Is Discord killing forums?

[Deleted member 44219]

Well considering that as of 2018, Discord has 130+ Million Users. But that cannot stop a forum. Forums have slowly died out over the years, mainly due to things like Facebook and MySpace at the time. Discord is pretty much a forum software but with less work and more communicating for you. That doesn't mean that forums will die out because of Discord. Forums will most likely be around for the next few decades and there will still be forums but not many of them.

Forums are essentially for things like Music, Tech, Travel etc. Discord was meant to be for gaming but people have ignored the gaming part and look at it as a better Skype. Forums contain much more work to do but Discord let's you chat more than work more. If a forum were to make a Discord server, it would most likely be suicidal for the forum itself and all of it's users would flock to the Discord Server and then barely anyone would visit that forum and it would be a ghost town.

But in the most likely sense, Social Media like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter gave Forums the first few stabs. Discord is firing a bullet every month and before you know it, the internet will barely have a forum to be seen. Once forums are gone, every internet user will be crying. But for some forums like 4Chan, they won't be going anytime soon unless something too controversial happens that results in the site shutting down.

 

[Alexandoy]

Do you mean to say that forum members are turning to the private messaging system instead of posting on the boards? This reminds me of some friends in Facebook that I had unfriended because they were not posting anymore and it seemed that they were more inclined to messaging which is called chat or video chat. Perhaps this is the paradigm shift that I had been reading in some forums which will make forums obsolete.

 

[overcast]

I don't think discord killed communities. I found facebook and reddit killed some of them. But still tight knit communities are harder to form on facebook or reddit. So it all depends on how you put your community members connected. If forums avoid the drama and too many changes, it helps that community stay longer. Take example of DonationCoder for example.

 

[Shannon Apple]

Sakuga City had a Discord 2 years ago and it was deleted because no one was using it. People actually WANTED to stay in the IRC chatrooms I was hosting. At the time, I had no interest in Discord myself and told the other admins that they should run the Discord for the users that want it, but at that time, I was an IRC user, I was active in a couple of busy chatrooms there and didn't want to make a move from a place where I had already made friends.

Anyway, the majority of those people stopped using IRC, and I have started gaming again, so when users requested it, I created a new Discord Room. That is up and running since last week. There were only 5 or 6 people still using the IRC, so while I keep the IRC open, I hope everyone will eventually make the move.

I was of the impression that Discord kills forums too, BUT... I had a look at certain forums that died after getting a Discord, and their Discord's have gone empty as well. So... maybe it was just a natural decline in their community.

I am not going to make the Discord into a forum with lots of different catergories. Some admins make that mistake. I made a gaming, anime and general room. If 2 people start discussing their game in general and taking over the chat while no one else is interested, they can be asked to take it to gaming.

Discord can't really take the place of forums in that you can't have the same level of discussion.

A busy chatroom can serve to bring an already close knit community like Sakuga City closer together. Sakuga's been around since Summer 2016, but the community has been around since 2002. You can't manufacture a community like that, so perhaps the Discord which is already busy will just enhance our community and bring members closer, rather than destroy it.

 

[Deleted member 44219]

I don't think discord killed communities. I found facebook and reddit killed some of them. But still tight knit communities are harder to form on facebook or reddit. So it all depends on how you put your community members connected. If forums avoid the drama and too many changes, it helps that community stay longer. Take example of DonationCoder for example.

Well Reddit is pretty much a community run forum.

Do you mean to say that forum members are turning to the private messaging system instead of posting on the boards? This reminds me of some friends in Facebook that I had unfriended because they were not posting anymore and it seemed that they were more inclined to messaging which is called chat or video chat. Perhaps this is the paradigm shift that I had been reading in some forums which will make forums obsolete.

I don’t think forums will be obsolete for a decade or two. I’d be surprised if they’re still around in 2030’s.

 

[simonweb]

I don’t think forums will be obsolete for a decade or two. I’d be surprised if they’re still around in 2030’s.

A forum is simply a site that allows people to come together and discuss various topics. As such, forums will still be around for decades to come, but they will look and behave dramatically more different than the majority of forums today.

 

[Page]

DIscord has killed Skype so that's my answer to all things 😛

 

[simonweb]

DIscord has killed Skype

Nah, I think they managed to kill Skype perfectly fine on their own! 🙄

 

[Page]

DIscord has killed Skype

Nah, I think they managed to kill Skype perfectly fine on their own! 🙄

Microsoft did...lol

 

[Ghost]

No, Discord isn't killing forums in my opinion.
Social networks killed forums IMHO! Along with Reddit & community apps.
I started going to forums for specific reasons, like marketing/website management/hacking/etc & that's why I still visit forums. Social networks haven't replaced those, and neither has Discord. There's not enough information on social networks or Discord compared to forums. The only thing comparable is blogs, YouTube videos & Reddit for engaging & intellectual discussions/content. That said, obviously Discord takes up time - so does Twitch, and other sites that let users of a community chat instantly. I don't think they are forum replacements, they are time replacements... and if Discord is more fun to someone than a forum, they will spend less or no time on a forum and more or all time on Discord. But I think it's more about what people expect of the internet...

Forums are slow paced - more engaging & high quality, but you don't get the instant response that you do from Discord, Twitch, social networks, Reddit, etc. People don't want high quality replies or well thought out discussions. They want instant conversation, and forums can't really bring that for the most part unless it's highly active.

 

[Deleted member 7467]

I think a wider variety of discussion platforms (social media, voice and video chatting, evolving instant messengers, etc.) have reduced the need for forums. However, I think a big factor in the demise of forums comes from everyone and their mother being able to open a forum. I'll take the 3 people from this game I play and make a forum while this other guy takes 4 people he knows playing the game and makes an entirely separate forum. It reminds me of RuneScape. Social media and fan sites thinned out the community that once called the RSoF home. The RSoF are but a remnant of what they used to be. The soul crushing policies and tactics displayed by their staff didn't help matters any either.