I've traversed Facebook. I've wandered the wastes of Twitter. I've dug my way through Reddit threads, YouTube comments, and Instagram stories. I've climbed endless Vines.
And yet almost none of them have the depth of what I remember from this place. (Reddit comes close. But it has its... own kind of problems.)
Can we get that feeling back in here? Is this just a pointless shout into the void?
Is anyone else feeling half as frustrated with social media as I am? Maybe it's just me, but it's feeling more and more like the people we know from firsthand experience aren't always quite as compelling as total strangers in the odd corners of the internet.
Though admittedly we have the capacity to become more than strangers on here.
Help me out here. Do you feel like forums are worth a venture again? Or has the monolith of social media beaten them into an untimely grave?
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
our attachment and our associations with any type of interactive media will suffer a "product of its time" issue. it's like having played world of warcraft at launch as a young adult or teen. the experience is not something that will ever be recreated, and you can't really go back; we've moved beyond that mode of play and the mechanisms of vanilla oldschool WoW are mostly intolerable. some people will go back and try to catch that high on the legacy vanilla servers, but it's gone.
of course, forums never stopped being worth a venture to me. that's more a product of me being part of good forums that aren't fading away over time.
Posted by MarekAgain (Member # 13484) on :
i miss real discussions here. Facebook and twitter seem like soundbites that are just about sounding clever, here there used to be real attempts to enlighten, educate, persuade and assist, and of course our share of belligerent shouting matches.
but i do always feel like everything is just shouting in to the void now. Like i'll read a new book, or see a movie and want to discuss it, or want to ask people with different experiences and educations about some situation, and really miss hatrack. But i don't see it ever coming back.
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: our attachment and our associations with any type of interactive media will suffer a "product of its time" issue. it's like having played world of warcraft at launch as a young adult or teen. the experience is not something that will ever be recreated, and you can't really go back; we've moved beyond that mode of play and the mechanisms of vanilla oldschool WoW are mostly intolerable. some people will go back and try to catch that high on the legacy vanilla servers, but it's gone.
Oof, right in the feels. I'm so glad I didn't know at the time that that incredible feeling was transitory, and one day I wouldn't want to play it ever again. It would have ruined the ride.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
Forum is arriving in the new era. Forum is actuating the realization of nostalgic hobby trends and it's probably sincere. I guess if you are hungry you can always try putting a kitchen sponge convenient to your fridge.
Posted by MarekAgain (Member # 13484) on :
we could create a hatrack group on facebook, and through it encourage a revival of the forums, or not
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
I think a lot of it is that so many people have come to treasure the type of interaction you get on social media as opposed to a forum such as this. They love the likes (or the new "reactions") on facebook, as well as the comments. And the retweets, and the shares etc.
It also takes a lot less effort to share commentaries, videos, pictures and the like to social media sites. It's much more able to be distributed and discussed in those places versus forums like this one. And the interaction is greater too. "friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend" likes onward to viral.
In the end, I think it's because most people like the the warm fuzzies they feel when they get a lot of likes and comments. You have to work a little harder in a place like this. You actually have to develop a cogent thought and communicate it effectively in written form. Even worse, you have to respond (and sometimes defend) the point you were trying to make! Without emojis! Heaven forbid!
Call me old school, but the only thing I use facebook for is sharing pictures of my son with friends and family. I'm SOOOO thankful I grew up and established my career before all that became as outrageously popular as it is now. Myspace was just starting to take off when I was in tech school.
[ July 09, 2018, 02:03 AM: Message edited by: Nick ]
Posted by MarekAgain (Member # 13484) on :
tho social media notifies people when there is a response to them, if people got a notification every time we posted here, maybe they would engage more, or at least remember this place exists
Posted by pedro56 (Member # 13709) on :
Nowadays, social media is a way to chain you to the social events directly or indirectly, it has become an important part of our day to day life, there is a lot of social media sites, like Facebook, Instagram, Orkut, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. if anyone have not attached themselves with the social media sites, register yourself with Avast Customer Support Avast Customer Support and keep update yourself.
