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Bring back crappy forums

tedium.co

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Re: Bring back crappy forums

#201

Post by m4rtink »

LightBug1 wrote: post #176
possibleworlds wrote: post #68

There is no need to “bring back” forums, there are plenty that already exist. You just need to participate in them if that’s what you want.

True, but I genuinely think we lost something over the years. This all might be a feeling that we lost what was, and that we know we can do it again, but it's impossible to replicate what we had (format and, more importantly, the users). It might not be a platform issue, but a "corporate X decide to scrap forum Y", and it never was the same again. I've seen this a few times, and it basically blew up incredibly tight…

Yeah, ideally the system used should be something distributed like NNTP or a free software forum software with an easy import/export option + frequent export snapshots anyone can download.

Then if the forum goes down for whatever reason, one or more community members can rehost it elsewhere.

Re: Bring back crappy forums

#202

Post by DocTomoe »

ggm wrote: post #107
lyu07282 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it was just a few years before my time, I sometimes read through old threads on usenet it feels like internet archeology. If you still remember it, what do you think about how it compares with today's discussion culture? Killfiles are interesting, but nowadays it seems almost impossible to block everyone crazy on X/Twitter, perhaps more feasible back then a few months ago for example from my usenet archeology: https:…

It was slower. In a beneficial way. There was a low enough cohort you could talk to people of some significance or notoriety and get a response. The barrier between email and news was dilute, osmotic pressure effects meant things leaked. A lot of specialist interest lists on BITNET or the European news network (Jacob Palme in Sweden ran something I used to read on a dec-10) stayed in their own island, so the middle e…

> BIFF WAS REAL.

Of course BIFF [1] was real - and he kept respawning.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIFF_(Usenet)

Re: Bring back crappy forums

#204

Post by coldpie »

shoobiedoo wrote: post #60
Magi604 wrote: post #21

I miss forums. When they were in their heyday I was an active participant in anywhere from a couple to half a dozen, shifting with whatever happened to be my hobby at the time. And local forums based around hobbies like music and photography were a great way to meet people in person because you already had something in common to start things off. It was also a place to find really in depth information on a topic. I r…

That little bit of personality is what made forums so much fun. The early 2000s somethingawful forums were such a goldmine. I've never laughed so hard in my life at the antics between users. When this person or that guy or some infamous user would show up, it would kick off a thread and it felt so much more "real" and personal. The ultra niche subreddits have that vibe, but as soon as they get to around 10k users, it…

The SA forums are still there, happily chugging along. It's been my main hangout for 20 years.

Re: Bring back crappy forums

#205

Post by explosionpunch »

kumiko_studio wrote: post #29

the thing "crappy" forums had that modern platforms killed: you were talking to the same ~200 regulars, not performing for an algorithm — small and stable beat big and optimized.

This is a great point, having experienced just this firsthand just recently. I launched an online boardgame and tried announcing it in a bunch of different places - boardgamegeek, some relevant subreddits, elixirforum. While the other forums got views, the one that actually got some real engagement and comments was the boardgamegeek forum, arguably the "crappy" one of the three. Although it's "crappy" only in the sense that it's pretty no-frills and just feels kind of old-school.

Re: Bring back crappy forums

#206

Post by postalcoder »

Alpha3031 wrote: post #179
xeonmc wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if LLMs could be useful here for automatic node-graph generation of which replies addresses which train of discussion within a thread, and the user can click through said generate index to follow how a specific topic evolved.

I feel like the problem is more easily solved by adding a chronological view or filtering to an existing tree-based discussion (which RES can do for old.reddit) than attempting to automatically sort a discussion into subtopics. Many chronological forum software also can already display reply/replied-to chains (though perhaps not first-class in terms of UX) if people use the reply function, which is often an option.

> I feel like the problem is more easily solved by adding a chronological view or filtering to an existing tree-based discussion

I built this (both chronological view and new comment filtering) into the comments presentation on https://hcker.news. Check it out, I’d be interested to know if there’s any way I can make it more useful.

Re: Bring back crappy forums

#207

Post by lelandfe »

throw0101a wrote: post #188
Findecanor wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on a few classic forums with threads that are over 20 years old, with a wealth of information about a topic. It is easier to revisit a thread and find new posts when posts are in chronological order. Most such forums remember the last post of your last visit, and takes you to after that position the next time you enter the thread. Tree views get tedious to revisit after they have reached a critical amount of post…

> Tree views get tedious to revisit after they have reached a critical amount of posts, especially if subtrees can shift position from up/down-clicks. So threads with no revisits don't last as long. Tree/threaded views are an implementation detail: in e-mail clients you can toggle the threading offset view ("by converstaion"), e.g.: * https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/mail/view-email-... Is there any reason…

Yeah - what happens when a forum post quotes 8 different conversations?

It’d need to be a whole new thing, not just a new view on top of phpBB

That new thing could be possible, though

Re: Bring back crappy forums

#209

Post by dranimalz »

Crap is literal. Many forums got taken over by people pushing products and services. The closest thing to the general topical discussions in BBSes and forums of old today are disparate social media rabbit holes gathering places. However, niche forums that just don’t have big audiences are still great; you just need to want to discuss something almost no one else cares about.

Re: Bring back crappy forums

#210

Post by coldpie »

socalgal2 wrote: post #59
notabotiswear wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony in me pressing the upvote button on this post…

Yea, I think HN should remove the them. Or at least not display them.

Years ago, HN used to actually display the score on each comment, like Reddit does. I'm glad they removed it.
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