When was the golden age of internet forums?

We've already had a lot of people talk about how forums 'aren't what they used to be' or 'are dead' or whatever else, so let's try and see what decade people thought forums did best in!

 

I don't believe we ever left it. Forums continue to evolve and we evolve with them.

 

For me it had to be the 00s. I still miss Ikonboard.

 

I completely agree so I voted 'other' as there's no beer option

 

I believe forums still drive surfers' attention but now it's necessary a bigger effort to build a community and keep it active because of the social networking sites that have distorted the perception that people had about forums.

I didn't know how the forums were before 1999, when I first came online, but I would say that forums and chat rooms had their gold age era withing 2000 and 2006, then their popularity began to drop, but whoever want to run a successful forum community can still do it because new forum software provide extra functionality that old forums did not have and this is plus fighting the enemy; social networks.

 

If you want to see some examples of forums/forum like networks in each era:

1980s:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulletin_board_system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet#Network

1990s

https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A1=ind9805&L=crit-geog-forum#1

I also hear Ezboard and Bravenet were started around this time, although I can't find examples.

Early 00s

https://web.archive.org/web/20000818054823/http://www.bulbagarden.com/forum/

https://web.archive.org/web/20020811090148/http://www.ganonstower.com/forums/index.php

https://web.archive.org/web/20030218195005/http://pub80.ezboard.com/blemmyslandforum

Fun fact: The last one (Lemmy's Land) still looks like it's in the early 00s (or maybe mid 90s) as far as layout goes.

 

Quote me on this, but Reddit Gold idea is genius for forums.

 

yet Reddit is still massively hemorrhaging money.

 

Hmm...is it me, or would an experienced forum user be saying, "Wait a sec, I now have to pay for these features, which were free all along?"

Reddit never had them and thus has user pain points, so now they are making money off of the improvements to those pain points, which is their right to do so, however, 80% of the things they are offering are already a part of any good forum software. I can't imagine anyone doing something like, "Hey guys and gals, remember that nice display in the new posts search that let you know which posts are new since your last visit or the ability to go to the next unread post in any thread? Well, we're removing those features and if you want them back, guess what, you'll have to pay for them."

Yes, there are other functionalities or even content users could pay for and that concept of monetization isn't really new. vB has had the ability to offer more functionality and content with paid subscriptions for a long time.

As for the Gold Partner idea. That is a bit interesting. But isn't that just free advertising with a bonus to the users to attract them to the partner offers? Ooooooh, Mayonnaise.....

Maybe I am wrong in my understandings about what Reddit Gold is all about too. So if I am, I'd like to learn more.

Oh, and I still don't get what is so great about Reddit either. If someone could explain that to me, I'd be very greatful. No, honestly, I really would.

Scott

 

I also voted "Other". I think the intrinsic value forums offer (the good ones), is much greater than today's social networks and thus forums are still going strong. Forums are also social networks and have been since they started. They are the better social networks. The only problem with them is, they aren't networked enough.

Scott

 

There are also a zillion more forums now so you could say this is the "Golden Age" when it comes to numbers.

 

I don't either. Every time I see a link to a reddit thing all I see is long nasty threaded discussions like from the before time. It just looks old to me.

 

Thats exactly true Almost every (serious) scriptmaker is doing its best to develop their scripts as far as their imagination goes New versions are released very often and contain many many new (sometimes not as useful) features

 

Forums were doing the best in the mid to late 2000's, before social media got popular. Social Media has taken away alot of activity that would otherwise be done on forums. Now people can just debate and discuss with people on facebook pages.

 

Sorry, but since when can you hold a decent open discussion or debate on Facebook? Their commenting system doesn't allow it really, because, once more than a few people try to comment on each others posts, it gets really messy.

Scott