Absolutely I think forums are great. The biggest thing missing from forums is the up/down voting goodness that brings the best content to the top. It's import

Absolutely I think forums are great. The biggest thing missing from forums is the up/down voting goodness that brings the best content to the top. It's important to note that forums and comments facilitate two different things. Forums are really, really good at facilitating discussion, whether or not the best content goes to the top is usually irrelevant (though, I'm claiming it could be made better). I think SO and HN generally suck at this, because I don't know when somebody has replied to one of my posts. However, SO and HN excel at having great content, and having that rise to the top. I attribute this to moderation and the up/down voting. I don't think it is impossible to have both features in a commenting system. > Forums need to be fixed. Really? There are thriving forums for nearly every topic imaginable. It's probably not due to forums being difficult to use.