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There's quite a few I can think of, but most of them I'd rather not mention so the eye of Sauron passes them over. Larger ones I don't mind mentioning: I thin

There's quite a few I can think of, but most of them I'd rather not mention so the eye of Sauron passes them over. Larger ones I don't mind mentioning: I think bodybuilding.com is still what it was back in the day. Sherdog is probably also still decent though I don't follow it. The surviving /chans capture a lot of the spirit of old timey Usenet as well for better and worse. If you're into nice wristwatches watchuseek is same as ever; amazing the energy that goes into such a niche thing. Men's clothing/accessory forums are also quite active and good; askandyonclothes, styleforum and ... tho I haven't checked lately fedoralounge used to be good. These are kind of remarkable in that they, like the watch forums, could be monetized in various scumb bag ways, but somehow remain good communities oriented around consumer goods. I think lot of energy still goes into old school email lists for special interests as well. Though I don't follow it as I should, the J lists are extremely high bandwidth/quality. IMO these are vastly better than platform things on discord, reddit, discord, as they're always backed up and uncensorable. You can get kicked out, but you'll still be able to read most of them.

ClintEhrlich 7y ago
Sherdog has suffered a lot from losing traffic to Reddit. The main forum still has enough users that it superficially seems similar to how it was 10+ years ago, but the subforums are dying. F12, the grappling forum, used to be one of my favorite places on the internet. It barely has new content anymore. There has, for reasons I don't fully understand, been a mass exodus to r/BJJ. I can't overstate the loss of community that occurred as a result. On reddit, the fact that usernames aren't prominent and there are no avatars makes it impossible to build "characters" in your mind. People are friendly, but they are perpetual strangers. Previously, I thought the upvoting and downvoting structure of Reddit was great. But, when applied to a hobby I love, the results were soulless and depressing. Opinions seem to be tailored to the crowd in a way they never were on the F12 forum. A lot of that may be that Reddit attracts younger people who are newer to the sport. Whatever the reason, it's sad to see a great forum whither away. Don't take online communities for granted. They seem immortal until they die.
- scottlocklin 7y ago
  Thanks for the update; I no longer roll and don't follow the sport very much, but it makes me sad to hear that all-devouring reddit is eating Sherdog. I suspect the future of forums is going to be stuff which is kicked off of platforms. For example: right wing people kicked out of reddit, or nude enthusiast types formerly of Tumblr or whatever. There's probably a r/bodybuilding reddit, but I bet it's tame and lame compared to the forum.
  - ClintEhrlich 7y ago
    Thanks for giving me an excuse to discuss Sherdog on HN! They're the two places I hang out most. Somehow, I suspect the intersection of their user bases is pretty tiny...
    - scottlocklin 7y ago
      There've been a few guys discussing judo and jiu jitsu on here ... I dunno maybe you were one of them. My own BJJ dojo contained very few people over 30 who weren't Ph.D. in math/science types. Someone's probably giggling at this but they were all 220+lbs and lean; overachievers, goldman trader types - they all went to the best local dojo. We did have one Brazilian waiter guy (one of the best in the dojo), but I really felt like an underachiever in general when I'd enter their doors. Come to think of it, many of the high ranking dudes in my Karate dojo also had Ph.D. type education (LBNL Arnis club didn't count). Martial arts seems to loan itself to personalities who can grind out difficult things.
    - stone-monkey 7y ago
      where do you go on sherdog to find good content? My experience with sherdog has always been constant shitposting and inflammatory posts. Of course, my only window into sherdog is browsing the highlighted forum threads on the front page for the past decade, which is probably exacerbating the problem.
  - arman_ashrafian 7y ago
    r/bodybuilding is actually pretty hilarious, one of the best communities on reddit imo.
catacombs 7y ago
> There's quite a few I can think of, but most of them I'd rather not mention so the eye of Sauron passes them over. You've piqued my interest. What are they?
- tetraca 7y ago
  Unfortunately, you can't just simply tell anyone, because that's how most enjoyable places get ruined.
  - catacombs 7y ago
    Then why mention it?
    - rc-1140 7y ago
      Probably indication for the OP that such groups are still out there, rather than leaving it open to interpretation that reddit has finally absorbed the last of such groups.
    - tetraca 7y ago
      The person above is merely relaying their experiences that these communities indeed still exist. You can read this implicitly as: "having authentic experiences online is absolutely possible, if one is willing to find and seek them out, but you must be willing to seek". And also: that those that aren't willing to seek these things out themselves, will ultimately destroy these communities for they lack that same necessary passion required to have these sorts of interesting and authentic experiences. Not everything communicated online is intended for the direct and easy benefit of yourself.
  - dlivingston 7y ago
    To be frank, that's how I feel about HN: it's a little haven of (usually) calm, rational discussion, and I fear that as it gets more popular the level of discourse and content will decrease.
    - 7y ago

