this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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Asklemmy

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I see a lot of people saying online that "forums are dying off because of discord and reddit"

yet other people reply: "Well, I'm still using my forum/IRC."

So I have to ask, what forums that are decently big still exist? Only one I can think of is Nomutantsallowed for fallout related content.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

Usually something hyper specific. This was a few years ago but I found a very bustling community forum for appliance repair. I posted a question on how to fix my oven and got very detailed answers and technical info involving the circuit board and heating element and troubleshooting steps. Unfortunately the general consensus on there is that for a lot of appliances, the board needs replaced which may or may not be available, and if it is, costs damn near what a new appliance does. Which is obviously done on purpose to drive sales.

The other one I know is my friend will participate on one for modding Toyota Yaris cars.

Bodybuilding / fitness forums are still pretty active.

All of these tend to have subreddit or Lemmy equivalents however.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

It seems that this might be useful to add to this pile of information:

https://meta.discourse.org/t/federation-support-for-discourse/90921

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

cs rin.ru and ltt foums

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

I regularly visit https://vogons.org/ to talk about retro computers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

There are a few cannabis related ones, though activity is here or there on one or two. UK420, THCTalk, ICMag, GrowCity, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I used to use RPG.net a lot. They have pretty strict moderation, which keeps the place from turning into some kinds of shit holes. But you also can't tell someone they're a fool, or all Republicans are traitors. Takes some getting used to, but is probably worth it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Gbatemp is one.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Does anyone remember Megalinks on Reddit? They started a forum after it was shut down, I was lucky enough to get invited before they closed registration. The forums are still very active and it's the best community I've experienced online. I spend as much time there as I do here.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Techlore forums and privacy guide

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Retrogametalk and segaxtreme

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

The Gear Page is very active as are sister sites like strat forums, my les paul etc

Talk photography

Fred Miranda photography forums

Av forums

Watchuseek

What HiFi

I used to live on the winamp forums, but I haven't for a long time and it's pretty dead now.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Gallifrey Base, sometimes πŸ˜ŒπŸ€“

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago

There are so many niche forums.

Here's one I found a while ago when I was looking at repairing an old electric fan I found: Antique Fan Collector's Forum.

In the way that people would always add "reddit" to their searches, try just adding "forum".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

https://tildes.net/ is still quite active and while the interface is similar to old reddit the focus is more on discussions than sharing links.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/

Excellent forums. I have been a member for five years and it has been fantastic.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

Special interest forums still hold.

For me, the Royal Enfield motorbike forums are exceptionally good, and that's largely down to the admin. There's also a Series 2 Land Rover forum that has a unique collection of people with a phenomenal combined knowledge about that car.

I've hosted a few in my time - since the early 90s and Fidonet when BBSs were the thing. But things change. Facebook killed of a whole bunch way before Reddit and Lemmy just because that's where people were already, and it was easier for them to feel involved. Facebook is impossible to search, though, so the post history of a forum that was so useful has gone entirely.

It's sad, but things change. What's constant is people's desire to socialise and discuss topics they are interested in. I'm kind of curious what that will be next.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Isn't Reddit or Lemmy pretty much just a structured forum?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

(early) reddit was the answer to the question "what if anyone could have their own phpbb instance without having to host it?" Then along came Lemmy asking "what if anyone could have their own reddit instance and have to host it?"

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

Car forums are still somewhat active. There's usually one per car make or chassis. For example I use zilvia.net for S chassis stuff and miata.net for Miata stuff which are both active.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

All the forums I used to go to on any regular basis are dying out or dead - NotebookReview, DSLReports, etc.

I still stop by Linus Tech Tips forum and GBATemp and Overclock.net and ServeTheHome on rare occasions.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

SomethingAwful is still very active!

4chan is as well, but it’s been shit since 2009 (inb4 /b/ was never good)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Remember when /b/ was good??

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

No, because it never was.

Kids confused it with good because it was the equivalent of running around an abandoned building throwing dog shit and broken glass at each other while spraying paint on the walls, because no adults told them not to. But when you tire of that, it's just an empty husk full of dog shit and glass.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Easy there. "Remember when /b/ was good?" is a meme from /b/ itself. The answer even in 2010 was "/b/ was never good".

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

My first serious romantic partner in the mid-2000s told me β€œthe more I browse /b/, the more I understand you” and in retrospect I don’t know how I feel about that

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago

Yeahhh... somewhat cringe in hindsight, but a core part of old internet.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago

https://forum.language-learners.org/

Language Learner’s Forum is still quite active and pretty large community.

https://latindiscussion.org/ Latin Discussion is still pretty active

If you like Sid Meier’s Civilization then CivFantatics is really quite active very much.

There are the Woodwind.org forums of course but they aren’t as active as the others. I think that Saxophone.org is somewhat active but less so than it used to be.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Over the years, forums did not really get smaller, so much as the rest of the internet just got bigger.

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