Mendalla
Well-known member
Hell, my son is Gen Z and he plays the market. Understands it better than I do.
Has anyone noticed a decline in forums?
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Gator
Well-known member
The subject matter provided in most forums tends to be targeted/specialized in areas like gaming, gardening, cars, motorcycles, for example. Today's audience is more interactive in nature, and are more attracted to a variety of mediums like Discord, streaming on youtube or twitch, or sharing TikTok videos. They are also attracted to platforms that offer a wider audience like Reddit, Facebook, etc., where they can share their content with the world. I hope that xenForo further embraces these mediums and begins to integrate xenForo with the various platforms, which will hopefully provide a bridge and attract more folks back into the forums.
Discord, for example, is a phenomenon all by itself. Discord is limited in the area of discussion messaging. Once posted, it will get buried in miles of text on a Discord server. A xenForo Bot, for example, could pick up messages from a Discord server and post the text and images to the forums, which would then start the process of a two-way conversation topic that will exist on both ends. The nice thing here is that the forum would provide an easily searchable archive and index of the conversation/topic, where the Discord server is a mess trying to find previous discussions. I know there are some 3rd party add-ons released here for Discord, but they lack the sophistication to handle a two-way interaction that I am speaking about. This is just one suggestion, but there are many others out there.
Discord, for example, is a phenomenon all by itself. Discord is limited in the area of discussion messaging. Once posted, it will get buried in miles of text on a Discord server. A xenForo Bot, for example, could pick up messages from a Discord server and post the text and images to the forums, which would then start the process of a two-way conversation topic that will exist on both ends. The nice thing here is that the forum would provide an easily searchable archive and index of the conversation/topic, where the Discord server is a mess trying to find previous discussions. I know there are some 3rd party add-ons released here for Discord, but they lack the sophistication to handle a two-way interaction that I am speaking about. This is just one suggestion, but there are many others out there.
I posted an article, in line with @Digital Doctor s thoughts a bit, about the UX improvements we made to XF. https://medium.com/adjourn/how-we-can-improve-the-forum-user-experience-41e4e036a27f (Some screens and demos and videos in article). UX of all forums of all kinds needs to catch up more dramatically to the expectations of users, and they get this expectation from social media. So, simply put, ignoring it and doing lets say just another cute theme where we change the header arbitrarily or do some wrapper around the forum nodes just is doing more harm than good.
kelle67
Well-known member
Maybe the topic of your forum is only for old people. Or maybe your forum is just not attractive enough for young people.
We also have people under 30 who register and participate actively.
You say that we need an app that only supports the basics of the forum software. Is that how you run your forum? Maybe that's where your problems come from?
A forum means constant work. You have to offer people new things or rather keep the board attractive.
SEO is also part of it. Many people don't do this work and wonder why it is becoming less and less. You simply won't be found.
Maybe you slept through the last few years and didn't notice that Facebook, for example, has lost millions of users.
I'm saying that forum software must continue to evolve, and that includes the front end (i.e. the interface). Anyone who has been using forums for 20 years knows how to navigate them. Most younger people are used to simpler, slicker, more intuitive interfaces. To say that they aren't relevant is pointless. They are the future. The reason there is a decline in forums (yes, it's true) is because forums are no longer on the cutting edge of internet discussion. Yes, they are great for long form content, especially posts with images, embedded video etc.) but they also haven't changed much since the 1990s. They look and feel out of date to those who weren't using the internet 25 years ago.
It wouldn't take much to create an optional new look for them that may appeal more to younger users. If Xenforo wishes to stay relevant then it will take more than adding new features here and there. The whole idea of forums needs to evolve. Not for everyone. Many people are happy with the 1990s look. But nothing lasts forever, and neither will forums if they don't continue to evolve and stay relevant.
