> I suspect that an old-school web forum like phpBB could work well, but any technical merits won't overcome the social perception. There's just no getting arou

> I suspect that an old-school web forum like phpBB could work well, but any technical merits won't overcome the social perception. There's just no getting around the nerd factor there. So, how do we "sell" forums to our friends and colleagues without them knowing they're using one? :) If forums are inherently useful and the issue is just perception, then this sounds to me like a design question. Don't get me wrong, I miss the style of conversation predating social media, but I think that if the reason was purely perception based, we'd find a solution. Think of any annoying, seemingly useless, or just impractical rituals we follow every day. Forums provide a much better signal vs. noise ratio due to its async nature and increased effort required to submit content. And, that's great. But, it's also terrible, because most people just won't bother putting more effort into written communication. This is too much friction. This isn't how we talk any more. And, I think that's the main reason why forums are not mainstream.