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I went and got an opinion from AI and it said this.

Are Online Forums Dying Out?
The question of whether online forums are dying out is complex and subjective. While social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have absorbed much of the discussion that previously took place on traditional forums, forums continue to exist and evolve. They are not entirely gone, but their prominence has diminished. Some forums, such as Reddit and Stack Exchange, have successfully reimagined the forum concept and continue to thrive. Specialized forums, particularly those focused on specific hobbies or interests, continue to be active and relevant. The traditional online forum has seen a decline in popularity over the past decade, but it has not disappeared entirely. Forums still serve a purpose in the online ecosystem, especially for specialized communities and as searchable knowledge bases.

Not the yes/no answer I wanted.

I wonder if the humans who frequent online forums will give you a better answer.

I sure didn't.

I went and got an opinion from AI and it said this.

 

I'm completely out of breath.

Who writes those posts? People? AI bots? It doesn't matter, 99% of the time, what I saw was pure garbage.

Yep.

And that's the point: where is everybody?
On social media?
On anti-social media?
YT? TikTok?

Recently: a lot has moved away from the public web (ie things you can find in search engines & access without making an account).  It seems the latest commercial fashion is private forums (Discord servers, Whatsapp groups, etc).

Then there's also what is ostensibly public, but still not indexed or as easily navigable as traditional text.  Eg Youtube videos and their comments.

EDIT: Don't put all your eggs into the electronics basket, find some other hobbies & forums to hang out in online or you'll go mad   There is no worry about a forum apparently shrinking if it's just one of many things you do.  I suspect this forum is going to be around quite a while, all sorts of things might happen.

EEVblog? ... Just yesterday in the office, I spoke to a couple of interns. They had an electronics problem. I suggested they open a topic on EEVblog. They replied, "Why? When can we ask the AI ​​?"; d'oh!

Oof.  They've legit probably never used an online forum, and talking to people is dicier than a fancily marketed variant of a search engine.

I used to participate in Usenet. That was generally an unmoderated, text-only format. Eventually the spam posts outnumbered the on-topic content, and the lack of convenient methods for including photos and other attachments was the trigger for me to move to alternative vehicles. Not too long ago Google stopped hosting Usenet news groups, so I think that's the death knell for this format. The downside of unmoderated groups is that they tend to be vitriolic, and this vitriol is only limited by libel laws.

I was invited to join a Discord group, but I quickly dropped it after UBlock Origin kept racking up blocked content every few seconds or so.

Social media is a no-go zone for me. I detest the concept, the bloated format, the intrusive nature, and the overall trashy content.

Youtube is only bearable for me if I use a proxy (eg Invidious) to filter the crap and clickbait that consumes my old computer's resources. My experience of the Internet is an endless battle against enshittification by web designers who want to monetise every click. Google is one of the worst exponents of this trend.

I think social interaction is declining in general. More and more couples sitting at a table in front of some cafe, holding their smartphones, heads down, doomscrolling, and not talking to each other.

Yes, it's a more general trend.

And yes, people's attention is more captured by "social media" when it comes to interactions (even if it's often quick and heated rather than long and elaborate), and now LLMs when it comes to getting information.

One aspect to consider is how forums have contributed to the success of AI generated responses so far, and what it will mean for some of them if forum participation falters, depriving them of fresh training content.

I asked Gemini a very specific question today regarding the capabilities of a specific model of a particular type of test equipment. Something of the form "if I have this hardware setup, and I want to make this measurement and have the results presented to me in this particular way, is this something that the [Vendor X] [Model Y] [Revision Z] is capable of? And if so, how I would configure it correctly to make that measurement?


First response: Yes, it absolutely can do that. [follows details explanation of the features of the TE which make it possible, and how to configure them]

Second question: Great. However, since I'd need to purchase this equipment, are you sure that [Vendor: Model: Version] has the two capabilities that you identified?

Second response: Good catch! It turns out that these features are only found in another vendor's product line...


The first take home point should be obvious - the value of AI generated responses is directly proportional to how much you already know about a topic, as you can't trust them not to hallucinate.

Second take home point would be, in both of Gemini's responses it cited data which it attributed to EEV blog threads. In other words, it took its answers from those which had been contributed by humans conversing through a forum. This forum. So, if forums are 'doomed' going forwards, what does this mean for the limitations to the capabilities of AI? It probably has all the training material it will ever need where it comes to 'generic' EE and physics questions. But a product specific question about equipment obsoleted 20 years ago is quite another matter.

For this forum, maybe a little bit, but not concerningly so.

I still prefer forums. Forums teach me how to solve problems through questions, while short videos only show the results without explaining the methods.

I still write a blog, but I really don't know who I write for anymore, the view count keeps getting higher but I would say it is 99% bots and agents reading my posts these days.

Ironically I am not using social media anymore as I don't want to jump through the latest hurdles to prove I am a human, I basically turn my PC on every day, do the updates, check my email (all spam) look at hacker news (ignore 99% of it), check here and hackaday then either go to the workshop, the gym or if I'm in the mood go to the library to do some distraction-free writing without internet. 

I can only repeat what I wrote while retiring from a lead admin role on a big forum in 2016, extending it a bit to include developments in the past decade.

Internet fora and chats, including technical and other on-topic ones, are seen as platforms to share knowledge, experience, and relevant opinions. But historically they also served another important role: social gatherings for the participants. Starting in early 2010s, social media took over that second part. And they do this very actively and aggressively, leading to an unnaturally fast shrinking of potential userbase for fora, chats, and small, decentralized communities. Exchanging knowledge is not enough to keep such places truly alive.

If a community is on a niche topic, if it’s associated with some other activity (example: this forum), or if it’s big enough that even 1% users can provide activity, it seems to have some immunity. To some degree at least. I can’t tell if it’s actual survival or just slow death.


What can I add in 2026? The very foundations of on-topic fora and other independent communities, knowledge and experience, are crumbling.

Search engines give instant responses. They’re almost always from spammers, usually superficial, barely accurate, sometimes outright nonsense. But they are instant and that’s all that matters. Sufficient to pacify one’s brain and attenuate the “I don’t know” sensation. No need to put effort and time into interacting with other humans, waiting days for a solution, waddle through multiple conflicting opinions, and working in “it depends” models. This becomes even more pronounced as younger generations lack the skill of focusing and patience, and anything but black-or-white perception.

Knowledge and experience got greatly devalued too. It seems to be returning to a more accurate value after the 20th century inflation period. The unfortunate consequence is that this affects groups that should value both: engineers and tech hobbyists. And in a wider context practictioners of any branch, both professional and amateur. If a deeper insight can be replaced with a quick info that works 90% of time, who needs to ask other people?

Finally, the use of LLMs as knowledge sources. They deliver the worst lie with the confidence of an expert con artist. And human brain falls for that trick. That’s entirely dependent on the two points above, and amplification of both. But a great amplification that further distances people from joining on-topic communities.

The answer to the question, "Are forums dying?" depends on whether you feel human to human interaction is dying.

One can also categorise the network topology of the human interaction;

a) one-to-one
b) one-to-many
c) many-to-one
d) many-to-many

Can't mention reddit without me shilling for the federation:
https://aussie.zone/c/[email protected] 
https://aussie.zone/c/[email protected]

@brucehoult Your RISC-V subreddit is is definitely winning compared to the RISC-V lemmy community. It's been sad to see reddit go downhill, I hope you keep your community going well for as long as you can.