The Discussion Forum Universe is Dying, I know Why...

I was having a private chat with Sandman, on the subject, and thought it might be productive to bring the core idea out for public scrutiny.

First, I haven't been very active here lately, I used to be quite a bit. My forum experience is mostly related to our one very big site, http://www.abovetopsecret.com. We have more than 20 million posts on more than 1 million topics that span over 4 million pages as indexed by Google. There's a massive list of headaches associated with managing a discussion community of that size, many of which are technology related.

We are seeing a gradual drop in overall traffic from new users. It's not yet alarming because we still get good spikes from hot issues in the news, and social media. However, I've been seeing lots of formerly decent boards fade away, if not disappear entirely. I'm sure everyone here has noticed the same, and is concerning.

I know why

The primary issue is that the UX (user experience) of discussion forum software has not kept pace with the rapid evolution of the broader user experience expectations of the modern digital user. For the most part, every major forum software provider is still relying on the core UX and information architecture first conceived in the 1990's. From a user experience perspective, discovering new and interesting content takes an effort, and this is the problem.

Sure, there have been some improvements in the front-end design, but it's just polishing the turd.

When you compare the overall user experience of popular digital products (especially mobile) like Uber, Facebook, Instagram, Pandora, Evernote, Twitter, Trello, and FitBit, discussion forum software is insanely confusing and complicated by comparison. This makes adoption by contemporary digital users highly unlikely.

To me, this seems obvious. And we've simplified our UX over the years to keep step as much as possible. So why haven't those with an invested interest (forum software vendors) kept pace with modern UX sensibilities? This is the problem. And anyone using their software is suffering from it.

 

Facebook isn't going anywhere. It's a solid #2 in the world.

What may be getting smaller is your personal network who uses it. My friends don't post as much as they did ten years ago. It's getting old/boring for us, and for certain friends who have certain jobs - they're not even allowed to be on Facebook without facing scrutiny, so we resort to texting.

However, for everyone of us who may be 30+ and haven't posted as much, there's tons of new teenagers and college students on it.

It's not that it's going away for everyone, just for people who have gotten older or who graduated from their university and took jobs that require a clean profile.

It will go in waves...as you get older or gain jobs that require a squeaky clean profile, that's when it slows down for you, but there's youngin's behind you picking up the slack. That's what's going to be so damn hard to make a Facebook killer...it's literally timeless and everyone has access to it.

Damn shame one of us didn't think of it!

 

That is exactly what happens when I show my Facebook followers the website. They will share and comment anything I post on Facebook, but if I post a link for them to check out the site, and say something like "here it is, and sign up to join us in conversation at the site" they barely click and they don't ever register.

Too much work involved in registration and not enough instant gratification.

 

How can forums make it better?

 

More focus on attractive content, easier/faster ability to post new threads, best content on a homepage instead of a forum list that has cut off titles and empty center of a screen. Can start there.

There's plenty of ways to manipulate XF with the right skills. I don't have the skills, just the ideas!

 

To me, this is the foundation of the issue.

When I login to most forums, I am seeing a different 'environment' and 'culture' than I am seeing with social media connections. People want to be connected with those they care about, know and closely relate to while also being able to get plenty of 'me time' as well. Social media provides that outlet. Many message forums do not because the community is more 'wide spread' than that of social media.

Not all forums are doomed, though.

This solution isn't software related and it cannot be solved with a third-party addon. It can solved with culture and the efforts of the owner of the forum. My Skywarn Forum is my experiment into this matter. It is my biggest forum, it is my baby. I've even acquired the main competition and merged it into the forum, that is how dedicated I am to that forum.

I didn't intend to make Skywarn Forum into the ultimate forum for storm spotters to discuss storm spotting. I made the forum to be the ultimate forum for storm spotters to join and CONNECT with other storm spotters, a social networking outlet for the spotters if you will. When I new member joins, I instantly look at my option on how I can encourage other members to connect with the new members and develop a strong bond and friendship right off the bat. I don't want to focus on members coming back to the forum for the content, I am focusing on members coming back to the forum to see their friends and connect with other members. Content is king in some aspects but in a way, connection is growing into the next king and its eyeing content's throne. Social media is making this into a reality.

Am I making any sense here?

 

I agree with SkepticGuy. Forums today have a UX-problem, they are just too hard to use. Especially posting new content when you compare to Facebook. And I think FB is the whole problem, many discussions move to FB groups I've seen.

With that said I actually own a forum that's thriving. The catch? People want to be anonymous while posting. So that's one advantage forum can have (having two users on FB is not practical)

Wrote this post in another thread, relevant for this thread also:

Solution brainstorming: Making a forum with only one category, showing all posts directly on the front page (why reinvent the wheel if it works?). (Auto)-login with FB account for posting. Changing posting name should be easy if you want to do that. Next problem is the app. Having an app per forum is not a good idea... I guess Xenforo have to make one for that.

With this idea you have the fast FB UX-way and you can show ads and have everything Indexed by Google. Might work.

 

Off to the drawing board!

 

I agree partially on the position of today's forum software not being "up-to-date" enough for the current world of users. Getting a software like forum software to work equally well on all forms of devices is a huge challenge too. But, it is possible and it is correct that forum software vendors need to step up the game a bit in this respect. However, this stepping up the UI game isn't going to solve the real issue.

I believe the real reason for the "dying forum universe" is the many other ways to get people together available out there on the Internet, which are much easier than starting a forum. Facebook groups/ pages. Slack Channels. StackExchange sites. Google groups. etc. etc. Sign up, setup the community. Done.

With forums, it is buy/ get the software, get web space or a server, upload the software, set up the database, install the software and set it up. Setting up a forum takes more steps, and also takes money and more time and even some extra knowledge/ learning. That is simply too high of a hurdle to compete. Starting up a community needs to be sign up, setup the community - Done!

Edit - oh, and for more flexibility than what is currently available, there can also be a charge.

Scott

 

But in what way does this affect the average user?

I do believe forums currently are not up-to-date with this world. And the UX is part of the problem. I get more and more questions from new members how they can start a new topic, how can they send a private message, who is in charge of the forum, how they can post images, etc.