Thank you! I feel like I’m the only person who lived through that time. Having everything on one site is way simpler, reddit sucks but that doesn’t mean the concept does.
I do not miss having to sign up for a specific forum, wait for the email, no email, check spam folder, no email, 15 mins later email shows up in spam, go to post, “sorry you can’t make a post without interacting with at least 5 other posts”, post random shit on 5 other posts, finally get to post, "this question has been answered. Post archived "
I guess I did forums a little differently. I had 2 main forums where I posted a lot and then a handful I would peruse occasionally. If you had a good forum, there would be a very ‘reddit-like’ feel because they’d have general discussion, fitness, gaming, etc.
One of the things I liked about forums back in the day is that, while they didn’t have the scale of Reddit, the engagement and interactions seemed better. You got to know posters.
And services like firefox relay so yo don’t have to give up your own email addres and can easily turn it off if it ends up on a spam list. For a service like Jellyfin a forum is the best way to go.
I don’t remember the year but I was using roboform quite some time ago, and keepass existed and I actually used something for years before that. Easily in like 2004. It doesn’t have to (and I think better if it doesn’t) plug into the browser. They used keyboards and tabs to input the info.
Not only do we have password managers now, we also have OIDC. I can see a situation where a service pops up with no offering other than identity management/verification, and forum-like software can accept log-ins from that service.
Yep unpopular opinion I hate hate hate discord for anything but normal chat. The threads they added recently are neat and I hope they keep going in that direction.
I hate Discord full stop, because it’s a centralised proprietary platform just like Reddit and is going to hit the exact same issues one day, and it’s going to be even harder to recover all the conversations that have gone on there.
I miss forums too. Discord has kind of taking over that role for my friends and I, but Discord makes it feel like you are posting something with everyone staring at you through a window. I hate that it notifies that you are actively typing.
Discord sucks for what forums are good for. Forums are great for durable discussions that can be indexed, searched, discovered, and referenced. Discord? It’s only good at real time conversations
Discord sucks for what forums are good for. Forums are great for durable discussions that can be indexed, searched, discovered, and referenced. Discord? It’s only good at real time conversations
Not in this day and age where me and my grandma have our own.
There are so many, you can’t keep up to date with your hobbies unless you are willing to follow 50 platforms with 60 different UIs and community rules.
I prefer the aggregation of data like fediverse where we can follow topics and not platforms.
I welcome the return of forums. What a simpler time.
I don’t-
I don’t miss having to register accounts on each one, answer a bunch of questions, give a birthday, give an email, do a capta… etc…
Just for that forum to popup on haveibeenpwned.com a few months later.
Knock on wood, password managers are a thing now, and its easy to give each forum a very unique password. But- still. Don’t really miss those.
Thank you! I feel like I’m the only person who lived through that time. Having everything on one site is way simpler, reddit sucks but that doesn’t mean the concept does.
I do not miss having to sign up for a specific forum, wait for the email, no email, check spam folder, no email, 15 mins later email shows up in spam, go to post, “sorry you can’t make a post without interacting with at least 5 other posts”, post random shit on 5 other posts, finally get to post, "this question has been answered. Post archived "
Another factor, is…
Well, Especially for users in large communities, or those with lots of interests, they will end up on LOTS of forums.
And, that turns into either, a lot of notifications, or a lot of ignored interactions due to the number of notifications.
The last thing people don’t seem to remember, half of the damn forums wanting to put damn ads everywhere.
I still see a legacy of that when a forum for game modding requires you create an account to download.
I guess I did forums a little differently. I had 2 main forums where I posted a lot and then a handful I would peruse occasionally. If you had a good forum, there would be a very ‘reddit-like’ feel because they’d have general discussion, fitness, gaming, etc.
One of the things I liked about forums back in the day is that, while they didn’t have the scale of Reddit, the engagement and interactions seemed better. You got to know posters.
I couldn’t tell you another redditor’s username.
That’s a take. For sure.
Password managers have been a thing for like 20 years?
And services like firefox relay so yo don’t have to give up your own email addres and can easily turn it off if it ends up on a spam list. For a service like Jellyfin a forum is the best way to go.
Not quite- I’d say they really became popular / usable around 10-15 years ago. In the early 2000s, people either used internet explorer, or opera.
Opera /chrome didn’t support extensions until 2009.
NOT- saying they didn’t exist, but, the idea of a browser-integrated password manager wasn’t a huge thing back then, I don’t believe.
I don’t remember the year but I was using roboform quite some time ago, and keepass existed and I actually used something for years before that. Easily in like 2004. It doesn’t have to (and I think better if it doesn’t) plug into the browser. They used keyboards and tabs to input the info.
Roboform was originally released in 2000. It’s the oldest password manager I can think of.
Internet Explorer supported extensions for a long time (at least since IE5, maybe even IE3 or 4), and Firefox did too.
Not only do we have password managers now, we also have OIDC. I can see a situation where a service pops up with no offering other than identity management/verification, and forum-like software can accept log-ins from that service.
Yeah but that’s the old way. Today you’d sign in with one of the big accounts, or, even better, a passkey that seamlessly moves around with you.
I’m so excited for forums to come back, just need to make sure there is a great mobile app to handle them.
It felt so much better to engage on forums. felt a bit slower and more intentional. And signatures, the signatures! Love their choice here.
a indie game i support refuses to use a forum, only discord. i hate searching thru threads in discord when a forum would be easier.
i wish people wouldn’t shun the idea of a forum just because it’s a “old idea.” good on the jellyfin folks for doing this.
Yep unpopular opinion I hate hate hate discord for anything but normal chat. The threads they added recently are neat and I hope they keep going in that direction.
I hate Discord full stop, because it’s a centralised proprietary platform just like Reddit and is going to hit the exact same issues one day, and it’s going to be even harder to recover all the conversations that have gone on there.
Sadly this is very common for small game developers (and even large ones) to move entirely to Discord to avoid paying or managing a dedicated forum
exactly. it’s not hard to install SMF or PHPBB on a small web server, however actually maintaining/managing a forum is a bit harder.
it’s easier to round up Discord moderators, but good luck finding anyone with forum moderation experience.
I miss forums too. Discord has kind of taking over that role for my friends and I, but Discord makes it feel like you are posting something with everyone staring at you through a window. I hate that it notifies that you are actively typing.
Discord sucks for what forums are good for. Forums are great for durable discussions that can be indexed, searched, discovered, and referenced. Discord? It’s only good at real time conversations
I don’t get the popularity of discord. You have to wade through so much casual conversation to find anything of value.
It’s great for the things it does well, but then people get locked into a “when you have a nice hammer, every problem looks like a nail” mindset
Discord sucks for what forums are good for. Forums are great for durable discussions that can be indexed, searched, discovered, and referenced. Discord? It’s only good at real time conversations
And my questions got lost in a flood of messages… Even Discord now has to implement forums feature to prevent this problem.
Not in this day and age where me and my grandma have our own.
There are so many, you can’t keep up to date with your hobbies unless you are willing to follow 50 platforms with 60 different UIs and community rules.
I prefer the aggregation of data like fediverse where we can follow topics and not platforms.