Forums Had Their Time — Now We Need Something New

[pilot823]

Back in the early days of the internet, we launched our very first forum in 1994, starting with a basic guest book that we eventually converted into a message board. It grew into a real online community where people came together to share, connect, and engage in meaningful conversations.

And to this day, we still have one of those forums running, with over 1.5 million messages posted over the years.

But the truth is — things have changed.

Even though that forum is still online, new content is rare and traffic has slowed down significantly. People just aren’t using traditional forums like they used to. The conversation has shifted to Facebook, where discussions happen instantly and the format feels more natural to today’s users.

We’ve recognized that shift and moved forward into the app age, building our own platform to stay relevant and meet modern expectations. In fact, we’re already on our way to 5,000 downloads in under 30 days.

Our biggest challenge now?
Finding a forum and messaging system that works like Facebook, but still gives us control over the platform. Traditional forum layouts no longer appeal to the average user. The look, the structure — it’s stuck in the past.

We’re hoping someone out there steps up and designs a modern, mobile-first forum system that combines the best of classic community tools with the social experience people now expect.

Until then, we’ll keep pushing forward — adapting, innovating, and building the next generation of digital spaces for are community. I love everything about Forums and they have help us grow a great community since 1994, that still growing strong but the forum is no longer playing a role in are growth any longer.

 

[NealC]

I've experienced the same. Back in the day it was BBS, listservs, RSS, whatever and then forums. Facebook groups have become the easy place but the problem is most aren't picked up by search engines due to being private, etc. Doesn't matter, they are easy to use, no sign up really required, and people are certainly using them more than forums these days. I don't think there can be a replacement externally, we just have to hope search engines can drive us traffic and see where things go. You have to look at it from the advertising side too, that's Facebook's revenue model and where many advertisers will go first as well on top of google ads, etc.

 

[sam2019]

well, no. I have stopped using fb altogether. If you run a business and try to do support thru fb its horribly cumbersome to find earlier entries (compared to well structured a forum) and advertising are everywhere (not mine, others!). Even as advertiser fb is useless, the amount of reactions are close to zero and google search still has 90% of the field. So the fact that forum messages are in google is way more important.
fb invites you to skip over to other themes, in a forum the focus is much better. Just my experience.
and lately fb annoys me with these idiotic google captchas that often take me in a loop, unable to log on.
fb's days are over!

 

[cdub]

No. Certain forums are dying because conversations that used to take place on forums take place on Facebook or reddit. And Google search is also an issue

Niche forums do quite well still. General conversation not as much? Because you can't compete with behemoths like Facebook and Reddit.

My 25 year old site about applying to college is doing well. It was going like gangbusters in 2008 at its height and ironically enough 2020 and 2021 and I wonder if that was because everyone was shut inside. It's calmed down considerably since then without about half the activity but it's still active during application seasons.

Making your forum look and behave like Facebook and Reddit isn't the answer. There already is Facebook and Reddit. They are doing better because they are so huge and Google favors reddit because it is so huge.

Forums are doing fine for a niche. But making it easier to find content on XF (new what's new coming ) and removing the barriers to registration (already in XF if you set it up) are what's most important IMO. It needs to be unique content too.

I have a bigger fear of Google making it harder to find my site because of AI answers than Facebook and Reddit. I feel like traffic has already dropped because of that.

 

[80sDude]

Forums are not dying but they're changing. They now serve more niche and purpose driven roles than in the past. Like the other user posted above Facebook and Reedit killed general forums but not when it comes to niche roles.

 

[briansol]

"facebook is or old people" - my teenage nieces and nephews.

The next generation is already done with facebook as a platform too.

So, if you're thinking about ditching forums for facebook style, you're already behind too.


What are these teen apps? no one really knows. some snapchat, some dispo, dublicat, ,lapse, and god knows what others. I'm old, so i don't know...

 

[pilot823]

Prove me wrong,

Forums are not dying but they're changing. They now serve more niche and purpose driven roles than in the past. Like the other posted above Facebook and Reedit killed general forums but no when it comes to niche roles.

That what we have a very Niche Forum.

"facebook is or old people" - my teenage nieces and nephews.

The next generation is already done with facebook as a platform too.

So, if you're thinking about ditching forums for facebook style, you're already behind too.


