What a story! I remember you telling me about it ca. 2008. Do you think anything like this could happen nowadays? Is there any future for classical forums? Most of them died, some of them still alive however the discussions rather moved to facebook...
I'd say things have turned towards online communities. Notice there's no common open-source engine like phpBB. Granted, there are a few opinionated frameworks like WP or Ghost, but I believe Reddit, Indiehackers, Spectrum, or Circle are custom-coded products.
As you mentioned, communities within existing platforms (Facebook groups, slack workspaces etc.) made it seamless to join and engage.
I think online forums will return on the wave of decentralization pursuit. A few recent events proved that reliance on a single platform is risky, people realized the fragility. No one wants to be censored or canceled, and the threat is real.
What a story! I remember you telling me about it ca. 2008. Do you think anything like this could happen nowadays? Is there any future for classical forums? Most of them died, some of them still alive however the discussions rather moved to facebook...
I'd say things have turned towards online communities. Notice there's no common open-source engine like phpBB. Granted, there are a few opinionated frameworks like WP or Ghost, but I believe Reddit, Indiehackers, Spectrum, or Circle are custom-coded products.
As you mentioned, communities within existing platforms (Facebook groups, slack workspaces etc.) made it seamless to join and engage.
I think online forums will return on the wave of decentralization pursuit. A few recent events proved that reliance on a single platform is risky, people realized the fragility. No one wants to be censored or canceled, and the threat is real.