one of my greatest hopes is that forums someday take off again.
...I am thankfully well and thoroughly accustomed to disappointment 😅
@Chel I see a lot of people saying this. what we need is something to supersede forums that actually provides the things you went to forums for. something that intentionally brings together people from all over into small spaces.
@wolfcoder For me, I think the thing I like most about forums was always the fact that - at least on smaller to mid range ones - the slower nature of the interaction. When posting on a forum in the sweet spot in terms of size, your words weren't as likely to fall into the abyss of a rapid fire timeline or chat history very quickly - your posts would be seen regardless of the number of followers you had, and they'd typically stick around for a fair little bit.
@wolfcoder beyond that, I always found the slower pace of conversation to be strangely... comforting I guess? I dunno.
I think I might just be stuck in the stone ages ;_;
But yeah, I would definitely like to see more people experiment with different forms of online communities... since, despite the nostalgia factor, forums definitely weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Far from it, in fact 😅
@Chel its not forums specifically, but the method of social networking where you're there to do a fun thing (talk about a very specific thing, play a game, etc.) and are instanced into a small room of about 10~15 people. these are the situations where everyone, even liberals and some edgy folk, are a lot more willing to discard differences and just enjoy the act of hanging out together.
the need for everyone to be connected to everyone else and everything is not a need we actually have.