What are these teen apps? no one really knows. some snapchat, some dispo, dublicat, ,lapse, and god knows what others. I'm old, so i don't know...

We have a lot of tictok followers around 5k and Facebook we have a bunch of groups and around 350,000 members. Thats the reason we've manage to stay relative, not because of the forum. Unfortunately the only reason the forum has stay relevant is because of Facebook , TicTok, Reddit and X. We had to use all theses resources to keep are forum in play.

Now that we have built a app, the Forum is no longer user friendly. And really has a crapping layout inside the APP. We currently remove it from inside app until we find a better solution or plan. Were using API to place the forum inside the app. Thanks for the replys!

 

[Digital Doctor]

Finding a forum and messaging system that works like Facebook

can you be specific.
I've never been on Facebook.
I have heard they have forums. I bet they suck.

what is so good about Facebook ?

Google making it harder to find my site because of AI answers than Facebook and Reddit.

definitely true. If people though Google AMP pages were bad, well AI content is much worse.

Now that we have built an app, the Forum is no longer user friendly. And really has a crapping layout inside the APP

did you try the Themehouse app ? which app ?

 

[pilot823]

Just so everyone alware we're not leaving Xenforo. We love Xenforo and we need a forum in are APP. The APPS doing great it has lots of information in one location thatt are community needs. We just need a better layout inside the app.

I will check into theme house.Maybe we might use them to the develop a theme

 

[Digital Doctor]

themehouse

I didn't like their app that much. I downloaded the app for 2 sites they advertise on their website (the tesla one forinstance).

I honestly think using the PWA is better.

The other thing is XF 3.0 is likely to be a big theme change for native Xenforo - so that may break an app (more $$) and XF 2.4 (new editor) is likely to break any app (more $$).

 

[Digital Doctor]

The main hope for forums is better data structures.

You can't win a duel with social media over chit chat content. But you can easily beat them with better data and information - but your main information can't be xenforo's unthreaded threads.

 

[FTL]

We’ve recognized that shift and moved forward into the app age, building our own platform to stay relevant and meet modern expectations. In fact, we’re already on our way to 5,000 downloads in under 30 days.

Great that you're having success with it. This mirrors my thoughts about an official XF app and how it could boost forums based on it. It can work pretty similarly to how the current web version does on a smartphone, but I think having it as an app could attract more members perhaps, as they tend to expect to need one nowadays, whether that's true or not. For example, Facebook works just as well in a web browser on a smartphone as the app and sometimes actually better.

It's amazing that you've had a forum of some description since 1994 - that's incredibly early days for the internet as we know it and I wasn't even online for another few years at that point. Heck, many people on here won't even have been born then!

Interesting how your community has also experienced a downturn as it makes me feel a better about my own struggling forum with its tiny community after 4 years.

As you're old skool, perhaps you'd like to check it out and if you'd like to join please just DM me your email address and a desired username and I'll create your account, bypassing the antispam hoops.

NerdZone Forums - discussions for everyone

Discussions for everyone

nerdzone.uk

 

[Suzanne O]

Forums aren't social media mate. Forums are better than social media. They are online communities.

 

[Suzanne O]

The main hope for forums is better data structures.

You can't with a duel with social media over chit chat content. But you can easily beat them with better data and information - but your main information can't be xenforo's unthreaded threads.

It's all in the content you want on your forum. Don't compare your forum to social media.

 

[Mendalla]

The thing I find is that even sites that move away from the traditional threaded forum model can still feel like a forum. IOW, the basic structure is pretty solid even if you tinker with it and change some names. Circle, for instance, has comments under posts rather than threads, and "forums" are called "spaces" but I've had no issue transplanting my forum-addled brain (I've been doing forums since something like 2005) to that format. It's still "forum-like" even with some concessions to modern social media forms. There's a feed page showing latest posts from spaces that are designated to appear in it (there's some private forums that the site I am on does not allow to appear in the Feed). They have an app, too, though it kind of sucked until a major release a few months ago and I mostly used the mobile website until recently. The most "modern" thing on there, really, is their recent addition of a Gemini-generated summary to any post with more than 5 comments.

Out of all that, the only thing I see that I might want for my site is the feeds but with our low posting volume, the Latest Posts widget kind of does that job anyhow. Feeds are really only useful when you're juggling dozens or hundreds of posts a day, I think.