Well, more like my own future with forums. At the time of writing I probably have (outside of my own forums) 7 forums (and I’m counting the wetalk.network as one forum on that list :p) which I regularly visit, out of these, around 5 are to do with administration of forums, or a forum where I visit to sell services/products.
This leaves me doubtful of my own future in the forum industry, as an admin or member. I currently own 3 forums, 2 vBulletin and 1 Invision Power Board powered. I only actively admin one vBulletin site and the IP.Board site is The Geek District which is one which I enjoy running.
Due to my dwindling list of Forums, it makes me wonder what it is which is causing the lack of usage nowadays – I have also noticed that it’s not just me who has problems committing to a forum and posting there daily, I’ve noticed an increase in the amount of people using Twitter to communicate with me (based on my follower count and the seemingly unknown people who tweet at me) and a steady decrease in people using Facebook. (this may be due to my Facebook privacy settings.)
Could it be that Twitter is killing the forum goers? I’ve also noticed a decline in new non-automated postings on the blogs I visit (btw, check out the awesome ‘friend blogs’ in my sidebar), maybe Twitter is to blame here too? People are used to expressing themselves now in 140 characters or less, and I posit that people have become lazy in their internet postings.
While some may seem happy *cough*@Mikouen*cough* to see this blog post, it makes me wonder what the future has in store for me, what will keep me interested in forums, and if I’ll start another. It’ll probably be some interesting development in one of the Forum Softwares which rekindles my interest, but until then, I’m joining less and less sites, and dropping activity on the others.
Of course, it could just be the increase in my vBulletin Services work which is leaving me with less and less time for forums, only time will tell I suppose, and I bet I’ll always have a place in my life for forums 
I watched the same thing happen to the Amateur Radio Service. Several of us in this area used radios to stay in touch with one another. But when you’re sixty miles away and trying to hit two repeaters to make contact with someone, the conversation may not take place. On the other hand, you can be in another country and converse with someone at home, whilst using a mobile/cellular phone. Speaking to my son in Indiana as I stood at Linlithgow Castle via a small, hand-held device was something I noted the significance of at the time.
If I want to convey a message to you and I see you’re on Twitter, the conversation becomes real-time, without the wait for someone to post something to a forum.
I don’t mean to suggest forums are a dying breed, just that Twitter is one more tool in the toolbox.
Personally my forums are shrinking and stopping. I think part of that is due to, you know, growing the fuck up. Part of it is down to having little free time. Part of it is due to the amount of work needed to start, manage, maintain and continue a forum. It ain’t easy. I have only one forum now and I am actively involved in. This is because I will shortly sell it at a handsome profit. I’m only going to do this for money now, not for fun (let’s face it, dealing with a dozen teenage assholes is far from fun).
Forums in general I think have had their day. You only have to look at recent events, such as the change towards v-myspace-bulletin and Twitter/Facebook integration to see that the traditional forum is at an end. We can do all that we can do in a forum on a blog. At half the cost and half the time. Also the ease of making your own forum, even with a free host means people are often going to start their won that contribute to yours.
Forums have had it.
[...] commented on the demise of forums on a friends blog, here: http://mikeylicio.us/random/future-of-forums-361 “Personally my forums are shrinking and stopping. I think part of that is due to, you know, [...]
Every forum I used to frequent has lost serious activity as well. Naturally the older generations are finding better things to do with their time, that’s always happened. The curious part is that there are less new users.
Funny, I perfectly remember 4 years ago googling “Gaming Forum” to see what came up. I didn’t know of any other way to talk to new people online… chat rooms maybe, but I wasn’t interested in anything that reminded me of the shallow IMing chats over AOL. Forums seemed cool and interesting, and a lot of this is about image.
But now we have big players to that will gladly snatch a bored, maybe lonely 14 year old: Facebook, Twitter, Omegle- websites everybody talks about and sees on TV. General chat forums are just boring and slow paced compared to alternatives. So yes, for now I’d say they’re going to die off unless somebody revolutionizes the way they work. I still think foruming is a great way to talk about very specific subjects… but the general chat nonsense? The age is over.
Yeah, forums are a dying breed and so are we, the last faithful bunch of people who still think Forums are still there to be enjoyed not mothballed. Personally I found that 3-4 years ago, tech forums, sharing forums and generally underground sites were all the rage. Now look at them, 90% have closed down and the people who were once idolised are now mocked or placed in legends. I started out in a tech site and an underground Freestyle music forum. Now the originals had closed and the latter had merged with a different site. It still is beyond me how fast things like twitter and facebook came out of no where to not just revolutionise communication but networking as a whole. They have single handedly grabbed the internet by the balls, ripped them off and spat them out into pure gold.
We will never have truely great general chat forums that we knew and loved when we all first started. We have grown up and our views have changed. Not just that but our attitudes have changed because we had to change. I for one would love to start not just my own site but clan too yet time and money are 2 things I dont have right now in abundence. Granted I have a bit of money behind me but I dont have much time to put into not just maintaining a site/clan but mingling with new people to get interested in the clan/site would be the issue. But I digress. Yeah, the forum generation is dying off and I for one would love to see a website that people could actually meet up with people they were on a site on once which is now closed down. Or something like that, you know ? Just a though
lol
I completely agree with you, we grow, we change, and as we do, so does the internet. It seems that unfortunately forums have fallen behind.
Personally I don’t think forums will die, but they will definitely be a shadow of their former glory. The thing I don’t like about social networks is the heavy restriction and amount of control over the site owner, who you can’t communicate with easily, whether it be about problems, suggestions or general chatting, unlike a forum admin who is usually a PM Away.
I will ALWAYS Prefer a forum over social networking any day. I’ve used mindviz, bebo, myspace and that god awful facebook and I’ve ditched them all but FB, which is strictly a social calander, not a “I know you, I’ll add you” thing.
And one final note, it’s easier to find people with common interests and to make new friendships with a forum because it’s far more social and less personal than a “social networking” site. I believe there is hope for forums yet, but “what hope” and the form it will take is currently unknown
Usenet newsgroups existed in the 1980s and had solved all of the annoying problems with forums (power-tripping moderators, separate logins…) but for some reason almost nobody uses them now. Pity; it wouldn’t be hard to stick some graphical icing on top for those who insist upon it.
In my country (Nigeria), the biggest site in terms of pageviews is ……………a forum(www.nairaland.com)…………………………. Granted we are so behind the times but seriously I feel forums still have a place, but they will need to innovate and keep improving. Stackoverflow is essentially a forum though a more advanced form.