The future of Tech-Forums
- Thread starter Trotter
- Start date
Have been around for awhile and came back and noticed the name change and was pointed to this thread by carnageX.
Figured I'd express my thoughts and do what you want with them:
Forums in general are dying. We're in a different time and place in the internet right now where forums are outdated and cumbersome. I think if you guys want to save the site then radical changes are necessary if you're worried about being relevant and being really popular. Today's internet is social media, videos and streaming. We're not doing any of those.
Changing the name and focusing on smartphones is not the answer, in my opinion. To me, sites like this, their purpose is to help and educate people. I used to use sites like when I had issues but now I just find a YouTube video and I'm good.
In the meantime, I think the name change is good. It might be good to condense some of the forums. There's got to be like 50+. I spend most of my time in the Gaming section. Really we just need 1 forum for General Gaming instead of all of the ones we have currently. Condensing forums/categories and streamlining things will make it a bit easier for new people and it will also make the site appear to have good traffic. If you go into the Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo forums they're almost completely dead but the General and PC forums are doing well.
It might be worthwhile to see how other forum sites like this have changed to be relevant. People have mentioned Tom's Hardware. Regardless of thoughts on the site redesign, they have a buttload of fresh content all of the time. Plus they have active sponsorships with tech companies. They're also owned by a mega corporation so they can throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at people to keep the site relevant.
Sometimes, its good to be humble and know your place and work with what you've got. Focusing on mobile is not the answer to me. Its a good step in the direction but people would rather watch a video.
Figured I'd express my thoughts and do what you want with them:
Forums in general are dying. We're in a different time and place in the internet right now where forums are outdated and cumbersome. I think if you guys want to save the site then radical changes are necessary if you're worried about being relevant and being really popular. Today's internet is social media, videos and streaming. We're not doing any of those.
Changing the name and focusing on smartphones is not the answer, in my opinion. To me, sites like this, their purpose is to help and educate people. I used to use sites like when I had issues but now I just find a YouTube video and I'm good.
In the meantime, I think the name change is good. It might be good to condense some of the forums. There's got to be like 50+. I spend most of my time in the Gaming section. Really we just need 1 forum for General Gaming instead of all of the ones we have currently. Condensing forums/categories and streamlining things will make it a bit easier for new people and it will also make the site appear to have good traffic. If you go into the Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo forums they're almost completely dead but the General and PC forums are doing well.
It might be worthwhile to see how other forum sites like this have changed to be relevant. People have mentioned Tom's Hardware. Regardless of thoughts on the site redesign, they have a buttload of fresh content all of the time. Plus they have active sponsorships with tech companies. They're also owned by a mega corporation so they can throw hundreds of thousands of dollars at people to keep the site relevant.
Sometimes, its good to be humble and know your place and work with what you've got. Focusing on mobile is not the answer to me. Its a good step in the direction but people would rather watch a video.
C0RR0SIVE
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Forums aren't dieing, I go to plenty that have thousands of uniques every day.
Maybe so
From my perspective, they are. From your perspective, they aren't.
I was just giving the admins my thoughts that were requested of all members if they wanted to.
Spud1200
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What mite be a Good Idea as well mite be a good Linux support section. I have posted a few threads in the Linux Section to no avail from other users for help with technical issues. I know this would probably be covered at some point but Linux being a Free OS mainly might be beneficial for the end user as they can download their OS and receive help from knowledgeable people. Being Free it mite open doors to other ideas for other parts of the site to develop. Mabie have a section of some sort were everything that is free is covered such as Software, Linux, Freeware, Shareware, Trial ware, Open source.
The Linux board covers that - "Linux and Open Source".
The reason you probably didn't get much help is because we don't have a whole lot of active Linux users here to provide said help.
I think that is also part of the problem. So many forums, and the knowledge base among members is spread really thin. Might be good to know what people are really active and knowledgeable about and redefine the site around those areas rather than trying to cover all things tech.
/shrug
Bit of a catch-22, IMO.
If we keep the sections but don't get many new members they'll look unused and empty (or take longer to get replies for help) until we actually do get more people with said knowledge/experience. But if we don't have those sections at all, members with knowledge may not join or stick around to answer questions for people trying to get help.
Jack of all trades, master of none.
Edit: I know that is a negative way of breaking it down, but it is kind of true at this point. I'd rather see Techist be a Jack of all trades, master of some. Which would take both ideals and mash them together. Maybe instead of slimming down, just find a way to favorably promote the things our members are currently masters at and when/if members join we can add to the list.
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