Forums are so ... yesterday?

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 4:47 pm

I just got the following in the mail about the potential closing of yet another gaming forum. There are many reasons why this is closing down, but he makes an interesting point in the middle of his ramble. I'll put it in bold for emphasis.

Yes I am closing the web site down. It's not the case of affording it as I can but it has dries to a trickle nopw. The site has been kept limping alive by a few great admins, moderators, GMs and people. It really has outlived its day. With the rise of social networking – forums are a technology which seem so dated by comparison. Anyway I am making sure there are two month so any game can be completed, any resource can be moved, and if needed other forums or groups can be set up. Sorry guys but because of family problems and my health I just can't do this any more and lets face it haven't been able to for over a year.

So are forums really outdated in the modern world of Facebook? Can you not only discuss role playing games but also have online role playing games better on Facebook than on a forum? I'm not sure I agree with his argument, but he is really shutting down because of a combination of inactivity and personal time issues.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 6:21 pm

Yeah, it's a stupid argument. Forums are a perfect medium for this type of thing. I don't see how a Facebook clone is going to help anything. WotC tried that, but they still kept the forum functionality.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 6:55 pm

Which isn't to say there's no room for improvement. In my dreamworld:

--Original Poster has moderation powers on every thread (superseded by site admins)

--any post can be made into a link to a subforum by the original poster. Users can "favorite" a subforum to make it visible on the site index.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 7:06 pm

There are advantages to compartmentalizing. It would be pretty obnoxious to constantly spam my non-gaming friends with gaming posts of Facebook.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:51 pm

Social networking is also insufficient for conversation because of the space limitation social networking seems to put upon itself. Facebook to me has always seemed to be an extension of the idea behind ims and chat rooms. You don't really post essays on there.

It is also a hard point of reference when it is a discussion about whatever subject. On a forum, I am able to quote you specifically when I need to reply to something.

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Tue Feb 01, 2011 10:55 pm

Orion wrote:
--Original Poster has moderation powers on every thread (superseded by site admins)
.

This would be terrible. Imagine what a thread started by Crissa or Tzor would be like.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:01 am

It would be COMEDY GOLD.

Because any thread tzor starts would be comple[USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST]

Facebook Gaming Den would be awful. Though it amuses me to think of such things as "Paizo almost (accidentally) made something good, but they fucked it up, don't worry. They still suck a barrel of cocks" (4,837 people Like this post)

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:46 am

Cynic wrote:Social networking is also insufficient for conversation because of the space limitation social networking seems to put upon itself. Facebook to me has always seemed to be an extension of the idea behind ims and chat rooms. You don't really post essays on there.

Well technically speaking you can create a "fan" page and have "discussions." It's still massively limited compared to a phpbb board.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 12:49 am

Koumei wrote:Facebook Gaming Den would be awful. Though it amuses me to think of such things as "Paizo almost (accidentally) made something good, but they fucked it up, don't worry. They still suck a barrel of cocks" (4,837 people Like this post)

You would be surprized at how often this is used by conservatives on Facebook.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 1:27 am

livejournal or whatever similar communities seem a progression of the forum mentality. LJ is good in that it isn't just blogs but you can create communities and have character limitless discourse.

Draco_Argentum · Post by **Draco_Argentum** » Wed Feb 02, 2011 3:00 am

Forums are an intentional broadcast system. Social networking is much narrower, particularly once you put personal information on there. Facebook does not support compartmentalising personal information enough to be used as a forum. Even if it did the format is poor for heavy text with frequent updates.