What makes you think so? I read hardcore as 'small and tight-knit', exactly the kind of forum that could survive easily on user donations and due to the more personal relationship there's more loss in leaving it. I know some forums that fit that description that are still around now.
I'm sorry to hear that, that's a shame. My experiences are more with gaming communities from the early 2000s, so perhaps my view isn't universally applicable to other hobbies, professions, and such.
Nah, I’m happy to hear there are still some thriving out there. Gives me hope for the future. I’ve just noticed that I’m corralled towards Reddit any time I seek out the sorts of discussions that used to happen on forums.
Yeah I can definitely say for a while that was the case for me as well. It's honestly why I like Lemmy, since by the nature of federation it can both be self-contained and owned by the people actually using it, but still kept around even if the specific instance doesn't last forever.
I'm sorry to hear that. For me I've seen far more (relatively) big forums either turn into a discord, a subreddit, or just die out altogether due to being unsustainable for it's cost. Just seems more logical to me that the less personal places have more trouble sustaining themselves, but we can disagree on that.