Forums as an alternative for social media and discord.

[DeusLatom]

As the title says, i'm curious to see what you people think of the difference between the two and also ask why you people are drawn to a place like this.

I've been taking myself off of social media as of late for self improvement and have found that i typically have a better out look on things ever since, while social media is convenient, it's often a political nightmare and an addiction center for doom scrolling.

I feel forums are a lot more laid back and actually focused on realistic topics, it really makes you realize that social media is smaller then you think, and what you see really is curated to just get engagement unlike in forums, where its just real people talking with real people.

 

[ATenderLad]

Well, it helps that's fewer people, generally writing more per post. Makes things more of a conversation than a town hall. Also, less bot content! (I mean hopefully, report it if you see it man help me).


Small side note, try to keep this about differences in the platforms if possible, if it turns political again we're unplugging the forum. No pressure!

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

The best thing of forums in general, can be summed up with two words: No Algorithm.

 

[ciro64]

Forums are the only one that properly encourages asynchronous conversation. Here I feel like I have all the time in the world to properly put my thoughts into a post. And I feel some sort of guarantee that I'll bump into same people over and over.

Stuff like chats, imageboards, facebook groups or reddit communities all have their purposes, but nothing gives me the sense of community like a forum does.

 

[Zachery2112]

I signed up here because I wanted access to the repo. Then I realized that not only is the site enjoyable but it is more fun than other social medias.

I'd blame this on the small size, forums making conversations more focused, and a moderation team. The fact that there are moderators puts this place leagues above Twitter.

 

[vulonkaaz's iconvulonkaaz]

I never managed to use big discord groups, too much unstructured speech going on all the time, I'm glad actual forums are finally making a comeback

(plus I really missed userbars and signatures during that long period of time when I had no forums)

---

both forums and social media can be a bad habit of doomscrolling tbh, with forums being maybe better, still need to be used in moderation

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

I just like the idea of forums better, maybe because that's what I grew up with.

I feel like social media is awfully punishing when it comes to having an honest (if hot) take, whilst forums are pretty much built around the idea of having different opinions. It also doesn't help that certain social media sites hide the option to write really in-depth takes behind a subscription model, making the whole thing feel awfully shallow and uninteresting. There really isn't much to build up from a series of glorified one-liners that could very well fit on a particularly depressing fortune cookie, whereas you can write til your fingers bleed on a platform such as this one.

And yes, I have also found a direct link between my overall happiness and the amount of social media use I do.

 

[fake-kun]

Forums are just more fun, at least to me.

 

[ciro64]

The best thing of forums in general, can be summed up with two words: No Algorithm.

What I like about Twitter is that it gives some artists/gamedevs/content creator some chance to get some spotlight and a way to communicate with their followers when there's no other practical way to.

Aside from that, I consider Twitter a social aberration.

 

[bosskbot]

As the title says, i'm curious to see what you people think of the difference between the two and also ask why you people are drawn to a place like this.

I've been taking myself off of social media as of late for self improvement and have found that i typically have a better out look on things ever since, while social media is convenient, it's often a political nightmare and an addiction center for doom scrolling.

I feel forums are a lot more laid back and actually focused on realistic topics, it really makes you realize that social media is smaller then you think, and what you see really is curated to just get engagement unlike in forums, where its just real people talking with real people.

I started posting here just for this reason. I miss forums and yeah social media was never my thing anyways.

 

[Antilocal123]

I prefer forums because there’s no algorithm, subscription model, or annoying people. ( usually, forums sometimes have them. )

That said, the argument between forums and social media is like comparing trash and garbage, it’s still social media at the end of the day and you should always see it as such.

Forums need moderation and can just as easily warp you into doomscrolling.

Lesser of two evils tbh.

 

[DeusLatom]

Forums are the only one that properly encourages asynchronous conversation. Here I feel like I have all the time in the world to properly put my thoughts into a post. And I feel some sort of guarantee that I'll bump into same people over and over.

Stuff like chats, imageboards, facebook groups or reddit communities all have their purposes, but nothing gives me the sense of community like a forum does.

I definitely feel like its the sense of community that keeps people around, not to mention helpful and active moderation, i've only been here for a little while and i keep seeing the same faces pop up, which is super nice to see, and its a smaller place here then on a big social media which helps so much lol

Plus you can see personality oozing off of every profile pretty much, the individuality this forum gives is great to see, i feel like that definitely helps with people just being genuine and wearing their hearts on their sleeves

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

What i like the most, is that interactions are more organic, this is a small community with no algorithm so there is no need to clout chase, and you can actually be genuine with your thoughts.

