I grew up in the late 90s on obscure message boards and in many ways it was my real introduction to the Internet. I really miss the community and authenticity of that world, which seems to have been replaced entirely by monocultural mass social media like Reddit.
Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
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Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#2You should have seen netnews when we had it
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#3The chans? Something Awful? MeFi?
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#4Ugh same. I went out asking if anyone had pointers to a decent comics forum the other month (I make them and miss having somewhere to hang out with other people who do) and all I got were offers to people’s Discords, which feel like the exact opposite of what I want.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#5I'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.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#6There aren't too many active newsgroups, but Usenet can be pretty authentic if you do find ones.
I tell people that I visit there to chat with senior citizens bitching at each other. It's great!
For the unmoderated groups, it's left up to you to filter out trolls. No shadowbanning/downvoting.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#7A lot of people still communicate on messageboards - especially in specific niche communities. A fantasy football website I frequent has a messageboard and so does my favorite football team.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#81. find a weird and absurd hobby, nerd out into it hardcore, and then go to the off-topic board for that hobby's shitty old phpBB forum run out of some dude's basement.
2. Freenode is still alive and well.
3. Fark, SomethingAwful, etc. are still more or less in good health.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#9If you're into fantasy football, footballguys is still very active, and tends to be a mature forum.
Re: Ask HN: What are some more authentic online forums?
#10There are some very nice Discord communities. It's obviously more active than a message board, and some of the better ones are invite-only or you have to submit an application to join.