Forum decline

[toglhot]

facebook can sometimes yield quick results when you have questions. Very often with much sarcasms in the responses or "try the search bar" type responses. Its easier to set up and manage but then you have to join the facebook page very often to search it. Plus Facebook searches on a group is pretty bad. When I have issues with any of my other bikes, I tend to google it and get very old forum posts or videos. Many videos are pretty poor. It takes more work to search facebook groups though so you have to join them all and search them individually.

The same applies with forums like this. Having to join is a good thing. Many forums allow searches by guests, but those guests don't contribute. And there's plenty of sarcasm and arguments on forums as well, cliques develop and sometimes it is very difficult to avoid clashing with those cliques, I've never come across that on facebook.

This thread is turning into a facebook bashing exercise, the only problems with Facebook come from people who don't know how to use it. Many don't even know you can edit a post, let alone search for a thread or find the tech files.

How easy a forum is to use comes down to the designer, some forums are absolutely abysmal: Posting pictures can be difficult on some and most have limitations on how many pics you can post. Pictures tell a story.

This forum is great with respect to posting, if you suddenly lose power or for some reason lose the text you intended on posting, the forum saves it. There is no limit on pics. But not all forums are equal: Forums like Metalworking Forums, Home shop Machining are peopled by self appointed experts with huge egos and are backed by like minded self appointed expert cliques.

I think Instagram, Tik Tok, Pinterest and the like are rubbish. But then again, these platforms are still very popular. There's a reason for that!

 

[Ratranger]

Tiktok, Instagram and pintrest are popular because, if my inlaws are any indication, they fit with the short attention span that younger millennials, gen Z and gen A have. Don't get me wrong plenty of older people have the attention span of a goldfish.

Facebook can be a hassle if you don't have the app and use a phone to do a lot of internet. I've had facebook not post things after I hit post, it just vanishes. And it's more likely to do it if I'm posting in a group. I don't mind facebook, but forums are nice for continuity. A build thread on a forum can span years and despite a few side tracks is mainly about a single build. Facebook you loose that continuity, you can keep replying with updates, but the post eventually gets lost in the algorithm as people just scroll past.

There are definitely better and worse forums. Some used to be great but ownership transferred and they ended up larded down with ads. Others just seem to have lost popularity over time, dotheton is a good example. 5 years ago you'd get replies on almost any post, now a post can sit with no replys for weeks.

And I'll agree the machinist/hobby machinist groups can be pretty terrible. That goes for facebook and forums.