Do you predict forums will make a big comeback?

[Cedric]

Forums will always have a place because they cater better than any other form of social media for enduring content. Content on other social platforms is generally more disposable.

Forum developers and admins need to understand that threads which have dropped from the first page may still hold value. Locking old content, deleting old content, chastising members for bumping old content is not what we should be doing. That content may have value and we need better ways of exposing it to our members.

Xenforo has at long last put a toe in the water with some up and coming functionality that focuses on trending content.

XF 2.3 - Trending content

Since the initial release of XenForo 2.3, there has been a new system working away behind the scenes. One that some developers might have spotted but one that we hadn't actually talked about yet, because it wasn't relevant. Until now! Let's talk about this somewhat underlying system first...

xenforo.com

Trending content does not replace new content. It's good to have it additionally, but not as a default setup or replacing things as "new posts". As always, new content generates other new content. Focusing on Trending does not except occasionally generate content.

 

[zappaDPJ]

Trending content does not replace new content. It's good to have it additionally, but not as a default setup or replacing things as "new posts". As always, new content generates other new content. Focusing on Trending does not except occasionally generate content.

I think it very much depends on the nature of the forum but in general I agree that new content is what drives a forum.