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Re:Ask HN: Why did phpBB forums go out of fashion? by wodenokoto on Thursday November 24, 2022 @12:42AM (#33728112)
As a user, I switched to reddit. With subreddit it was so easy to move to a new forum and you'd get a single feed with new posts from all forums you were on. Signup barely qualified as sign up.

It's ranking algorithm was better than "newest activity", the collapsible trees made branching discussion tolerable, and the aging of posts kept those 2000 page long top posts with hundreds of branching discussions displayed linearly from happening.

Re:Ask HN: Why did phpBB forums go out of fashion? by amazonavocado on Saturday November 26, 2022 @04:21AM (#33751247)
There are still a few message boards that I frequently go to, not as many as before, but they have their active community. Having their own Discord channel also helps boost activity.

In particular in a hobby like PC building, using a message board for build logs makes sense given the format. And probably other "log/project tracking" sorts of coverage. Like Reddit, you get a free captive audience that requires less effort than blogging about it, but unlike Reddit you can post build updates to bring your topic back to the top without making multiple threads.