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Unpopular Opinion @lemmy.world

HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club

9mo ago

Forums are social media

People here like to say "I don't use social media; I use forums" like there is a difference between the two. There isn't.

Forums are places where people post and comment on user generated content, other comments themselves.

27 comments

We need to get back to the Forums. They were better.
- Please. What did the Romans ever do for us?
  
  The aqueduct.

Forums were better.
- Facebook is a forum.
  
  Facebook is an is.
  
  Facebook is a site for college dudes to rank women by hotness.
  And the Old Folks Home of the internet.
  Simultaneously.

The difference is there's no algorithm abusing you on forums. They are pure.
- Having an algorithm doesn't make social media.
  
  But everything people call social media does.

Forums are usually anonymous.
- Most social media sites allow to maintain anonymity.

Anonymous vs real identity is how I think some people conceive the difference.
- You don't need a real identity for a lot of social media platforms.
  
  Right, and I'm not saying it's absolutely definitive, or even my own conception of this distinction. However, if someone personally defines it that way for themselves, I think it's valid.

Forums were good, but I suppose many of the members left them to herd over to Facebook and Twitter.

The key attributes of forums that I think make them superior:
Chronological posts. There is no upranking or downranking. And certainly no voting. Sometimes just an option to "thank" users for posts. I hate the social consensus formation effect of up/downvoting so much that I've disabled visibility of up/downvotes from my lemmy account.
Slower pace. Threads often live much longer, with participants dropping in and out over the course of weeks or months. Sometimes years. Posts themselves are often more thoughtful and better drafted because of this slow pace.
Index structure. Topics are sorted first by their category or subcategory. Exploring into these is like thumbing through a file cabinet. In contrast, the "reddit way" groups topics by community association, more clique-enabling IMO.
Forums often work without any hard javascript requirement.
- Also forums are usually one subject that is then broken down into more specific subjects. Car forums are often specific to a model, then the subs would be pictures, cleaning, engines, troubleshooting etc.
  Also there's no algorithm trying to push you to click on something.

Ok so first of all, how dare you

I find forums to be anti-social media.
- Why? You're talking with other people just like others do on Facebook.
  
  Everyone is a bot or russian shill besides me here.

27 comments