18 votes

The year social networks were no longer social - In praise of private communities

5 comments

  1. [5]
    drg
    Link
    You know, one thing that reverberated with me is the fragmentation that was inherited with internet foruns. Reddit, Tildes and the likes are all in one solutions. I don’t know if it is better or...

    You know, one thing that reverberated with me is the fragmentation that was inherited with internet foruns. Reddit, Tildes and the likes are all in one solutions. I don’t know if it is better or not, but I think that a small group of people really passionate about one subject might create a more coerse environment than the latter. I think I’m getting old, but I really miss internet foruns.

    15 votes
    1. Sahasrahla
      Link Parent
      One thing I liked about the old forums was even though they were on a specific topic you'd still have general interest sub-forums. You could have a community based on an interest but then you'd be...

      One thing I liked about the old forums was even though they were on a specific topic you'd still have general interest sub-forums. You could have a community based on an interest but then you'd be able to engage with that community in ways unrelated to that interest. e.g. You could have a forum based on The Simpsons but then there would also be sub-forums for books, general discussion, forum games, politics, etc.

      When I started using Reddit I was surprised that wasn't the case. If you went to /r/fantasy you would only discuss fantasy. There was no option for community building based on anything else. The idea of building a community based on a particular interest by discussing something besides that interest is much less a part of internet culture than it used to be.

      15 votes
    2. Atvelonis
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Internet forums still exist, if you know where to look for them! I'm somewhat active on three gaming-related ones, for instance. They have their focuses, but there's still a tightly-knit community...

      Internet forums still exist, if you know where to look for them! I'm somewhat active on three gaming-related ones, for instance. They have their focuses, but there's still a tightly-knit community behind each of them.

      4 votes
    3. clerical_terrors
      Link Parent
      Currently most of us on Tildes probably present a specific sample size, because in general centralisation seems/seemed to be the trend for internet platforms/apps/communities. And not without...

      Currently most of us on Tildes probably present a specific sample size, because in general centralisation seems/seemed to be the trend for internet platforms/apps/communities. And not without reason, people dont like having three chat apps, four forums to check for Android tips, and six sites to watch videos on. Reddit and Youtube worked because everything was on the same site/app.

      3 votes
    4. Octofox
      Link Parent
      One of the best parts of private torrent trackers is they always come with active forums full of old fashion forum things. Its really amazing, like a jump back 10 years. The biggest loss I see...

      I think I’m getting old, but I really miss internet foruns.

      One of the best parts of private torrent trackers is they always come with active forums full of old fashion forum things. Its really amazing, like a jump back 10 years. The biggest loss I see with them is they are not publicly visible and some of the helpful information shared on them is not available to the public searching on google but its not like modern social media is actually searchable anyway.

      For just general community chit chat I think private works fine but for help threads and stuff it seems bad to lock that behind a login screen.

      3 votes