In modern times, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Discord, and X (formerly Twitter) are the most popular forms of online interactions.

Seven out of ten forum communities that were surging in popularity back in the day are either long gone or absolute ghost towns, obviously overshadowed by the aforementioned SM platforms.

Yet, some communities (like Vizzed) are still going pretty strong! As someone who isn't really a big fan of modern social platforms, this is personally a 'feel-good' thing for me. Forum communities still surviving in the somewhat shadows of big SM platforms means that they are possibly still doing something that those modern platforms aren't

Now obviously at the end of the day, it's the community that keeps a site like this one and similar ones alive. But what else is keeping forums alive? What do guys think it is besides the people itself?

The great thing about forums is that it's so much easier to respond to stuff and find stuff that you're looking for. You go to Twitter or reddit and stuff gets buried easily and each response is in a different ballpark. You go to YouTube comments and it's hard to see what's connected to what. Go to Reddit and the reply chains to a specific post get out of hand quickly. Not to mention the algorithms for finding things are a nightmare.

A thread in a forum is just a one coherent chain. Nothing gets buried or hidden because everything is in the same order always. Discussion chains rarely go off topic. When you search for something, you find it instead of getting hundreds of unrelated options.

I don't think anything is keeping forums alive other than the people. With the exception of Dauntez, who is David's son, there isn't a single active member of Vizzed that has joined in the past 8 years. Young people want the shiny new social media platforms, not the old-school message boards. It's just the way it is. Things go in and out of style. Who knows though, maybe forums will experience a revival the way that vinyl records have.

Community and personaliry simple as. People get lost too easy in the waves in modern social media there isnt enough customization to make your page yours, there isnt enough of people just being there with each other to not feel like a speck. The reason tumblr keeps making comebacks is this reason too tunblr is a relic of the transition from old net to 2.0 as a result it has much of the personality and long form posting of old net but it also has the scrolling style of new net. The same reasons people like Tumblr are the same reasons people love forums.


At the end of the day the forums biggest obstacle is navigation ease of access on mobile devices and being spoken of. People won't often talk about forum boards but they are quick to talk about Twitter cause thats where big things happen. But its also part of what keeps it alive that feeling of a place that isnt about the corporate behavior and such that permeates modern media.