With the news of Epik acquiring DNForum.com, some commented whether or not forums matter anymore?
There are many articles over the last couple years about forums in general, not just in domaining.
Last year Engadget published, As internet forums die off, finding community can be harder than ever. The article looked at how social media has taken over and why they aren’t great for fostering discussions.
There was an article on Medium from Jim Dee, titled Internet Forums Are, Generally Speaking, Long Dead; Don’t Do Them. Jim was talking more from a “Hey developer, don’t do a forum. An interesting read.
Quora has a fair amount of questions as to whether or not forums are relevant. Some say, Forums are not dead, but they are suffering from an identity crisis right now. There was a time when forums were where all the activity happened on the web.
TVTropes.org had a reader post, “I’ve heard that forums are starting to lose popularity due to social media sites like Reddit and the like. Do you agree with this? Most of the boards i\’m on are still have a pretty healthy number of users.”
Replies were mixed, from yes forums have lost relevancy to for the right group of people forums still matter.
I think that last take is true. In domaining the community is fractured, there are people who love Namepros and hate social media mock those on Twitter. There are those who are not forum people who only do social media and mock Namepros loyalists.
Some only read a few people on Twitter and block others or filter them out. Others just read blogs, with Domaining.com being their homepage.
It will be interesting to see how the new DNF fares, Rob Monster seems like he is paying attention to what works in other areas, like Clubhouse and Twitch.
I have belonged to forums, moderated them and started one on .tv. It’s a lot of work and many times the juice is not worth the squeeze from the work side of it all. I still think they matter though, there are enough domain investors who want to call a forum their home on the net.
Namepros censorship is ridiculous. They even removed your thread with this post from the news…
While I am really sceptical about dnforum I’d love to see them kicking NP ass just because of that.
Yes I just saw that, I mean that’s a complete joke, I even did not include DNF they moved to break room
Forums are not dead, I love them it is just that a lot of them are so heavily moderated and skewed to the business owners that the member base gets aggravated and inevitably declines. Some of the most notable namepros members no longer post and I predict a shift to DNForum now that they are opening it up and allowing more free expression.
Namepros will move the most popular subjects to the review section and then it is like they disappear from the board. I often said what the fuc%, this is not a review, why was it moved. It was moved because it could hurt a sponsor and money was the deciding factor.
Now don’t get me wrong, I also love namepros but I am soooo tired of the constant deleting, moving, warning etc that I rarely if ever post their anymore. The rule about “thou shalt never mention another forum” is idiotic because as the line between forums/blogs/social media get more blurred this will be an impossible policy to enforce. Type in DNForum and not 1 single posts comes up but in reality there should be lively discussions about opposing point of views between the two forums.
DNForum is growing up, the new logo looks fantastic, you can guarantee I will be there a lot. @amplify is phenomenal at his job, he is a whiz at the forum software part and Epik has a great asset with him.
One of the other things I noticed is that namepros is locked into their software and with all the customizations they have there is little to no possibility of them upgrading the software to a more modern version of XenForo. DN by comparison uses the latest version and it is starting to show some more of the advanced features coming to Xenforo which lean more to social media than traditional forum software.
I am looking forward to participating on both but will probably gravitate more to DNForum because I have the freedom to cross post content from our Canadian forum located at dn.ca. We already have some lively discussions that can show you how two forums can banter back and forth amicably.
On DN.ca
https://dn.ca/topic/927/epik-announces-its-acquisition-and-planned-integration-of-dnforum/
On DNForum.ca
https://dnforum.com/threads/epik-buys-dnforum-com.599048/
I honestly don’t think you will see a shift personally. Most of the people I know that left just love being off forums. Some going as far as to say it either improved their domaining or their mental health. I am talking about long time members.
There are a million choices now, if you like to talk and hate to type you have Clubhouse, if you like video, YouTube, Twitch, Periscope, etc…
I think there will be a real competition for new members.
Way back in the day there were people who loved Namepros but would not pay RJ yet paid DNForum for a membership.
The thought was Namepros was a fun place and DNForum was where the money was at. Hobbyists vs Business People, etc…
So now it will be interesting to see who joins and who just lurks from the sideline.
