People are lazy. Getting people to sign up for a forum has a much MUCH higher inertia than just clicking join in a group on a platform they already have an account for.

People will subsequently evidently just “deal” with it’s inadequacies.

Reddit has the same advantage, you have one account and subsequently have access to a billion and then some communities. Ditto for Discord versus self hosted solutions like Teamspeak.

Lemmy kind of adresses all of this, but actual forum software I think is still mostly the same as it was in the early to mid 2000’s when I used it. It’s demise is a shame but not a surprise.

I was a ‘early adopter’ for technology most of my life. I tried Facebook when it was new. As soon as I signed up for an account, I saw how it was abusive - taking away my choices, treating me like a farmed animal being milked for data. I signed up. And immediately started the process to cancel my account. They tried every trick to stop me closing my account. I do not know if it ever was closed! I did the same with everything else that was new and closed all of it very quickly as it was almost always abusive or time-wasting in some way.

The only stuff I stick with is stuff I consider ethical - which is why I am using Mastodon and Lemmy not commercialised social media. And I tend to use that episodically and then get frustrated and stop using it for months before another flurry of use. Why do I use social media? I guess I use it when I am scared and need reassurance from others. Why do I stop? When I do not get the community care I need. We talk about ‘loneliness epidemic’ in contemporary society. I am not sure its ‘loneliness’ - I live alone and like it. What I feel is fear. Maybe we are ashamed to admit it. I am not ashamed to say it - the prospect of fascism, WW3, loss of a ‘safety net’ does frighten me. It is rational to be afraid! When afraid, you look for others who also feel threatened and you test to see ‘do they have my back?’ If there’s a sense of safety, mutual support, you stay. If there is not, you move on.

Social media ‘works’ if it solves real life problems, if it does not help you stop using it. Sure, kids with no real worries because they are protected by adults can post rubbish online for ‘shits and giggles’ but anyone aged 14 or older quickly loses that privilege as they move into adult life and then they use social media differently - for fun, yes, but also it must help you survive by giving you ideas, comfort, information, encouragement, escape for a bit etc. If it only adds abuse to a hard life, who has the energy for it?

You are right, but as I sit here and use Lemmy, I can’t help but think while being a perfectly functional forum, it lacks aesthetics. What I’m looking at is Windows 1997 High contrast text editor. It tickles my nostalgia, but I can see why Reddit has a broader appeal. People like gimmicks, as much as they like aesthetics and simplicity.

omg totally, I hate that people do that. I don’t see a way out without introducing digital literacy classes at schools