what forums are out there that people actually go to, besides Lemmy?

[mx_smith@lemmy.world]

People still post to lobsters

[Guest]

Not many though. On the FrontPage, the only post that has Kore than a few comments has 70, which is not many, by today's standards.

[zero22xx@lemmy.blahaj.zone]

The only two that I ever still make use of are XDA for custom firmwares and other Android related shit. And Pokecommunity for the ROM hacking / decompilation stuff.

[trk@aussie.zone]

I love how Whirlpool has stuck to it's guns with regards to staying text only.

It survived a world of phpbb, avatars, and animated GIFS and is now surviving a world of social media and "engagement". It's like Usenet with moderation and no binaries.

Helps that it's fast as blazes too.

[Guest]

Incredible

[icastfist@programming.dev]

To me, some NSFW forums, like F95 and LoversLabs

[Guest]

Shared by @[email protected] on the other thread

https://aftermath.site/best-active-forums-internet-today?ueid=6310597850b065b278e2b143b21b73b5

[blaiz0r@lemmy.ml]

Would be nice if they actually let people join!

[dengalicious@lemmygrad.ml]

https://forum.language-learners.org/

Language Learner’s Forum is still quite active and pretty large community.

https://latindiscussion.org/
Latin Discussion is still pretty active

If you like Sid Meier’s Civilization then CivFantatics is really quite active very much.

There are the Woodwind.org forums of course but they aren’t as active as the others.
I think that Saxophone.org is somewhat active but less so than it used to be.

[rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

SomethingAwful is still very active!

4chan is as well, but it’s been shit since 2009 (inb4 /b/ was never good)

[niquarl@lemmy.ml]

Openstreetmap also has some forums. The main one being community.openstreetmap.org

[rcbrk@lemmy.ml]

• https://budgetlightforum.com/ flashlights et cetera
• so many automotive forums
• https://eevblog.com/forum electronics engineering
• https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/ audio, lots of diy
• This incredible forum has been running since before the internet, originally a BBS: https://www.finishing.com/
• https://www.automaticwasher.org/ washing machines and dishwashers
• https://elektrotanya.com/ electronics repair

[Guest]

Remember when /b/ was good??

[rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com]

My first serious romantic partner in the mid-2000s told me “the more I browse /b/, the more I understand you” and in retrospect I don’t know how I feel about that

[Guest]

Yeahhh... somewhat cringe in hindsight, but a core part of old internet.

[ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml]

All the forums I used to go to on any regular basis are dying out or dead - NotebookReview, DSLReports, etc.

I still stop by Linus Tech Tips forum and GBATemp and Overclock.net and ServeTheHome on rare occasions.

[dannyboy@sh.itjust.works]

Car forums are still somewhat active. There's usually one per car make or chassis. For example I use zilvia.net for S chassis stuff and miata.net for Miata stuff which are both active.

[murd0x@lemmy.ml]

Isn't Reddit or Lemmy pretty much just a structured forum?

[Guest]

(early) reddit was the answer to the question "what if anyone could have their own phpbb instance without having to host it?" Then along came Lemmy asking "what if anyone could have their own reddit instance and have to host it?"

[digdilem@lemmy.ml]

Special interest forums still hold.

For me, the Royal Enfield motorbike forums are exceptionally good, and that's largely down to the admin. There's also a Series 2 Land Rover forum that has a unique collection of people with a phenomenal combined knowledge about that car.

I've hosted a few in my time - since the early 90s and Fidonet when BBSs were the thing. But things change. Facebook killed of a whole bunch way before Reddit and Lemmy just because that's where people were already, and it was easier for them to feel involved. Facebook is impossible to search, though, so the post history of a forum that was so useful has gone entirely.

It's sad, but things change. What's constant is people's desire to socialise and discuss topics they are interested in. I'm kind of curious what that will be next.