zor
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that's a little sensational headline for ya 
Brain dump ahead, you have been warned. I'm fucking bored at work and a cantankerous old fucker 
I've been thinking about how my interactions online have changed over the years and feel a bit sad to feel that forums, like this one, are a dying breed. I used to post on BBSs, fidonet, and usenet back in the day, then migrated over to the web and found homes on various special interest sites (such as here, gaming, and music related ones). I loved learning the different personalities, got frustrated when people would never search and post the same shit over and over, and found warmth and comfort in the popular and always-bumped posts that inevitably populated the first page of any given site.
Enter facebook (perhaps earlier with friendster/myspace?) and what feels like the start of the era of transient, self-focused/obsessed showcasing, and the advent of reddit which further propelled this into a drive/addiction to +1s (told you I am). Threaded conversations are weighted by upvotes (by default), the dynamics of bumped or popular topics are always subjugated to being knocked out of view due to being too old, I personally have never gotten to learn any user names or personalities because the whole damn ecosystem seems flawed and not suited for building a community but just popular information exchange....and good god the number of reposts is enough to make me 
. I also find no motivation to get involved because of this endless cycle, and the god-awful echo chamber that is promoted by the up/downvotes.
Now to be utterly hypocritical, I haven't been visiting this site as much as I used to; partially due to time, but also because I have essentially hit a steady state with regards to my equipment and needs.....but damn I miss this place! So many familiar names, avatars, writing styles that I've grown to learn and love over the years. Is the trend is toward the styles I've described above? Do you think forums are a dying breed or am I a curmudgeonly alarmist?
Brain dump ahead, you have been warned. I'm fucking bored at work and a cantankerous old fucker I've been thinking about how my interactions online have changed over the years and feel a bit sad to feel that forums, like this one, are a dying breed. I used to post on BBSs, fidonet, and usenet back in the day, then migrated over to the web and found homes on various special interest sites (such as here, gaming, and music related ones). I loved learning the different personalities, got frustrated when people would never search and post the same shit over and over, and found warmth and comfort in the popular and always-bumped posts that inevitably populated the first page of any given site.
Enter facebook (perhaps earlier with friendster/myspace?) and what feels like the start of the era of transient, self-focused/obsessed showcasing, and the advent of reddit which further propelled this into a drive/addiction to +1s (told you I am
). Threaded conversations are weighted by upvotes (by default), the dynamics of bumped or popular topics are always subjugated to being knocked out of view due to being too old, I personally have never gotten to learn any user names or personalities because the whole damn ecosystem seems flawed and not suited for building a community but just popular information exchange....and good god the number of reposts is enough to make me . I also find no motivation to get involved because of this endless cycle, and the god-awful echo chamber that is promoted by the up/downvotes.Now to be utterly hypocritical, I haven't been visiting this site as much as I used to; partially due to time, but also because I have essentially hit a steady state with regards to my equipment and needs.....but damn I miss this place! So many familiar names, avatars, writing styles that I've grown to learn and love over the years. Is the trend is toward the styles I've described above? Do you think forums are a dying breed or am I a curmudgeonly alarmist?