You actually get to browse based on your actual interests, rather than: "Oh hey you clicked this video once, here are a 1000 videos like it!" And, its fun to find what people are into, and what interests we do share.

And, as you start seeing the same names pop up, it kinda feels like a small town where everyone knows everyone.

And i can just ignore people i find annoying.

 

[Mago]

Twitter is like hard drugs. Its made to be addictive and its really unhealthy. It almost feels meticulously designed to eat away at the soul. That said i found my best friends there tbf. Still I'd like to kill my addiction.

Forums are much more structured and encourage more well thought out replies and conversation I think, but theres still moments of toxicity. I've already seen one thread get overly hostile though it was arguably over a few bad apples.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

I don't think there's inherent value in any specific method of communication online. The only reason this forum is as good as it is and not another 4chan is because of the community and the moderators. So be nice to the mods every once in a while and be thankful for their hard work.

 

[Antilocal123]

I don't think there's inherent value in any specific method of communication online. The only reason this forum is as good as it is and not another 4chan is because of the community and the moderators. So be nice to the mods every once in a while and be thankful for their hard work.

Preach Straty.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

Preach Straty.

You know me. I love getting on soapboxes and shouting at the clouds.

 

[LaserMoose]

Forums are far easier to archive compared to Discord. I've always had a hard time referring back to old Discord chats, since everything gets buried. For this reason I haven't used the app in years.

Like other users have mentioned, I also like how personalized you can make your profile here - it gives every user a unique identity.

 

[Yousef]

I have not really had the chance to say this so now is a good time; a lot of things largely depend on your usage. forums, image boards, social media and messaging clients like discord can all be used responsibly and they largely depend on their communities. Now, The natural counter argument here would be to say that the algorithm really lowers down the user quality experience and while this is true, it doesn’t change the reality that nothing is truly safe from unhealthy behavior or unhealthy habits.

While I don’t have Tiktok, reddit, X or insta, I do know it’s possible to use them healthily and I do know people who use them responsibly. My father strictly checks news on insta, my best friend only uses Twitter for fanart and one of my other friends strictly uses discord for professional purposes.

This is being said not to regurgitate the truth, but to highlight the critical issue that true alternatives don’t always exist, and it is possible to mis-use any platform be that as it may by.

 

[Wechseln]

This is actually my first time in a forum. It's really cool! It reminds me of a lobby in Fightcade where everyone kind of already knows each other. It hasn't the level of reach as regular social media of course but the human interaction makes it absolutely worth it.

 

[Graw]

Forums are comfy and I enjoy pace of them. The only social media site I use is facebook and that's mostly to browse local groups. I don't like discord. I only use it because a lot of game modders and stuff use it to host all their things. I don't really think it's a great platform for 90% of what it's used for. It's confusing and annoying and trying to find downloads in what are essentially long chats is probably one of the most painful ways I've ever downloaded things and this is going back to the early days of the internet.

 

[Strategist's icon Strategist Strategist]

I don't like social media (youtube, twitter/x, etc) because of the way it incentivizes toxic behavior such as clickbait/culture warrior nonsense and clownish attention seeking behavior. But honestly, you can still find the channels that don't commerce in that type of content if you look hard enough.

 

[PrismRed]

I have not really had the chance to say this so now is a good time; a lot of things largely depend on your usage. forums, image boards, social media and messaging clients like discord can all be used responsibly and they largely depend on their communities. Now, The natural counter argument here would be to say that the algorithm really lowers down the user quality experience and while this is true, it doesn’t change the reality that nothing is truly safe from unhealthy behavior or unhealthy habits.

While I don’t have Tiktok, reddit, X or insta, I do know it’s possible to use them healthily and I do know people who use them responsibly. My father strictly checks news on insta, my best friend only uses Twitter for fanart and one of my other friends strictly uses discord for professional purposes.

This is being said not to regurgitate the truth, but to highlight the critical issue that true alternatives don’t always exist, and it is possible to mis-use any platform be that as it may by.

100% on this, I do have Discord and X for years and my experience in using them is nothing but pleasant. Granted I know how to filter out content myself and I generally never care for controversial takes in the first place.

Remember folks; 1. Never interrupt your enemies when they are making mistake (translation, if someone talk stupid on internet, move on, don't bother correcting them) and 2. Whatever you did anyway is not gonna change how you live your life, unless you let it.

 

[Inkingsama]

I will blame phoneposters for the actual state of all social media.

Phoneposters get out. Forums are only for pc users as God intended.

 

[DragonMals]

My only complaint about forums is that you only have said users on there, and if they dislike modern social media and said forum site is gone, there's no other way to find them. It already happened once to me. Discord is my primary form of communication but I think that forums gotten their own merit aswell.