So now it’s all Namepros rejects go to Dnforum and then civil professionals have peace at Namepros? This good if those rejects stop creating new accts at Namepros and flock to Dnforum with their toxic garbage (Epik fan club) that we’re all sick of
Forums are very much alive and profitable. There will always be a breed that desires anonymity when posting online in fear of retribution, embarrassment, etc., or introverts that just want to stay behind a handle and not use their real name.
It’s funny that you use Quora as a source to answering this question that ponders many today as Quora is a question and answer forum.
And for Medium, et al., used as source, you could say that they’re a blog or magazine at heart. However, when you really get to the root of it, all that is is a moderated forum with the owner choosing which threads to promote and whether they want to censor comments (boooo!) or not.
If you hadn’t heard of the company VerticalScope, I would encourage you to look into them and how many internet forums they own (and what awesome domains they have to support them). This will tell you that forums are still a very booming business, else, there wouldn’t be a multimillion-dollar company behind the most niche forums still alive today.
So are forums dead? Sure. If you don’t nature them they will die, just as if you cease to post on a blog, it too will succumb to death.
Well aware of Vertical Scope, I think I mentioned I still think they have a place. There is no denying that social media and apps have eaten into them.
Look Namepros was popular for years under RJ it was not profitable, not even close I used to speak to RJ about the business side.
Domaining is also such a small niche with so few advertisers compared to broader niches. You can make money but it’s hard work week in and week out.
It’s funny you mention anonymity because Rob talked about pushing for real names as he wants people to not hide behind an anonymous handle.
Rob Monster wrote:
I will encourage people to use their real names. Handles are great for being an edge lord on forums, but if anyone wants to build reputation, I encourage you to just be yourself!
Participation in forums across the board is down. Anyone saying different is either clueless or a forum owner who needs to promote forums. My kids are teens and have never belonged to a forum. No offense what a bunch of 40 to 60 year olds think means little, the future of the Internet does not care about forums.
But I am sure a couple of trolls will comeback and posts some rubbish. Just tell me how much you making from your forum? Not 6 figures? Then who cares????????? (No ONE).
I think it depends what you go to a forum for personally.
For me it’s about business, I don’t find domaining fun or exciting or any of that. It’s not a hobby it’s business. If there is money to be made on the forum great, if not I have zero interest.
Someone did a really nice job with that version of XenForo over at DNF. Exceptional.
Personally I hate the fact that forums have taken such a hit from the likes of FB, etc. I’ve always liked forums even though I mostly abandoned NP and left old DNF long ago.
Now that Epik has purchased DNF, however, I say that’s great news, and I’m looking forward to giving it a whole new shot and doubtless spending time there again.
PS: It’s important for some people who deem it necessary to remain private in various spheres. There can be numerous and diverse reasons for that, life can be complicated, and everyone’s life is unique. It is also not “cowardice” or being “cowardly” by any means, and for those who would even say such a thing, they often have no clue and no idea how easy it is for them to say something like that for themselves, even when they think it really isn’t, and they are only judging by their own lives and life experience and circumstances. We tend to all do that a lot, in all areas of life in fact. The saying about “until you’ve walked in someone else’s shoes” very much applies, however. That’s the whole reason why we even have whois privacy, for instance. I’m glad being more public will only be encouraged vs. required. Moreover, it’s perfectly easy to recognize anonymous substance over form regardless of how someone is posting. There are also public benefits when someone feels more willing to say things which need to be said but often won’t be.
Your comment is obvi writen by Dnforum/Epik staff. I saw “@amplified” write just about the same thing in nother blog comment on a diff page LOL
Well, Shaun, your comment to Raymond above seems awfully similar to “Leo’s” comment at Konstantinos’s blog last night, where I called Leo a “sick person,” so, what say you? Are you the “Leo” over there? But no, you are completely off in what you said here, pun intended. And neither Rob nor anyone else with Epik is a perfect person, and neither am I, but Epik is one of the best things to arrive on the scene since sliced bread, and I’m real glad it did. Does a statement like that about Epik burn like “holy water” to a vampire for you? Good. 😉 (Disclaimer: no such thing as “holy water” in real life, or vampires; writer’s license.)
I wish I could like your reply or give it a star or something.
Absolutely great response!
Thanks, MapleDots. And wouldn’t you know it, had hunch I’d get trolled here for this. What can you do…