Posted by MarekAgain (Member # 13484) on :
Did we trigger a bot to register for hatrack?
Posted by Black Fox (Member # 1986) on :
Social media is the internet equivalent of watching TV. Folks scroll through pictures, videos and bite sized nuggets of information. The written word over a paragraph in length is avoided at all costs.
The problem with forum boards is that they require actual work. Most people do not want to write an essay to let the world know exactly how they fell. Well, that and it seems most people would rather throw mud than have a conversation anymore.
I miss this place. It's strange to think that I was 18 or 19 when I signed up for the forum board and started posting. I'm 35 now, married and have two kids. I miss this place, but the "place" I miss is one that no longer really exists - most likely anywhere on the internet.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Medium is the closest I have found. It was literally built to write paragraphs to the world and allow people to write paragraphs back. That level of interaction isn't quite happening there yet, but it can.
Posted by Sara Allyn (Member # 13737) on :
I used to be very active on these types of forums back when I was entrenched in the marine aquarium hobby. Nowadays, it seems like everyone has moved on to FB pages, twitter feeds, etc. I have to say there is something nostalgic about the forum format. I’m sure there are pros and cons to all.
Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :
quote:Originally posted by MarekAgain: But i don't see it ever coming back.
I've been gone for a while and was a bit surprised to see how much has changed.
What happened? Is it because many of the active participants were in their 20s and over the last ten years they've gotten busy with school, work and starting families? I miss this place.
It was one of the few places where I saw rigorous (but friendly) debates about politics that didn't turn into some sort of shouting match.
Posted by Sara Allyn (Member # 13737) on :
Vwiggin - I suspect it’s also partly due to the fact that these types of forums, as a venue, are dying out in general. I think people only have so much time to spend interacting online and would rather be on FB or Twitter. This is unfortunate in some ways since those venues are not as condusive to having a “real” conversation. (IMO)
Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :
That's a shame Sara. I was hoping the group is still alive somewhere but maybe just on a different forum or platform.
Well, maybe with all this Facebook craziness people will return!
Posted by Sara Allyn (Member # 13737) on :
Haha, yeah, no Russian trolls here! Right? lol
Posted by MarekAgain (Member # 13484) on :
i really miss the forum when i find a cool new book or show, but can't have in depth conversations
Posted by Sara Allyn (Member # 13737) on :
Marek - we just need to start a good controversy. I once revived a dying forum with a post about the ethics of male circumcision. Of course, that was like 15 years ago. We would have to come up with something else these days. 😁
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
There's just nothing particularly controversial happening. :/
Posted by MarekAgain (Member # 13484) on :
we could try, Is there a god? if so what gender? or are there many gods?
Posted by Sara Allyn (Member # 13737) on :
I believe that if there is a god (or gods), he/she/they must not be particularly concerned with whether or not we believe in his/her/their existence. And in fact, sometimes I wonder if the noble atheist should not be given that much more credit for behaving with good morals despite not believing - like the child who is kind and obedient all year even though he/she does not believe in Santa Claus.
Posted by JanitorBlade (Member # 12343) on :
Were I God, I wouldn't want people to not know I existed. Would you?
Posted by airmanfour (Member # 6111) on :
Were I God, the only reason I'd make people is so I'd have an audience to appreciate how great I am.
Posted by Ruffs100 (Member # 1988) on :
I remember when this place had a chat room function! It was wonderful. I got to grow as a person talking through issues with an anonymous family. But everything changes.
Feels good to post here again!
Posted by Sara Allyn (Member # 13737) on :
I just discovered Goodreads, which still uses a forum-like format for discussing books!! Woohoo!
Posted by odouls268 (Member # 2145) on :
quote:Originally posted by airmanfour: Were I God, the only reason I'd make people is so I'd have an audience to appreciate how great I am.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)