Anyway, this is an old thread, but I'm just amused by the idea that always seems to crop up in threads like this that forums are dying, or forums are already dead. It's laughable, it always has been, and it always will be. It's like saying "pizza is dead" because you and some of your friends stopped eating cheese.
Thank you!! My oldest forums date way back. Oldest was 1997, and actually started two years prior using a guestbook script. It's not too busy, but it's a very niche topic. And it's grown slowly but steadily. One of the busiest has been online since 2002, and is about to top 20 million posts, and our number of members and visitors grows steadily 17 years later. There are others like the busy forum, similiar topics but not quite competitors, and most of those have been growing at a very steady pace for well over a decade.
Dying? Eff no.
No offense to anyone, but social media is for dolts. It's dumbed down. It's cat videos and memes. It's your sickeningly happy cousin's family and your ex-coworker ramming religion down your throat every other day. It's the Trump haters and Trump lovers in a cage match where both of them act out like idiots and make asses of themselves. It's mass political stupidity (see Twitter). It's endless selfies sent to people who don't give a flying fig and are tired of seeing your ugly face. Nowhere have I ever seen intelligent discussion where social media is involved. Reddit skews younger and isn't exactly a hotbed of good information either--it's like Usenet prior to the spammers, trolls and flamers ruining it decades ago. There is way, way more trash on Reddit.
Many of us serve literate, adult audiences who don't require shiny things to attract or keep their attention.
That is it
exactly. People visit the various forums I administrate, moderate, manage or just partake in as a visitor
for the discussion. Sure, we need some visuals now and then, but the mass stupidity of social media is way out of place and most forum members don't tolerate it. They are there for the niche topics they want to discuss. They want something they can skim quickly and keep up to date with, or in-depth threads that have extensive information they are seeking. I would say that in just one broad area I'm an enthusiast of, there are probably about 20 well known forums that cover various facets of my interest--all are popular, and most are growing.
Bottom line is, special interest forums continue to grow, and people don't want flashy things, distractions, or stupidity. They don't want a portal or CMS blocking the way. We use WordPress as a jumping-off point, and it is visited nowhere near as much as the actual forum. Google's search results still bring up our forums as they used to and in many cases our search results have improved; I have yet to see forums take a hit based on some arbitrary and unproven "Google doesn't index forums like they used to" claim.
Forums aren't going anywhere. XenForo wouldn't be around if that weren't the case.