Jeff Atwood argues that while forums are no longer popular, the discussions and communities they enable are still valuable. He believes forums can be improved by focusing on civil conversations, empowering moderation by regular users, and providing better tools for reading content and staying on topic. Atwood advocates for his forum software Discourse as a way to "fix" forums and make them "cool again" by addressing these issues. He invites readers to join the effort to revive forums at www.discourse.org.

1. JEFF ATWOOD
DISCOURSE.ORG
STACKEXCHANGE.COM
CODINGHORROR.COM
FORUMS ARE DEAD,
LONG LIVE FORUMS

6. This site is all about getting
answers.
It’s not a discussion forum.
There’s no chit-chat.

18. I love forum
communities.
But I hate forum
software.

20. The heady days of
2003 are over.
Forums aren’t cool.
You know what’s cool?

22. I don’t want to live in a
world where “everything
is on Facebook.” Or
SnapChat.
… do you?

23. I love
communitie
s that are
passionate
about
obscure
stuff.

24. Your
clubhouse
.
Your rules.
Your
norms.

25. How often do you get
search results that
lead to a forum page?
For me, daily!

26. People typing
paragraphs to each
other is as
fundamental and
timeless as humanity
itself.

27. We can do better.
We can fix this.
We can make forums
cool again.

28. www.discourse.
org

29. Change the
homepage

30. What’s the first thing
we do to forum users?

33. Witness the firepower of
this fully armed and
operational Dewey
Decimal System!

36. Is your forum about
conversations, or is it
about categorization?

37. Build tools
for civility
into the
forum

39. The “death of civility”
The “flamewar”

41. “The priority for participating on this
forum is not the quality of the content.
I ultimately don't care how smart or
funny or observant you are. Those are
plusses, but they're never
prerequisites. The priority is on how
you treat each other.”

42. “I expect spats, arguments, occasional
insults, and even inevitable grudges.
We've all done that. But in the end, I
expect you to act like a group of friends
who care about each other, no matter
how dumb some of us might be, no matter
what political opinions some of us hold, no
matter what games some of us like or
dislike.”

43. On a new install of your
forum software, what is
said about civility?
What is said about
making text bold?

46. Optimize
for Reading

47. Forums are
conversations.
Posting is talking.

48. … but is
anyone
listening
?

49. Turns out, being
there and reading a
lot of the content is
crucial.

51. How do you make it
easy for users to
read?

53. What should I read next?
What am I most
interested in?
How do you reward
users for reading?

54. Empower
regular
users to
moderate

55. How do we learn to trust
users?
Your opinion about the
coolest X-Man is no
more valid than
mine, nor does it make
you more “expert”.

56. btw wolverine obviously duh!

57. Moderators are often
not around.
Or maybe they’re not
looking.

60. If your community
can’t push out trolls
and with no
moderators present,
then it will fail.

61. Forums should
have an
immune system
that makes
them resistant
to trolls,
spammers,
and cruelty.

62. Provide
tools to
stay on
topic

63. What happens when I
click on a topic titled
Funny pictures of
dogs?

65. The cardinal sin of the
Internet is to click on a
link expecting one
thing, but get
something else
entirely.

66. Not a good
feeling.

68. Conversations
naturally meander, this
is normal and
expected. But there
are limits.

69. What tools do
you provide
to let people
create related
conversations
?

71. How many “trick” link
titles is your forum
creating?

72. FORUMS ARE DEAD,
LONG LIVE FORUMS
Together, we can
make forums cool
again…

73. … maybe
even sexy?

74. www.discourse.
org