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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,

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.
IronWolve 7y ago
Groupthink in popular tech forums is horrible, if someone experiences an issue, the rest of the people reply "I Dont have that issue", and minimize the person's interaction. Too much absolutism in tech being pushed, you can do the same thing multiple ways, depending on the scenario, people need to think in degrees not binary reactions. I've been on forums for a few decades, and the interaction has gone to downright militant in responses as fact. I've seen so many truths about tech that simply isnt remotely true, but a big tech company says it, so their fanboi's repeat is as fact. Common knowledge for an enthusiast vs production is another issue. The proper way of doing something might not be the way an end power user uses it, and their usage scenario can lead to all kinds of issues. So downvoting is way too common to exclude/discredit these people.
hnick 7y ago
> 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. It's funny, I've had the exact same thought more than once. If you asked me "Should comments be judged by their content and not the person making them", I would say absolutely. But then you get Reddit. I do miss the characters from various online forums in the 90s-00s. It's a little ironic posting this reply on HN though :)
- viraptor 7y ago
  This seems to be why https://github.com/veggiedefender/hn-friends https://github.com/veggiedefender/hn-friends and some other extensions exist. I've got some people tagged by companies, or their interests, or names if I happen to learn them randomly (like spotting John Nagle!) It definitely makes the experience more interesting.

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.

IronWolve 7y ago

Groupthink in popular tech forums is horrible, if someone experiences an issue, the rest of the people reply "I Dont have that issue", and minimize the person's interaction. Too much absolutism in tech being pushed, you can do the same thing multiple ways, depending on the scenario, people need to think in degrees not binary reactions. I've been on forums for a few decades, and the interaction has gone to downright militant in responses as fact. I've seen so many truths about tech that simply isnt remotely true, but a big tech company says it, so their fanboi's repeat is as fact. Common knowledge for an enthusiast vs production is another issue. The proper way of doing something might not be the way an end power user uses it, and their usage scenario can lead to all kinds of issues. So downvoting is way too common to exclude/discredit these people.

hnick 7y ago

> 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. It's funny, I've had the exact same thought more than once. If you asked me "Should comments be judged by their content and not the person making them", I would say absolutely. But then you get Reddit. I do miss the characters from various online forums in the 90s-00s. It's a little ironic posting this reply on HN though :)

viraptor 7y ago
This seems to be why https://github.com/veggiedefender/hn-friends https://github.com/veggiedefender/hn-friends and some other extensions exist. I've got some people tagged by companies, or their interests, or names if I happen to learn them randomly (like spotting John Nagle!) It definitely makes the experience more interesting.