this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2025
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377
Does anyone else miss traditional forums? (lemmy.world)
submitted 17 hours ago by early_riser@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
139 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I miss traditional message boards. No karma, no sorting algorithms, you just get new topics on top and replies are sorted oldest to newest.

You can have forum threads that go on for decades, but Lemmy's default sorting system quickly sweeps older content away. I'm aware you can mimic the forum format by selecting the "chat" option in a thread and sorting by old, and you can sort posts by "latest comment" which replicates the old-school forum experience pretty well, but nobody does it that way, so the community behaves in the manner facilitated by the default sorting algorithm that prioritizes new content over old but still relevant content.

I also notice that I don't pay attention to usernames on Lemmy (or Reddit back when I was on it). They're just disembodied thoughts floating through the ether. On message boards, I get to know specific users, their personalities and preferences and ups and downs. I notice when certain users don't post for a while and miss them if they're gone for too long.

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[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 110 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Bump..

[–] PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk 59 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

u just necro'd this post bro

[–] early_riser@lemmy.world 20 points 16 hours ago (4 children)

I find it interesting how thread necromancy can be encouraged on some forums but discouraged on others depending on the local culture. On the pro necro side I can see people wanting to maintain and consolidate discussions rather than constantly rehash them. On the anti necro side I can see how necroing a controversial thread could re-ignite a long extinguished flame war.

[–] klangcola@reddthat.com 30 points 15 hours ago

The other day i necrod a nearly 3 year old forumthread with some new information. A few hours later the person from 3 years ago came back and thanked me because the new information helped them. Sometimes nercomancy is good :)

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 10 points 16 hours ago

If old discussions have no value, then the forum is topical and shallow. If old discussions have value then they are deep and go beyond today's thpught-pablum.

[–] spankinspinach@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 hours ago

I just learned a whole terminology and subculture based on this comment alone

[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 1 points 9 hours ago

I am split on this.

If you allow it, then you get eevblog sort of posts where there are 1000+ comments over 5 years in 50 pages that switch topics so regularly that every 2-5 pages should be entirely seperate posts and reading them because of wanting to find information on the title topic is completely useless.

On the other hand, sometimes an issue will become stale and someone will comment with an update or solution to a problem and get chastised for "necroing" and sometimes their comment with a solution deleted.