Forums vs. Social Media

[darkshadow0001]

Just wondering, what do you prefer communicating with people? I think forums like this one is nice because you can have genuine discussions with people that have similar interests. I have been on facebook the last couple of years, being "friends" with friends and family. I have cut down my social media page because I did not find it that useful. It was okay, to keep in touch with people I guess but I dunno. I've been debating on whether it's worth staying on or not. What is your preference? Forums or social media?

 

[auntiehill]

Well, I'm here, aren't I? Yes, forums. I have little interest in joining social media at present. It doesn't have anything that particularly benefits me in any way. I don't know many people and of those that I do know, they can contact me at any time via email, phone, text and people here can post or PM me.

I like to read and/or participate in conversations, not just check people's bogus pages and status updates.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Hard to say ... The Trek BBS and Facebook are about the only two websites I frequent daily. I like the discussions in the Miscellaneous and the SciFi/Fantasy fora, especially since I get a chance to talk about movies, TV shows, etc., that I don't normally discuss with others on Facebook.

Facebook is more about personal interactions with family, friends, and acquaintances. I get to share pictures. I like reading some of the status updates of my contacts. I get relevant news and information on my interests/likes. On the other hand, I had to unfriend/block a lot of my so-called "friends" because of the constant drama and attention-whoring.

 

[Amaris]

I'm a firm believer in forum based communication. Using social media allows any kind of in-depth discussion to be tossed aside because it becomes difficult to keep track of. I mean, I'm sure Facebook could implement something like that, but why would they? They rely on short posts that get people to keep scrolling. Anything else, and it's not getting eyeballs.

 

[tomalak301]

I've embraced Facebook groups mainly for the fact that I feel like people are reading what I write, and I somewhat know that because of the "Like" function. Here, I feel ignored and wonder if it's a waste of time. I agree about the more discussion aspect, which is why I still lurk (Most of the time) here and post occasionally.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

I like both. There was a time when trekbbs was the first place I looked at when I turned on my computer. Now looking at facebook, but read more than update my status.

 

[Disco]

I like both. I use fb for keeping in touch and organising things and here for indulging in my geek side

 

[Pondwater]

There's a little more variety with forums, discussion wise. Social media is a little more personal. I like them both.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

TBBS and Facebook. That's about it.

And really FB for the Three Stooges, Orphan Black and a few other small groups only, plus the ability to post comments on various news stories.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I prefer forums because they enable (encourage, even) lengthy, complex discussions.

Facebook is an awful, awful venue for discussing anything.

The only thing worse in that regard is twitter, which moves so quickly and gives you so little space per message, there is zero room for nuance and zero time to develop a conversation.

 

[stardream]

Both. Facebook is for family and real life friends.

Although I have to admit that most of the forum boards I used to frequent are slowly withering away in the face of social media. Here, a Doctor Who board and a Civil War forum board I visit are still fairly active.

 

[ichab]

Prefer social media by far. There really isn't a topic that I haven't discussed ad nauseum on forums for the past ten plus years.Plus you have to wade through all the idiots who are only there to insult posters they disagree with. With Facebook I can control who pops up in my feed, not a moderator who might show favoritism.If someone gets out of line I can unfriend them and if they send me nasty messages I can block them. It's the main reason I frequent these type of forums a lot less than I use to.

 

[John Clark]

I much prefer forums as I think it's easier for more long winded chats.

Another forum I used to frequent accidentally died and we went over to using facebook for a replacement. It didn't last long as most of the people just ended up drifting off from the chats.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I left the only other forum I belonged to several years ago. Mostly, I'm on Facebook. Yes, it has its disadvantages, but any form of communication does.

I'm active in a couple Facebook groups, and they are definitely conducive to long, complicated discussions. Groups that turn out to be useless or poorly moderated, I leave in a hurry. Friends who post too much garbage, I unfriend or at least unfollow. A while back, I stopped friending people whom I don't know in real life, except for a couple recently-discovered cousins.

 

[maneth]

Forums, definitely. I know internet anonymity is largely an illusion, but my name is unusual enough that I prefer if it doesn't appear anywhere online.

I also don't like FB's privacy policy, so I haven't joined it on principle. No doubt I'll make a LinkedIn profile one of these days.

 

[Timewalker]

Prefer social media by far. There really isn't a topic that I haven't discussed ad nauseum on forums for the past ten plus years.Plus you have to wade through all the idiots who are only there to insult posters they disagree with. With Facebook I can control who pops up in my feed, not a moderator who might show favoritism.If someone gets out of line I can unfriend them and if they send me nasty messages I can block them. It's the main reason I frequent these type of forums a lot less than I use to.

You can choose to "ignore" people on forums, if there are any who annoy you that much.

I prefer forums. Conversations are linear, mostly organized, and they don't meander around a page until they resemble a half-dozen balls of yarn the cats got into.

Oddly enough, there are people who prefer just an email group - not even something like a Yahoo group. My suggestion of setting up a forum was met with "They're too hard to figure out!" and one person sneered that "you can call it a forum if you want to, but it's only a blog."

So according to her, TrekBBS and every other forum large, medium, and small is just a blog. What she thinks an actual blog is, I have no idea.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I also don't like FB's privacy policy, so I haven't joined it on principle.

This is pretty much me too. But I'm on a few forums, so I guess my answer is "forum"!

So according to her, TrekBBS and every other forum large, medium, and small is just a blog. What she thinks an actual blog is, I have no idea.

A forum with only one member?

 

[Timewalker]

So according to her, TrekBBS and every other forum large, medium, and small is just a blog. What she thinks an actual blog is, I have no idea.

A forum with only one member?

She doesn't think forums exist. According to her, anything that allows members to post comments is a blog site - whether it's an actual blog, newspaper/newscast comment section (ie. CBC.ca), forum, or Facebook.

Therefore, according to her, TrekBBS is a blog, we're posting on a blog right now in this thread... I guess filling out customer service complaints is really commenting on a blog, emails are blogs, the whole internet is just composed of blogs.

I tried explaining the difference, and giving concrete examples of sites where both she and I participate(d), and it was a classic case of "my mind is made up; don't even think of trying to confuse me with facts; I don't care if you've been a poster, moderator, admin, and owner of "forums" (always in quotes to make it clear that she doesn't think they're real) for the past 11 years, THEY'RE JUST BLOGS." (paraphrase)

So after all that crap, I wondered why, since she doesn't believe forums exist, is she still a member of my apparently nonexistent forum that she joined last year? Oh, right. She thinks it's a blog.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I much prefer forums, especially the smaller forums where you have a tight-knit group of friends and no trolls or idiots. It's more like a clubhouse or community. Facebook is very awkward and unorganized. I use it, because it gives me easy access to family, friends, co-workers, and former co-workers if I have something to announce (and it widens the audience for my web comic), but it's just not a comfortable place to hang out and talk to people like forums are.

 

[Bagofmostlywatr]

Forums. For various reasons, I don't like everyone knowing my every move.