go to and when I see so much of that, I started to get bored with those forums. I have ChatGPT premium. If I want to talk to AI, I'll talk to it since I pay for it. I know what I'm getting because I know I'm talking to a "not a human" but when I chat with a forum member who is using AI, I know I'm not getting a real human-to-human experience. That's depressing and totally kills my motivation to keep participating on a lot of forums.

I bet I'm not the only one who feels this way, either.

AI-generated content by lazy people not willing to be creative is what's killing forums in 2025 and beyond.

 

[L3gacy]

Yeah, I can maybe see that. But I think it was happening long before AI really came into the picture. That could just become the final nail. I use AI from time to time, for complex coding. I know just enough to break things, but have the understanding to work with it. So I would venture to say it has its good and bads. But I also think it has to do with a niche, like @Senkusha pointed out. As with my new community site, we're really the only community style site out right now. So it's seeing a little attention, but I'm trying to apply the "if you can't beat them, join them" But in my own way. Take Discord, for example. I feel like Discord is a huge disruptor, especially when it comes to gaming. But last night, I integrated Discord with the site so It pulls posts from the forums and shares a nice clip from the post. Just enough to engage them to visit hopefully.

Time will tell if it will work. But slowly, the number of users are making their way to discord, and I hope they also stop by the forums, as they can now use discord to make an account.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Yeah, I can maybe see that. But I think it was happening long before AI really came into the picture. That could just become the final nail. I use AI from time to time, for complex coding. I know just enough to break things, but have the understanding to work with it. So I would venture to say it has its good and bads. But I also think it has to do with a niche, like @Senkusha pointed out. As with my new community site, we're really the only community style site out right now. So it's seeing a little attention, but I'm trying to apply the "if you can't beat them, join them" But in my own way. Take Discord, for example. I feel like Discord is a huge disruptor, especially when it comes to gaming. But last night, I integrated Discord with the site so It pulls posts from the forums and shares a nice clip from the post. Just enough to engage them to visit hopefully.

Time will tell if it will work. But slowly, the number of users are making their way to discord, and I hope they also stop by the forums, as they can now use discord to make an account.

Forums have definitely been on the decline even before AI. I totally agree with that. But AI-generated content is really going to hit it hard.

Someone who is obsessed with forums like me is even starting to burn out because of it.

I'd like to see a plugin that scans UGC for AI and then applies label based on those scans. Something like "This content is potentially made with AI." just to rat people out when they do it. They're starting to do that with social media and I'm glad to see it.

AI is a good thing, and we should all embrace it and learn it, but it can be used poorly especially to replace human communication.

 

[Senkusha]

... I feel like Discord is a huge disruptor, especially when it comes to gaming. But last night, I integrated Discord with the site so It pulls posts from the forums and shares a nice clip from the post. Just enough to engage them to visit hopefully.

Time will tell if it will work. But slowly, the number of users are making their way to discord, and I hope they also stop by the forums, as they can now use discord to make an account.

I just integrated Discord into my forum, but only as another method to register/login to my forum. Let me know if you notice any uptick in forum traffic. I'd probably go further with my discord integration as well, but I have nobody on my Discord server anyway, and I'm okay with that. I'd rather be playing on my forum, my new shiny forum.

...
I'd like to see a plugin that scans UGC for AI and then applies label based on those scans. Something like "This content is potentially made with AI." just to rat people out when they do it. They're starting to do that with social media and I'm glad to see it.
...

Be careful with that. There's cases of people writing legitimate work that's being flagged as "AI" unjustly. Unfortunately, AI is probably here to stay...that is until we ultimately end up nuking ourselves over something totally stupid.