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Danny88
Active member
As an owner who have been handled forum for 16 yrs old already i got nothing much say than to agree with this sentence. I’ve tried to be positive (like people here who sounds very positive) when migrating from vb -> xenforo since 2018 but nothing much could achieve since then. Even this year i can see our traffic has declined in monthly basis. Not only FB, Discord,IG , Tiktok or Reddit but phone app like Telegram and Whatsapp is a soul for redirecting users into their own private group. When they learned enough knowledges from people in the forum, using their own influence they could simply redirecting our members into their group so they could control and brainwash followers in whatever they needed.
BassMan
Well-known member
I still believe in forums and in people that love or will love that kind of form. Of course, that is a niche, I wouldn't compare it too much with social media. Honestly, I really don't want any of my forums to become something similar to Facebook.
I'm not an old fart yet, but still been liking forums for more than 15 years. Yes, times have changed, that's great. Image everything always stays as it is. No thank you.
It really depends on your forum topic, but I really don't want a million users on the forum to post images and just jerk around on the platform. I don't have that kind of forums. And if someone is not willing to read (or write), just want to watch (and post) images, great, go elsewhere, there are a lot of platforms that will accept such people. I don't need them. There is no benefit for the community with them. But again, it really depends on what you as a community manager want to the with your forum.
I can agree there is always space for improvements if we talk about UX. XenForo is great, but it can be better. And I believe it will be better. It depends on what you understand under 'better'. Filled with new features? Yes and no. For instance, I don't use profile posts on some of my forums because it adds additional clutter, and users got confused so I just disabled them. But ok, the feature is there built-in for any other admins that would like it.
The mobile app would be great, but can't imagine how to implement all the custom add-ons in it. I think responsive design does the work. On one of my forums, there are very technical members and there wasn't a single complaint about mobile usage. But ok, members there like to write and most visits are from a desktop.
Content, content, content. A useful one, of course. And work for your community, not just for you, your pocket, or the look of your forum.
Anyway, we can go on and on with posts on this topic and after a few weeks, we can open a new one with a different thread title.
I'm not an old fart yet, but still been liking forums for more than 15 years. Yes, times have changed, that's great. Image everything always stays as it is. No thank you.
It really depends on your forum topic, but I really don't want a million users on the forum to post images and just jerk around on the platform. I don't have that kind of forums. And if someone is not willing to read (or write), just want to watch (and post) images, great, go elsewhere, there are a lot of platforms that will accept such people. I don't need them. There is no benefit for the community with them. But again, it really depends on what you as a community manager want to the with your forum.
I can agree there is always space for improvements if we talk about UX. XenForo is great, but it can be better. And I believe it will be better. It depends on what you understand under 'better'. Filled with new features? Yes and no. For instance, I don't use profile posts on some of my forums because it adds additional clutter, and users got confused so I just disabled them. But ok, the feature is there built-in for any other admins that would like it.
The mobile app would be great, but can't imagine how to implement all the custom add-ons in it. I think responsive design does the work. On one of my forums, there are very technical members and there wasn't a single complaint about mobile usage. But ok, members there like to write and most visits are from a desktop.
Content, content, content. A useful one, of course. And work for your community, not just for you, your pocket, or the look of your forum.
Anyway, we can go on and on with posts on this topic and after a few weeks, we can open a new one with a different thread title.
Our forum is 10 years old and active users there have dropped by 200-300% even though our "core activity" (where we get most of our new users) has only declined by ~20%.
The numbers are going down over time, and 10 years is already a long time to wait.
There seems to be a fundamental problem with old style forums like xenforo. My guess is that the threaded reply system that reddit uses is superior. That is why reddit keeps growing while all but the largest forums are dying. Discord fills the other niche where people don't communicate by typing out paragraphs of text like this.
BassMan
Well-known member
Not in my eyes. I dislike it very much. And that is not the reason Reddit is growing. Not sure what it is, but not because of the threaded reply system. I do believe there are people that like the standard forum platform looks and feel, even among the younger population.
