How have you enjoyed using a webforum so far?

I have alwways loved forums, despite not interacting wwith them very often. Most communities I'm in simply don't have them, or they are absurdly bad, like the WWar Thunder forums...

I think the forum format is very conducive to actual discussions instead of shrieking unsubstanti8d opinions at each other, and the generally longer posts encourage thinking about wwhat you are saying before you post it. The lack of algorithmslop means that people are more normal and there are less 'dunks' going around, wwhich helps wwith the general atmosphere. I think there are a feww useful features missing from this forum (namely thread merging, deleting your posts, editing your posts, a search function, and @ing people,) but I haven't found any of them to be a huge issue and I'm sure most or all of those are coming soon anywway. I'm also sure the mods have heard about all of these issues about 1 million times.

The only problems I've had so far are the same as any forum. Topics being siloed off into their owwn threads is both a blessing and a curse. You don't get 10000 off topic posts in the same place you are trying to have a conversation like Discord or similar, but sometimes a topic you are interested in dies out (rip music lovers thread) and I alwways feel like a bit of a dick bumping a dead thread.

The moderation here is excellent, as wwell. No real notes. They aren't suppressing convers8ns about the wwhole UHC fiasco, and are very responsive and very nice people to be around in general.

I am also glad that the forums are, like, still here and active! It's only been like 11 days but I wwas honestly wworried that the frequency of posts wwould drop off massively after the first couple.

also, to be clear, idk if deleting posts is actually broken or if my hotel wwifi wwas just fucked lol.

i never really got the chance to use forums but it's really exciting. it feels so different than like popping into a discord channel that you know would have your stuff in it but sometimes there's a discussion there already and you feel like you're interrupting?

part of me is a little overwhelmed with all the people but then another part feels like i could go anywhere and not be a problem but im still around other people

oh Millie just said it ITS EARNEST

I LOVE BEING EARNEST

It's my first time really using forums and so far I really love it. I like how everything here feels more slow and personal.

I agree with everyone else's positive assessments about the forums experience, by the way. I genuinely miss this experience a lot, like you say it's more personal, thoughtful, and it's something social media has never been able to replicate.

Forums always feel a bit stuffy but it's miles better than using a Discord server or something. The FRAF forums were a nice surprise all things considered

while there are a number of helpful features that are still missing, this forum has been the best online experience I’ve ever had. I hate discord servers and other social media, and I love the fact that a forum forces you to be more thoughtful with your posts. I’d like to extend my sincere gratitude to everyone who reads this for participating in the forum and making this a positive experience for all.

re:slipperyrascal Ohhh, so THAT'S why they're selling FRAF thongs!

Lol. I'm not sure how I feel about it, honestly! I am really, really, really enjoying FRAF though... I started getting into forums last year because they were usually unblocked on the school's puters. I've enjoyed checking out ones and I did spend a fair amount of time on Melonland (i have not checked there in a while.... and its closed today so now that im thinking about it i cant even check now!! XP)

I really enjoy the format of writing longer replies to others. I also enjoy scrolling through and looking for a topic I'm into. I like checking back to see if anyone has replied lol, although a notification feature would be nice...

I definitely agree on some previous points that the mod team is doing well. Especially with a nuclear fandom drama hitting a week into the forum, that's gotta be a pretty intense stress test. From what I've seen moderation has been pretty chill and only stepping in when needed, and that is refreshing! It seems like a good goldilocks zone of enough moderation to make it clear that bigotry and provoking others won't be tolerated, but also enough hands off time that people can feel free to discuss their feelings on serious matters. Not every space can hit that, so I think it's going well so far! :D

Generally, I am just enjoying this a lot. I haven't really had as much fun in any other Homestuck fan space! I enjoy looking at post upd8 tumblr, but other than that it has been so fun to have such a large, active forum for Homestuck!

i love forums, i was an avid forum goer as a kid so its pretty nice to be using one again. especially for a comic i love so much. damn i wish forums were more common.

on a more personal note i dont really enjoy the typical “culture” of social media/messaging where you have an account and most of the time a bunch of unrelated stuff lands on your front page, or it feels like 1000 things are happening at once. even on a site like reddit, which is based off of webforums. i prefer having a dedicated environment to talk about a certain subject. i also really like that its considered super normal to have really long discussions, and as such there is no expectation to give instant replies. and unlike other sites where its possible to miss things bc of comments/messages being buried, you can just sit and scroll through the forum and sift thru all the things you want.

its such a non invasive way to talk+listen to people i guess, while still maintaining the thoughtfulness behind communicaton? idk… i just really like it ahaha

it's a lot of fun!!! i also missed out on the og forums so i feel like we're doing one of those living history reenactments lol. and it's something fun to do on the computer at work when i have nothing to do (most of the time atm)

Its actually so amazing, so fun!!!

@helmsman Yeah, the length of replies is a huge, huge plus imo. On most other sites if you wwrite more than 50 wwords in response to someone you get "I'm not reading allat lil bro" and then the discussion instantly ends. It sucks!

honestly i havent used a forum since scratch (the childrens' coding website) when i was a kid but i'm getting the hang of it

re:helmsman I think your point about unwanted content really articulates a lot of what I feel on other sites!! I am really enjoying how opening FRAF and looking through the directories of topics feels like I can really pick to see what I want- Whatever title grabs my attention, lol! And I also agree on the lack of pressure for responses- Sometimes I just don't have the energy right then and there to type a reply... I really wish there were more websites with less of that unrelated stuff issue.

Forums are the best. I'm excited for QOL updates like replies and quotes, I think they were going to add quotes yeah? I'd like that.

I can't stand using sites with character limits anymore. I like forums because they enable me to do my favorite thing, which is to talk at length LMAO

@temporarilytaciturn

>I alwways feel like a bit of a dick bumping a dead thread.

Naw, I think bumping dead threads is fine especially if they are against double threads. Let's all necro the hell out of some dead threads!!

@talentshredder

"Naw, I think bumping dead threads is fine especially if they are against double threads."

That's true! It might just be a wweird hangup I wwill get over as I get more comfortable wwith the forums.

"Let's all necro the hell out of some dead threads!!"
🙏🙏🙏🙏

it's been good to me so far -- i had first taken myself through the alternatehistory.com forums about a decade ago but quit by 2020 after a controversy concerning the site's owner led them to ban many good people for ever, and i'll never forgive them for that. to be in a forum among the like-minded once more is a welcome development.

I like forums, it's a good way to do things. My only complaint is that the light theme combined with the thinness of this font's lines hurts my eyes.

i find the fact they rolled their own forum software a bit bewildering but i am a big proponent of "its okay to reinvent the wheel" for software.

I grew up on web forums and its nice to see people still like them.