Re: Online Decline?
Forums are a means to organize communication among multiple participants; it is a way to have a conversation. Someone will have a topic for discussion and post a thread. Forums allow for people to follow on to that or to clearly address each other's points.
In general, the internet has become a place for a higher volume of shallower communication. People tweet or update their facebook status...neither of these apps are good for sidebar discussions. There is probably a tendency for people to start looking at forums as though they are a communications medium more like twitter or facebook.
Another thought is that people have taken more to tablets and smartphones for their communications needs....typing lengthy posts on a touchscreen might not be slower or more frustrating for a teenager than typing on a physical keyboard but for those of us who got used to PCs and laptops it certainly is.
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