ClintEhrlich 7y ago

Sherdog has suffered a lot from losing traffic to Reddit. The main forum still has enough users that it superficially seems similar to how it was 10+ years ago, but the subforums are dying. F12, the grappling forum, used to be one of my favorite places on the internet. It barely has new content anymore. There has, for reasons I don't fully understand, been a mass exodus to r/BJJ. I can't overstate the loss of community that occurred as a result. On reddit, the fact that usernames aren't prominent and there are no avatars makes it impossible to build "characters" in your mind. People are friendly, but they are perpetual strangers. Previously, I thought the upvoting and downvoting structure of Reddit was great. But, when applied to a hobby I love, the results were soulless and depressing. Opinions seem to be tailored to the crowd in a way they never were on the F12 forum. A lot of that may be that Reddit attracts younger people who are newer to the sport. Whatever the reason, it's sad to see a great forum whither away. Don't take online communities for granted. They seem immortal until they die.

scottlocklin 7y ago
Thanks for the update; I no longer roll and don't follow the sport very much, but it makes me sad to hear that all-devouring reddit is eating Sherdog. I suspect the future of forums is going to be stuff which is kicked off of platforms. For example: right wing people kicked out of reddit, or nude enthusiast types formerly of Tumblr or whatever. There's probably a r/bodybuilding reddit, but I bet it's tame and lame compared to the forum.
- ClintEhrlich 7y ago
  Thanks for giving me an excuse to discuss Sherdog on HN! They're the two places I hang out most. Somehow, I suspect the intersection of their user bases is pretty tiny...
  - scottlocklin 7y ago
    There've been a few guys discussing judo and jiu jitsu on here ... I dunno maybe you were one of them. My own BJJ dojo contained very few people over 30 who weren't Ph.D. in math/science types. Someone's probably giggling at this but they were all 220+lbs and lean; overachievers, goldman trader types - they all went to the best local dojo. We did have one Brazilian waiter guy (one of the best in the dojo), but I really felt like an underachiever in general when I'd enter their doors. Come to think of it, many of the high ranking dudes in my Karate dojo also had Ph.D. type education (LBNL Arnis club didn't count). Martial arts seems to loan itself to personalities who can grind out difficult things.
  - stone-monkey 7y ago
    where do you go on sherdog to find good content? My experience with sherdog has always been constant shitposting and inflammatory posts. Of course, my only window into sherdog is browsing the highlighted forum threads on the front page for the past decade, which is probably exacerbating the problem.
- arman_ashrafian 7y ago
  r/bodybuilding is actually pretty hilarious, one of the best communities on reddit imo.

catacombs 7y ago

> There's quite a few I can think of, but most of them I'd rather not mention so the eye of Sauron passes them over. You've piqued my interest. What are they?

tetraca 7y ago
Unfortunately, you can't just simply tell anyone, because that's how most enjoyable places get ruined.
- catacombs 7y ago
  Then why mention it?
  - rc-1140 7y ago
    Probably indication for the OP that such groups are still out there, rather than leaving it open to interpretation that reddit has finally absorbed the last of such groups.
  - tetraca 7y ago
    The person above is merely relaying their experiences that these communities indeed still exist. You can read this implicitly as: "having authentic experiences online is absolutely possible, if one is willing to find and seek them out, but you must be willing to seek". And also: that those that aren't willing to seek these things out themselves, will ultimately destroy these communities for they lack that same necessary passion required to have these sorts of interesting and authentic experiences. Not everything communicated online is intended for the direct and easy benefit of yourself.
- dlivingston 7y ago
  To be frank, that's how I feel about HN: it's a little haven of (usually) calm, rational discussion, and I fear that as it gets more popular the level of discourse and content will decrease.
  - 7y ago