Fediverse

Forums lifespans weren't all that much anyways. Most sites that were hosted before 2010 are gone now.

The real downside to everything being on StackOverflow, Reddit, Discord, etc is that it has made it easier for big tech to run their shady data collection and analysis schemes including AI Training.

Not everything.

I hate that Discord is being used as a forum replacement because it’s fucking terrible for it. There’s pretty much no way to collate and archive information in a way that is actually useful.

Here is a chrome extension that copies all messeges and media from a discord server you're a part of.

In case the stuff on a server is what keeps you coming back.

I STRONGLY recommend just going out looking for whatever forums you can find that are still active.

I've actually been going out of my way to look up new forums to use since the Reddit API controversy. Finding them can sometimes be a pain in the ass because search engines suck nowadays, but I've found a few I hang around on. I spend way more time on them than I do Lemmy.

I hope someone is archiving that data. Lots of great small communities with great info/help.

...and Facebook Groups.

A lot of people simply don't realize that a lot of traditional community, especially more niche are moving to Facebook. There's no even Reddit alternative for them.

From fried chicken cooking, big tree photography, McDonalds toys collector, to local history archiver.

It's harder to convince them here, unless there are Facebook Group alternative for fediverse.

Decentralized and smaller platforms definitely help preserve open discussion. But when it comes to company security culture and internal comms, even forums are giving way to automation. Tools like cyberupgrade.net show how even training and risk detection are now handled without Slack threads or forum debates.

Push Lemmy out there. Help Lemmy grow. Lemmy has a few issues that need addressed;

1. The Name needs changed, you see who shows up when you search Lemmy. The easiest thing to do is switch it to "Lemme" (Sounds like "Let Me", like just lemme post this) or Lemy.

2. Lemmy needs an app that is just as easy as Reddit to sign up for. It needs to drop on the person's computer desktop and sign them into a default federation that auto accepts everyone. The initial signup process is confusing to people, with the website listing different federation and having to apply and wait. Some auto accept, people need to be pointed to those.

Doesn't that depend on the forums, though? For many organizations, those sites fit the needs perfectly fine. If you don't care about archiving and you would not be totally screwed if the forum disappeared tomorrow, you're going to opt for something simple like that.

I have been trying to build a forum recently, but found phpbb really ugly and difficult to customize (even changing the logo was oddly difficult). I know about discourse but I would prefer a PHP based solution I can host in one of my current servers.

Are there any better solutions?

They already disappeared around 2017 when Steve Bannon's racist troll armies flooded every single social media site or app. The auto-immune reaction killed the host, which I suspect was the point.