There's quite a few I can think of, but most of them I'd rather not mention so the eye of Sauron passes them over.
You've piqued my interest. What are they?
Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
61–70 of 82 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#62I still think https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/ is the premier forum for homebrewing (as in alcohol) information. All the various homebrew subreddits and other forums seem lacking in either content, organization, or expertise.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#63shroomery.org is a great forum.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately, you can't just simply tell anyone, because that's how most enjoyable places get ruined.
To be frank, that's how I feel about HN: it's a little haven of (usually) calm, rational discussion, and I fear that as it gets more popular the level of discourse and content will decrease.
HN is way too tame. You can't express yourself on here they way you can at a forum like Slashdot. Slashdot definitely has some out there comments but it's easy to ignore them and in no way has HN ever turned me on to new tech or knowledge the way Slashdot has. Not even close. HN is never funny. Slashdot has had me rolling from the interactions. It's because HN is like that boss that declares thier meetings as a safe place to clear the air, and the person is well meaning, but the participants know better than to cut loose.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be frank, that's how I feel about HN: it's a little haven of (usually) calm, rational discussion, and I fear that as it gets more popular the level of discourse and content will decrease.
I believe HN will remain as it is, thanks to the behind-the-scenes work of the moderators. https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-silicon-valley/th... https://drewdevault.com/2017/09/13/Analyzing-HN.html
Thanks for posting that New Yorker article, it was a great read about the humans behind HN.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the update; I no longer roll and don't follow the sport very much, but it makes me sad to hear that all-devouring reddit is eating Sherdog. I suspect the future of forums is going to be stuff which is kicked off of platforms. For example: right wing people kicked out of reddit, or nude enthusiast types formerly of Tumblr or whatever. There's probably a r/bodybuilding reddit, but I bet it's tame and lame co…
Thanks for giving me an excuse to discuss Sherdog on HN! They're the two places I hang out most. Somehow, I suspect the intersection of their user bases is pretty tiny...
There've been a few guys discussing judo and jiu jitsu on here ... I dunno maybe you were one of them. My own BJJ dojo contained very few people over 30 who weren't Ph.D. in math/science types. Someone's probably giggling at this but they were all 220+lbs and lean; overachievers, goldman trader types - they all went to the best local dojo. We did have one Brazilian waiter guy (one of the best in the dojo), but I really felt like an underachiever in general when I'd enter their doors.
Come to think of it, many of the high ranking dudes in my Karate dojo also had Ph.D. type education (LBNL Arnis club didn't count). Martial arts seems to loan itself to personalities who can grind out difficult things.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#67If you're a developer interested in Elixir, check out https://elixirforum.com. It is such an inclusive community and I find most people on there to be quite genuine!
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#68There's quite a few I can think of, but most of them I'd rather not mention so the eye of Sauron passes them over. Larger ones I don't mind mentioning: I think bodybuilding.com is still what it was back in the day. Sherdog is probably also still decent though I don't follow it. The surviving /chans capture a lot of the spirit of old timey Usenet as well for better and worse. If you're into nice wristwatches watchusee…
Sherdog has suffered a lot from losing traffic to Reddit. The main forum still has enough users that it superficially seems similar to how it was 10+ years ago, but the subforums are dying. F12, the grappling forum, used to be one of my favorite places on the internet. It barely has new content anymore. There has, for reasons I don't fully understand, been a mass exodus to r/BJJ. I can't overstate the loss of communi…
> I can't overstate the loss of community that occurred as a result. On reddit, the fact that usernames aren't prominent and there are no avatars makes it impossible to build "characters" in your mind. People are friendly, but they are perpetual strangers.
It's funny, I've had the exact same thought more than once.
If you asked me "Should comments be judged by their content and not the person making them", I would say absolutely. But then you get Reddit. I do miss the characters from various online forums in the 90s-00s.
It's a little ironic posting this reply on HN though :)
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#69I'm particularly perplexed by [location] sub-reddits. No one uses the FAQs, search, or Yelp. Everyone wants to post a daily request for a good place for a drink, and a good hike, for just about every city on the planet. The annoyances in those threads seem to keep other participants away. It'd be nice to have a forum, message board, etc for people who are willing to try one tick more than the masses.
It's not just the constant "anyone have good ____ recommendations?" posts. For whatever reason, there is a tendency for local subreddits seem to be much more vitriolic than most places on reddit (and that's saying something). Threads about local happenings or even something as simple as posting a picture of the skyline seems to bring immediate, intense ire from some always-lurking posters. And God help you if you pos…
That's probably because most people don't care one way or the other and skip the whole thing.
Anyone who cares enough to frequent a sub about their home town probably has fairly intense feelings for better or worse. That will naturally lead to strong emotions and clashes.
Pretty much Web 2.0 in a nutshell.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#70I'm particularly perplexed by [location] sub-reddits. No one uses the FAQs, search, or Yelp. Everyone wants to post a daily request for a good place for a drink, and a good hike, for just about every city on the planet. The annoyances in those threads seem to keep other participants away. It'd be nice to have a forum, message board, etc for people who are willing to try one tick more than the masses.
This is a culture issue and is only ever really fixed with moderation in my experience. It happens to a lot of gaming subs too. Those of us who want decent discussion get sick of answering the same questions ("Use the [terrible] search function!!") but the mods seem scared to look too harsh and drive away newer users, or turn the sub into a ghost town when there's not much else to talk about.