Why don't niche subreddits just start web forums up again? It's simple enough to pay the hosting bills with some sideroll ads (that clever admins could even sel

Why don't niche subreddits just start web forums up again? It's simple enough to pay the hosting bills with some sideroll ads (that clever admins could even sell at a premium, thanks to their highly niche audience). Of course, today's Reddit mods would have to reskill a bit to run a forum, pick up some admin tasks, etc. But if they're already donating tons of free time to moderate that might not be a huge deal. I use maybe 2-5 subreddits at this point because Reddit has rotted out so much. At least half of those are shutting down permanently as a result of the API changes, and the other half are participating in the blackout. I don't need a shared account across all of those services. In fact, I tend to visit subreddits individually anyway so I don't have to guess about the context of every post. None of my favorite subreddits rely heavily on photo posts, which keeps hosting costs low. In fact, I notice a strong association between quality and text-only subs, likely because it keeps the lowest quality memes away. It might not work for every subreddit -- I don't anticipate the denizens of /r/funny would embrace a web forum -- but for hobby, book, and series-related communities, web forums have been around a whole lot longer than Reddit. Reddit only took over because it was marginally cheaper and easier to host; if mods lose their useful mod tools and power users lose bearable and efficient methods of browsing, forums start to look mighty attractive again.