Are internet forums outdated ?

Aah shiihs, this is right in my own wheelhouse but there's always a danger of interview questions becoming overused or condescending. Also I now know how hard it is to do these things for phone users.

The interviews I've done in the past have always been vocalised and sometimes involving music clips, but there're not easy to organise technically long distance. I do love hearing the voices of musicians that I don't normally see and hear. :W

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To be honest I'm not much of a phone user myself. I have no idea what exists in that universe. Jitsi (https://meet.jit.si/) is easy to use (it's basically a web application, and meetings can be joined without creating a login - for organizing a meeting you need to create a login I suppose) This might have a chance of working for both phones/tablets and PCs/laptops. Just dumping my brain while thinking out loud here :)

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I’ve been a member of various forums over the years. They’re great places for specific shared interest discussions.

Social media is thoroughly killing them off. I’ve watched very busy forums die down to a trickle over the years. People want a one-stop place for everything - ie Facebook, et al. With these one-stop mechanisms, information is diluted and too many people are on it who just idly clicked ‘follow’ and often turn a useful conversation into a din of irrelevant comments.

What most annoys me most, though, is the information is transient. Either catch the thread in that moment or it’s essentially gone forever as it quickly gets lost as millions more words blast after it. I often can’t even find a previous day’s news story these days, stuff moves on so fast.

This is where forums shine: you can go back and look things up. But people are less and less interested to look beyond their own internet-blinkers. A shame but I do feel many forums’ days are numbered. Maybe the next big tech thing is to integrate social media posts into a separate forum as a kind of running archive? (I’ll take 50% if anyone decides to run with that idea!).

Another big shift is phones. I hate typing fiddly replies on my phone (which I’m doing here whilst sat in a cafe). We’re no longer in front of big screens and keyboards. My phone does everything, but I use it more as a notifier to then go and reply on my laptop. My partner, on the other hand, does everything on her phone. I hate how ‘cramped’ they are but I suspect they are, again, partly responsible for the death of forums.

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You summarised my own thoughts perfectly (mpointon) Bring back Big screens, bring back simple communication for simple communicative people like us ha-ha! Hope you enjoyed you coffee?

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I did. One of my favourite activities in Spain is sitting in a cafe with a manchada (a sort of stronger latte) and just wasting time.

Wiki loops is the only forum I’m still on and I like that WL isn’t really ‘on’ social media. I like having somewhere specific to go, away from the tinnitus of mainstream sites. I wish it were busier but then that’s the point of this thread!

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Your lifestyle sound idyllic :)

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I'm guessing most people on the loops are running a DAW on at least a laptop with a keyboard? I'm using a desktop with a large screen hung between my near field monitors and a wireless keyboard and mouse.

I don't even have the loops on my phone, I don't do any social media beyond a few traditional forums. I refuse to be sucked into the "only the present matters" social media thing.

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Can seem that way but it has its share of problems, frustrations and headaches like any country. But the pace and cost of life is why I moved here two years ago. I love the southern Mediterranean way of life - every cafe is locally owned, the food is often both outstanding and reasonably-priced (my large cups of proper coffee are between €1.50-1.70) and there’s little traffic round here too. It feels friendly and authentic. I cannot recommended it enough for people who just want to take a step back from the rat race. It suits my career too as I’m remote worker in tech.

Then there’s the fact my detached house with a pool cost less than a 1-bed apartment near Cambridge where I’m originally from.

/apologies for thread drift

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For me, that sounds perfect... but we may be a dying breed - your screen is hanging? that sounds dangerous :(

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No thread drift there.... just the drift of the ocean lapping onto the warm sand Or the drift of you floating on a lilo in the pool :) I'm there <3

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The original "Forum" was a public place in Rome, not a particularly nice place, more like a courthouse, a judgmental arena for discussion of things that would be banned on forums as we now know them. Imagine a wikiloops forum in those days, we'd have song battles, shout obscenities and throw all the rappers to the lions :)

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