4 ms·

It's a bit of a negative comment but I sure wish these communities would rediscover forums. They're not all perfect but I am convinced that Discord and Slack ar

It's a bit of a negative comment but I sure wish these communities would rediscover forums. They're not all perfect but I am convinced that Discord and Slack are where valuable information goes to get mixed with gifs and memes then die. I guess that won't happen until someone starts hosting discourse for free. Awesome that Linen is trying to build a different future though.

sjtindell 5y ago
They are real time forums and way more. Just without search, like the other poster mentioned.
leros 5y ago
I agree. I really dislike Slack and Discord compared to forums. Being able to keep a topic in a confined thread and then bump it to the top when there is activity is so useful. Slack does have threads but you never know about updates unless you're already chatting in the thread. Slack just feels like email before threads got grouped together. Don't get me wrong, Slack is a great chat tool for small groups and it's a bonus that others can search it. But forums are far superior for large groups and long lived conversations.
- reflexco 5y ago
  You can subscribe to Slack threads like you would a forum's. Discord threads are a bit weird but they have the advantage that they appear on the sidebar so they don't get lost in a sea of messages.
- orhmeh09 5y ago
  I was curious if anyone had used a typical web forum for work instead of slack or others.
btown 5y ago
Whoever can solve applying topic change-point detection (e.g. https://aclanthology.org/C18-1212/ https://aclanthology.org/C18-1212/) to wide-ranging Discord and Slack channels, and put together a novel UI for discovering probable thread-intentions there (for both closed and open communities) would unlock an incredible repository of human knowledge. There's a massive opportunity here.
fomine3 5y ago
Gitter is searchable. I wonder why it isn't popular.
- hardwaresofton 5y ago
  Well they did join Element[0]... So it's not like they weren't popular. That said, I'd worry about a chat solution being too focused on a small niche like developers (who often aren't that interested in paying for tools, even if they're high quality). [0]: https://blog.gitter.im/2020/09/30/gitter-element-acquisition/ https://blog.gitter.im/2020/09/30/gitter-element-acquisition...
thejosh 5y ago
Discourse is an absolute nightmare for searching though, it's painful and slow.
- hardwaresofton 5y ago
  Well I'd argue that it's at the very least a lot more accessible to search engines without creating new software to support it (again, awesome that Linen is doing it!).

sjtindell 5y ago

They are real time forums and way more. Just without search, like the other poster mentioned.

leros 5y ago

I agree. I really dislike Slack and Discord compared to forums. Being able to keep a topic in a confined thread and then bump it to the top when there is activity is so useful. Slack does have threads but you never know about updates unless you're already chatting in the thread. Slack just feels like email before threads got grouped together. Don't get me wrong, Slack is a great chat tool for small groups and it's a bonus that others can search it. But forums are far superior for large groups and long lived conversations.

reflexco 5y ago
You can subscribe to Slack threads like you would a forum's. Discord threads are a bit weird but they have the advantage that they appear on the sidebar so they don't get lost in a sea of messages.
orhmeh09 5y ago
I was curious if anyone had used a typical web forum for work instead of slack or others.

btown 5y ago

Whoever can solve applying topic change-point detection (e.g. https://aclanthology.org/C18-1212/ https://aclanthology.org/C18-1212/) to wide-ranging Discord and Slack channels, and put together a novel UI for discovering probable thread-intentions there (for both closed and open communities) would unlock an incredible repository of human knowledge. There's a massive opportunity here.

fomine3 5y ago

Gitter is searchable. I wonder why it isn't popular.

hardwaresofton 5y ago
Well they did join Element[0]... So it's not like they weren't popular. That said, I'd worry about a chat solution being too focused on a small niche like developers (who often aren't that interested in paying for tools, even if they're high quality). [0]: https://blog.gitter.im/2020/09/30/gitter-element-acquisition/ https://blog.gitter.im/2020/09/30/gitter-element-acquisition...

thejosh 5y ago

Discourse is an absolute nightmare for searching though, it's painful and slow.

hardwaresofton 5y ago
Well I'd argue that it's at the very least a lot more accessible to search engines without creating new software to support it (again, awesome that Linen is doing it!).