tl;dr: Anecdotally, the attention span of the person is now three seconds. If you can't grab that three seconds; next.
> Operating a forum is a lot of thankless maintenance.
If you are to run any sort of site, you just kind of got to expect it. Who here thanks HN for their service?
Their favorite IRC server SysOP, Discord server owner?
Forum's were slow on delivering content.
The world is now driven by media and that was a PITA to host. If the webmaster didn't allow image uploads and even when so, you couldn't normally link elsewhere; were forced to register an account. Wait for a verification email, wait for an administrator to approve your account and then gain 10 posts. Text is time consuming to read and too write, like this comment.
They were more a leisure activity rather than what the internet has become now. Adaptability never happened and with the failure of evolving with real-time with the next generation who were starting out with internet enabled phones and gadgets caused their downfall.
They may of suited the generation, however they were not a fit for the upcoming younger generations. And if you can't
target and gain their attention; expect to go extinct.
Code bases were too lumpy and such a mess; to make any modifications, to adapt it to anything else took a fair chunk of time and skill.
Proboards, Zetaboards, Invasion tried. Services where you could spawn an instantaneous forum for you and communities. It had momentum and than fell apart as did the death of AngelFire, GeoCities.
even if they didn't, why should they? this site is used as advertising for YC and their job ads. why should they get extra thanks for maintaining a forum for its ad space? do you also thank Facebook or Twitter for its moderation?
> tl;dr: The attention span of the person is now three seconds. If you can't grab that three seconds; next.
I don't know this is true in general. Only in very noisy environments, which is like the opposite of what a forum is. The harder you clamor for attention, the harder it is to actually capture it because you're creating an environment where capturing attention for more than three seconds is impossible.
If you create a low-noise environment, you can capture attention for a long time.
> Operating a forum is a lot of thankless maintenance.
If you are to run any sort of site, you just kind of got to expect it. Who here thanks HN for their service?
Their favorite IRC server SysOP, Discord server owner?
Forum's were slow on delivering content.
The world is now driven by media and that was a PITA to host. If the webmaster didn't allow image uploads and even when so, you couldn't normally link elsewhere; were forced to register an account. Wait for a verification email, wait for an administrator to approve your account and then gain 10 posts. Text is time consuming to read and too write, like this comment.
They were more a leisure activity rather than what the internet has become now. Adaptability never happened and with the failure of evolving with real-time with the next generation who were starting out with internet enabled phones and gadgets caused their downfall.
They may of suited the generation, however they were not a fit for the upcoming younger generations. And if you can't target and gain their attention; expect to go extinct.
Code bases were too lumpy and such a mess; to make any modifications, to adapt it to anything else took a fair chunk of time and skill.
Proboards, Zetaboards, Invasion tried. Services where you could spawn an instantaneous forum for you and communities. It had momentum and than fell apart as did the death of AngelFire, GeoCities.
My two-cents.