I always feel kind of lost in Reddit/Discord platform... Maybe it's just me and not being used to it.
If you are not sure what it is how can you rule out the threaded reply system? Maybe everyone but the old people on forums like flat style better?
BassMan
Well-known member
Yes, maybe you're right. I'm not sure about that either.
Ingenious
Well-known member
It's not just you. As a moderator in a Discord channel it drives me nuts, it's like a complete car crash. The whole invite thing just to get on is weird and clunky.
Reddit is awful to browse as a guest, the page blanks out and/or you get nagged to log in.
Xenforo is leagues ahead of both IMHO.
Totally agree.
I mean I also agree. I find xenforo overall to be superior to reddit. That's why I spent money on it.
But I realize that is just personal opinion.
When faced with the fact that even forums with millions of users like League of Legends were dying, this is the world telling you that your personal preferences might be a minority.
I don't buy that. Some forums continue to grow, even relatively new ones. As has been said, it depends a lot on the niche. Game forums have a LOT of competition and I never understood why anyone would start or join a general chat forum... but with the right niche, especially one without a lot of competition, you can still spark a lot of interest.
With the right niche that has 0 competition, you can make any mistake and people will flock to your forums no matter what. But that is contingent on there being no competition in your niche forever.
Your niche is either so tiny that nobody else cares to make competition, or big enough to face someone creating a reddit for it.
The question is, why do people need a tiny niche in order to succeed with xenforo? That shouldn't be a thing. And League of Legends is not a dying game either.
I didn't use the phrases "0 competition" or "tiny niche", nor did I say that League of Legends was a "dying game" (I don't even know what it is).
If you're going to quote me to make some sort of argument in this debate, at least take the time to refer to what I actually posted, not what you think will support whatever point you're trying to make.
There's a very important distinction between a tiny niche and a niche that is alrfeady saturated with existing and well-established forums. If you want to compete in a saturated niche, you will need to offer something very unique that the others do not offer and even then you will need a lot of luck.
If you're going to quote me to make some sort of argument in this debate, at least take the time to refer to what I actually posted, not what you think will support whatever point you're trying to make.
There's a very important distinction between a tiny niche and a niche that is alrfeady saturated with existing and well-established forums. If you want to compete in a saturated niche, you will need to offer something very unique that the others do not offer and even then you will need a lot of luck.
upvote the suggestion here:
enable PWA share targets
https://chodounsky.com/2019/03/24/progressive-web-application-as-a-share-option-in-android/ webmanifest.php does not have share_target integrated, but it should. Suggestion is to support the share_target of PWA's, even if it is only for android.
xenforo.com
Forsaken
Well-known member
If you feel your community is losing audience to Reddit, work on your content and actual value rather than trying to become Reddit.
Reddits success is due to it not being a singular community, not having a singular interest, and the fact that it caters to all audiences. It is not something a forum community can compete with as a platform, and instead focusing on the worth of your content and the value of your community is better.
The same goes for Facebook; you're not competing with them on content, but on integrated functionality. This is where forums suffer as practically almost every add-on (first and third party) do not integrate perfectly so there is always a feeling of them being separate.
A new design, threaded comments, x, y or z functionality will not fix your community. Moving to a mobile first user experience while retaining a great desktop experience would likely help, as would better integration of functionality and features from the forum and add-ons but those are only partial solutions.
Reddits success is due to it not being a singular community, not having a singular interest, and the fact that it caters to all audiences. It is not something a forum community can compete with as a platform, and instead focusing on the worth of your content and the value of your community is better.
The same goes for Facebook; you're not competing with them on content, but on integrated functionality. This is where forums suffer as practically almost every add-on (first and third party) do not integrate perfectly so there is always a feeling of them being separate.
A new design, threaded comments, x, y or z functionality will not fix your community. Moving to a mobile first user experience while retaining a great desktop experience would likely help, as would better integration of functionality and features from the forum and add-ons but those are only partial solutions.
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