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

[L3gacy]

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'll do that

 

[Cpvr]

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.

AI-generated content gets de-ranked and loses value in the search engines. It’s not something that’s killing forums like you’ve stated. If that were the case, Reddit would be dead, Quora would be dead, and many other forums would be complete graveyards. Look at Reddit, they’re doing just fine, and AI bots run rampant over there.


The same applies for social media. They have various AI-generated bots that act like humans, blend in, and communicate with others like they’re actual people. Why isn’t social media dying? Why is it still steady on the rise?


AI-generated content is not the problem here. The main problem is when companies like VerticalScope buy out their competition and then leave those forums to rot. If anything, they caused the decline of forums. They took apart what made those communities great, their owners and staff members. When you remove the people who built the forum and replace them with those who don’t care, it drains the life right out of the place. That’s what caused the decline of forums. Not AI-generated content.


AI is here to stay whether we like it or not. Some users use it to fix grammar, clean up thoughts, or come up with new ideas. That’s not a bad thing, that’s actually a good thing. Forums need fresh ideas, new energy, and people who are willing to think outside the box.


Also, there are people from different countries who naturally write in a way that’s similar to how AI responds. Why? Because AI is trained on human writing. It mimics patterns that exist in real content. Just because someone’s post sounds like AI doesn’t automatically mean they’re using it to write everything. Making that assumption and ignoring people because of it? That’s part of what’s causing forums to decline, people choosing not to engage. No replies, no conversations, just plain ol' ghost towns.


The key is engagement. If a post feels low-effort, push back and challenge it. Help raise the bar, not lower it. That’s how you get better replies. That’s how forums stay alive. That’s how you win.


But hey, if you’d rather not do that, that’s on you.

 

[Senkusha]

... AI is here to stay whether we like it or not. Some users use it to fix grammar, clean up thoughts, or come up with new ideas. That’s not a bad thing, that’s actually a good thing. Forums need fresh ideas, new energy, and people who are willing to think outside the box.

You hit the nail on the head. Forums require people to participate actively. Without people, contributing their ideas, life experiences, and idle chatter, all a forum is, is a static website with some information on it. Trust me, I tried for five years with my previous forum. There's no members on it, it's just me spouting my own ideas-- information broadcasting.

The key is engagement. If a post feels low-effort, push back and challenge it. Help raise the bar, not lower it. That’s how you get better replies. That’s how forums stay alive. That’s how you win.

This point further illustrates what I'm saying. Engagement is critical. However, I would say that even low-effort posting is better than nothing at all. I mean, let's look at Reddit and Quora! There's tons of low-bar energy there, and as @Cpvr mentioned, they're doing fine.

 

[Nomad]

That would be the developers of forum sofware.
I first tried wordpress in 2012, it has changed a lot. I first used indie forum in 2015, and the forums are pretty same in 2025. Look at how social media has changed, and now just look at how the indie communities are doing. The forum leaders are too complacent with the design and features forum software is offering.

 

[Bawse]

My forum will never die, it'll only flourish. That'll always be my mindset.