Black Angel
Resident
I am not going to lie, I absolutely loathed ZB (in comparison to IPB and MyBB, but had I used it back when I was on PB, then I might've liked it more, but by then, I was already an experienced admin at that point..) I tried my best, but overall, neither I nor the members of the community I ran liked it, but I did like that it was original.. it had promise and it would've been better if it were open sourced like MyBB is..
But with that said, the idea that forums aren't popular anymore is just the result of manufactured b.s. as manufactured as the Kardashian fame was.. I say this because at the same time social media was blowing up, you had big corps like EIG buying up both web hosting companies with a stellar reputation, and another, CrowdGather Inc., buying up forum hosting companies to basically kettle everyone into using social media.. and then forcing them to deal with the pitfalls from that.. while also enshittifying the companies and the services they once provided.
And all at the same time.. but why?
The internet is big enough for both to thrive, so why are people being groomed into believing that forums are dying because of social media. Then again, if you tell a lie long enough, people will believe it to be the truth.
The bright side, however, seems to be that, people are waking up and getting tired of the toxicity and are looking to either join a forum or start their own.. especially since sites like Reddit, Twitter, seem to be right at home for the Neanderthals that still use them..
I've actually been online long enough to see the b.s. I heard when I started out, be proven as such by now.. so the idea of forums going away, because of social media, and that paid software is better than free, etc. have since been shown to be b.s. You have the PAID software companies reneging on their LIFETIME LICENSE HOLDERS and now, the people fleeing these sites are wondering if there is a better alternative, either not knowing there was one, or they have forgotten there was.
It is kinda like abuse in a way, except, instead of your abuser gaslighting and abusing you, for free, you are paying for it. Well at least that WAS the case with the paid software admins, now they are jumping ship to MyBB and other free software.. but for the most part, I have seen them coming to MyBB.
So for now, the challenge seems to be in finding a host, that is legit and has been around for a long time, that isn't looking to make a quick buck by selling out to a big corporation like IF/ZB's owner did and screwed his users.
That being said, I am glad that forums are making a comeback, and I plan to run mine until I can't anymore, and I hope to see more vets out there like me doing the same. 🙂
But with that said, the idea that forums aren't popular anymore is just the result of manufactured b.s. as manufactured as the Kardashian fame was.. I say this because at the same time social media was blowing up, you had big corps like EIG buying up both web hosting companies with a stellar reputation, and another, CrowdGather Inc., buying up forum hosting companies to basically kettle everyone into using social media.. and then forcing them to deal with the pitfalls from that.. while also enshittifying the companies and the services they once provided.
And all at the same time.. but why?
The internet is big enough for both to thrive, so why are people being groomed into believing that forums are dying because of social media. Then again, if you tell a lie long enough, people will believe it to be the truth.
The bright side, however, seems to be that, people are waking up and getting tired of the toxicity and are looking to either join a forum or start their own.. especially since sites like Reddit, Twitter, seem to be right at home for the Neanderthals that still use them..
I've actually been online long enough to see the b.s. I heard when I started out, be proven as such by now.. so the idea of forums going away, because of social media, and that paid software is better than free, etc. have since been shown to be b.s. You have the PAID software companies reneging on their LIFETIME LICENSE HOLDERS and now, the people fleeing these sites are wondering if there is a better alternative, either not knowing there was one, or they have forgotten there was.
It is kinda like abuse in a way, except, instead of your abuser gaslighting and abusing you, for free, you are paying for it. Well at least that WAS the case with the paid software admins, now they are jumping ship to MyBB and other free software.. but for the most part, I have seen them coming to MyBB.
So for now, the challenge seems to be in finding a host, that is legit and has been around for a long time, that isn't looking to make a quick buck by selling out to a big corporation like IF/ZB's owner did and screwed his users.
That being said, I am glad that forums are making a comeback, and I plan to run mine until I can't anymore, and I hope to see more vets out there like me doing the same. 🙂
