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People aren’t remembering the negatives to these. I still use a normal style forum sometimes. Being single threaded is annoying. People keep asking the same qu

People aren’t remembering the negatives to these. I still use a normal style forum sometimes. Being single threaded is annoying. People keep asking the same questions or repeating the same stuff again and again. No fault of their own. Discovery in a single thread is crazy hard. Finding what you’re looking for in a thread can take a long time. Some one may ask a question your interested in knowing the answer to, but finding people who respond to it is not easy. If you post something in the middle of a [popular] thread, there’s a good chance it barely gets read or noticed. Many of these problems afflict reddit too and Reddit and HN issue of threads being almost dead after a day is really annoying. I have a feeling grass is greener on the other side and people in either case.

mercer 6y ago
> I have a feeling grass is greener on the other side and people in either case. That's a bit reductive, perhaps. The way I see it, different styles of 'forums' or 'communities' can foster different types of interactions. it's a bit like how in the 'real world' we might have a gathering where everyone sits in a circle, or small separate tables, or a bar area, or a conference-style 'lecture + hallway-track', etc. each have their advantages and drawbacks.
- onemoresoop 6y ago
  HN is a perfect exampele of this. With its own peculiarities and all
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  I wrote that in response to all the people here lamenting for those old style forums again. Specifically for that. Not as a general statement. It’s possible many communities never have get the correct way of interacting ever. With positives and negatives to their choices and alternatives. Which is also what my statement was referring to.
whywhywhywhy 6y ago
> People keep asking the same questions or repeating the same stuff again and again Trying to police this destroys the usefulness of a forum too. There is one major forum for a piece of software I use so I had this issue Google lead me to the forum, the thread is old and because it's old it's locked but it doesn't answer the question. I post a new thread after waiting 12 hours for my account to be approved by a mod, the overly zealous mod locks it with a link to the old thread saying there is already a thread about it. Yeah I know there is, but it doesn't answer the problem and I can't post it in to keep it on topic. I now dread when that url shows up in my searches. Building a good useful community and being a good host has some crossover with being a moderator but honestly they're completely different skillsets.
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  I meant all in the same thread. It’s hard to go through it all when threads get longer. Say a dozen or two pages. The same question might be asked 5-10 times. Then answered that many times too, but with varying correctness. — On what you wrote about, a good point too, just not what I was thinking of, I am cool with topics repeating. It makes sense for then reasons you gave. I don’t remember any forum I used to go to that was really tight and strict with not allowing duplicates. Stackoveflow is what I think of for a place that really hurts the community with its strictness.
zozbot234 6y ago
> People keep asking the same questions or repeating the same stuff again and again. That's what FAQ lists are for. Many forums have wiki-like features where FAQ-like information can be stored and kept up-to-date.
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  I meant all in the same thread. It’s hard to go through it all when threads get longer. Say a dozen or two pages. The same question might be asked 5-10 times. Then answered that many times too, but with varying correctness.

mercer 6y ago

> I have a feeling grass is greener on the other side and people in either case. That's a bit reductive, perhaps. The way I see it, different styles of 'forums' or 'communities' can foster different types of interactions. it's a bit like how in the 'real world' we might have a gathering where everyone sits in a circle, or small separate tables, or a bar area, or a conference-style 'lecture + hallway-track', etc. each have their advantages and drawbacks.

onemoresoop 6y ago
HN is a perfect exampele of this. With its own peculiarities and all
skinnymuch 6y ago
I wrote that in response to all the people here lamenting for those old style forums again. Specifically for that. Not as a general statement. It’s possible many communities never have get the correct way of interacting ever. With positives and negatives to their choices and alternatives. Which is also what my statement was referring to.

whywhywhywhy 6y ago

> People keep asking the same questions or repeating the same stuff again and again Trying to police this destroys the usefulness of a forum too. There is one major forum for a piece of software I use so I had this issue Google lead me to the forum, the thread is old and because it's old it's locked but it doesn't answer the question. I post a new thread after waiting 12 hours for my account to be approved by a mod, the overly zealous mod locks it with a link to the old thread saying there is already a thread about it. Yeah I know there is, but it doesn't answer the problem and I can't post it in to keep it on topic. I now dread when that url shows up in my searches. Building a good useful community and being a good host has some crossover with being a moderator but honestly they're completely different skillsets.

skinnymuch 6y ago
I meant all in the same thread. It’s hard to go through it all when threads get longer. Say a dozen or two pages. The same question might be asked 5-10 times. Then answered that many times too, but with varying correctness. — On what you wrote about, a good point too, just not what I was thinking of, I am cool with topics repeating. It makes sense for then reasons you gave. I don’t remember any forum I used to go to that was really tight and strict with not allowing duplicates. Stackoveflow is what I think of for a place that really hurts the community with its strictness.

zozbot234 6y ago

> People keep asking the same questions or repeating the same stuff again and again. That's what FAQ lists are for. Many forums have wiki-like features where FAQ-like information can be stored and kept up-to-date.

skinnymuch 6y ago
I meant all in the same thread. It’s hard to go through it all when threads get longer. Say a dozen or two pages. The same question might be asked 5-10 times. Then answered that many times too, but with varying correctness.