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.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.
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!