Forums Dying?

Discussion in 'Community Forum Software' started by thebrad, Jul 13, 2013.

  1. thebrad

    thebrad Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2013
    Messages:
    172
    Likes Received:
    18
    Location:
    Liverpool
    What do you think do you think forums are dying and forum softwares are losing customers ? or its growing personally i feel there dying the only popular forums really now hackforums, thetechgame and ragezone, possibly techsupport forum but not many others?
     
  2. Joeychgo

    Joeychgo Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2010
    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    222
    I don't see that. My forums get busier every day -
     
    wowtgp likes this.
  3. thebrad

    thebrad Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2013
    Messages:
    172
    Likes Received:
    18
    Location:
    Liverpool
    Yes but forum softwares are they dying like xenforo is all over the place, ipb is being hacked its all over the place for them.
     
  4. Joeychgo

    Joeychgo Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2010
    Messages:
    409
    Likes Received:
    222
    im not sure I understand this question.

    Are you asking if forums are dying or forum software companies?
     
  5. zappaDPJ

    zappaDPJ Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2013
    Messages:
    250
    Likes Received:
    165
    Location:
    London, England
    XenForo is very much alive and I'd take a guess sales are really good just now. I read that IP.B forums are being hacked but I've yet to actually find one that has been recently. I'd imagine vBulletin sales are currently rather depressed but that might change if and when vBullletin 5 is fully developed.

    I'm not sure what you mean either, all my forums have seen increasing traffic over the last year and in general forums software sales must be quite decent because I see a huge number of new forums appearing every day.
     
  6. BamaStangGuy

    BamaStangGuy Administrator

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2009
    Messages:
    769
    Likes Received:
    549
    Location:
    Huntsville, AL
    Internet Brands tried to kill them by buying vBulletin and suing the competition. I believe they have been set back but I don't believe that it will be long before forums have caught up with the times when it comes to new technology.
     
  7. KneeHigh

    KneeHigh Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2013
    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    2
    I don't think forums are dying. Quite the opposite. I'm not thrilled with the newest "paid private forum" craze, but I do understand why they've come about, and yes, I have joined a couple myself. (And they are worth every penny :))
     
  8. thebrad

    thebrad Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2013
    Messages:
    172
    Likes Received:
    18
    Location:
    Liverpool
    Like IB? then they decided to sue xenforo for like no reason at all and lost so there in even more debt.. pretty stupid if you ask me.
     
  9. zappaDPJ

    zappaDPJ Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2013
    Messages:
    250
    Likes Received:
    165
    Location:
    London, England
    That's not entirely correct. Internet Brands obviously felt they had reason to sue XenForo. Whether or not those reasons were legitimate, sharp business practice or just a vendetta is very much open to debate. Internet Brands did not lose the case, there was a settlement. As nobody but the two parties concerned know the details of the settlement it is impossible to say who got the best out of that.

    To the best of my knowledge, neither Internet Brands or any of their subsidiary companies are in debt. Since nobody but the parties concerned know the details of the court settlement it is impossible to say whether either side incurred costs although I'd speculate that both sides agreed to service their own costs which would be no hardship at all to Internet Brands.
     
  10. Jura

    Jura Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Messages:
    108
    Likes Received:
    18
    It's hard for me to take this thread seriously.
     
  11. thebrad

    thebrad Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2013
    Messages:
    172
    Likes Received:
    18
    Location:
    Liverpool
    Thats why its a discussion i'm asking what do you think is happening with forums its a discussion which i'm trying to create personally i'm saying forum softwares are all over the place so will forums die with that happening?
     
  12. Gregman

    Gregman Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2013
    Messages:
    66
    Likes Received:
    21
    Location:
    Michigan
    Look around the net there are thousands of dead forums and a lot of the active ones are using paid forum posting. And when they stop the forum is usually dead.
     
  13. TrumpetMaster

    TrumpetMaster Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2013
    Messages:
    16
    Likes Received:
    8
    My forum is thriving
     
  14. Sylvain

    Sylvain Regular Member

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2013
    Messages:
    140
    Likes Received:
    17
    I don't think forums will die, maybe they have slowed down because of all social networks.

    This is much easier to post a question to a FB group than registering a forum and post a question there.

    People are lazy... :) LOL
     
  15. Jura

    Jura Regular Member

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2012
    Messages:
    108
    Likes Received:
    18
    I'm pretty sure XenForo is doing okay. A lot of forum owners like it for the fancy interface crap.

    IPS fixed any security issues it had. They can't force people to patch or upgrade.

    I doubt IB borrows money to be in debt.
     
  16. s.molinari

    s.molinari Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2009
    Messages:
    774
    Likes Received:
    603
    Location:
    Käshofen
    Can you explain this a bit more in detail please? What paid private form craze are you talking about?

    Scott
     
  17. ConfabIt

    ConfabIt Regular Member

    Joined:
    May 25, 2013
    Messages:
    177
    Likes Received:
    26
    Location:
    England
    I don't think forum's are dying, but it's harder for new forums to start up for a number of reasons including social media and the fact that a lot of niches' are covered.

    In regards to forum software, I dare say they must all be doing enough business as they're still alive and kicking.
     
  18. Liam W

    Liam W The best of the best ;)

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2013
    Messages:
    214
    Likes Received:
    39
    Location:
    Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, United Kingdom
    First Name:
    Liam
    Forums & forum softwares ARE NOT dying. They are doing very well in fact :)
     
  19. cpvr

    cpvr Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 14, 2009
    Messages:
    3,219
    Likes Received:
    823
    The forums that are currently dying is because of the lack of participation from their owners to their staff members. Even their users. If you have a good forum, your users won't let it just die down like that.
     
  20. KneeHigh

    KneeHigh Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 1, 2013
    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    2
    Sure, no problem. Within the past two years, subsets of larger forums have left to form their own smaller private forums and required payment for entry (some even require a personal referral as well). I have seen this in several of the communities that I am involved in (Adbuys, Mobile Marketing, Blackhat anything, Kindle publishing, etc.).
     

Share This Page