Are forums dying?

[TheAdminMarket]

Originally Posted by In Omnibus

if forum software developers figure out how to take what people like about social media and eliminate what they hate about social media I could easily see forums making a comeback.

This is what I'm working on right now. That's why the name "forobook". A forum with Facebook style (functionality). Don't know if it will succeed or not. But I'll try it as last project in my life. In a short term: "you'll love it, or you'll hate it".

[Replicant]

Originally Posted by TheAdminMarket

This is what I'm working on right now. That's why the name "forobook". A forum with Facebook style (functionality). Don't know if it will succeed or not. But I'll try it as last project in my life. In a short term: "you'll love it, or you'll hate it".

I have a similar project in the works for vb5. A couple of my users have looked at what I have so far and liked it, but it is a huge undertaking for me being a novice coder and I doubt it will ever get finished between work and other more important projects in the works.

My forum has dwindled to 10-15 active users 20-30 and while I was ready to shut it down in September due to lack of activity, an influx of cash donations and a unanimous vote from those active users to keep it open made me change my mind.

New users seem to join, find what they are looking for and leave without ever engaging in a conversation. I know this to be true as my son does it all the time when he is working on his car. He always hits the forums for answers but never engages the community since he finds what he is looking for without having to put forth much effort. What bothers me about it is sometimes the info is flawed or incomplete and he never goes back to discuss the wrong info or add what is missing since his problem is already solved.

[rockerzteam]

Everything is on facebook pages now! Everything you had to go looking for including craigslist,car questions,etc are now on facebook pages..... I buy,sell,trade through facebook.... If one day facebook integrated a store like amazon I would order from there too. Youtube and Facebook are now the main go to resources...... I used to visit many car forums, Hunting forums, now I use facebook groups.... I'm all about a one stop shop! Just like the forums that charge for lifetime memberships to access private sections of the forums that you can now discuss on facebook groups for free...... These pay to play forums are the poison that's killing those particular forums.

[durham]

Forums are brilliant. I'm always amazed at the quality of freely given information and community spirit shown by our members (with the odd exception!). Facebook is not the same.

But is it not Google that dictates our decline or rise? We have seen two or three dramatic declines in visitor traffic. We changed nothing - but Google certainly did - for us! Member numbers have been growing fine in the meantime.

[X-or]

Obviously yes. I hope it was a false question, otherwise you're blind my friend.