HN Explorer

Ask HN: What other forums do you visit?

35 points by jawmes8 ↗ HN
Aside from HN, do you visit other forums?

I used to think traditional forums were completely dead, but after getting into working on cars I am frequently on both https://www.tacomaworld.com and https://www.e46fanatics.com

Interested to see if others hang out on SW forums or other hobbies.

50 comments

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mikece
No other forums: just QuiteRSS and a well-curated OPML file of channels of interest to me (and which overlaps with the HN audience).
airhangerf15
Poal.co, Kiwifarms, Poa.st, Phucks and Something Awful
anaisbetts
PSA, the first three of these are all Stormfront-level Hate sites.
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milsorgen
KF is underrated. People should never have abandoned the idea that you never put your real name on the Internet.
sqwrell
just reddit
lolive
I am rather new on Reddit. And I use the official app. Is there other alternatives?
dspolaris
I'm an old time user...still use BaconReader (before there were better alternatives out there). It's buggy..but I'm so used to the interface I just can't use anything else.
pixelated_music
definitely, i do not like the official app. you can try Relay for Reddit, Sync for reddit, Boost, Infinity, if you are on android. (i personally use reddit is fun, but that's because im accustomed to it, it's ugly)

on iphone, apollo is undoubtedly the best choice.

danuker
I used to use RedReader. But it got too addictive, so now I use old.reddit.com on mobile.
Dracophoenix
Slide for Reddit. It's on both iOS and Android. It's also open source.
leach
Funny, i created this account after years of lurking because I’m trying to get away from Reddit
jawmes8
I feel the same. With forums, I feel it’s easier to get familiarized with other users. Not sure why, but it definitely feels more communal than Reddit
leach
Smaller subreddits can be fine. I browse a couple big ones that aren’t completely gone yet
lakomen
I've never met such a mass of nationalism and racism paired with lack of knowledge an opinion value vs facts than on Reddit. It's even worse than Facebook nowadays in terms of quality of audience.

Sadly, since Google+ is gone, it's now home to some groups that moved to Reddit, but I'm sick and tired of the racism and nationalism there and the half truths and the whole unculture.

If I was a dictator, Reddit would be the 1st domain I'd ban. For the betterment of humanity.

warrenm
A handful of niche subreddits

A handful of niche Facebook groups

Twitter (not sure if you would classify it as a "forum" ... but it can act as one)

listenallyall
Don't know what E46 was like previously, but I was a heavy lurker on a different car forum. Yes, activity was declining in the mid-2010s but once VerticalScope bought it out and changed everything, the site has essentially died completely.
jawmes8
My favorite is definitely Tacoma world, which is probably most active because the platform is still alive. The E46 forums are not quite as active but the folks that are have incredible knowledge
SyneRyder
Gearspace https://gearspace.com/board/ for music/recording stuff. Everything from home recording, through to the highest levels of mixing & mastering multi-million selling albums.

It's a bit like HN in that you'll sometimes find yourself talking to people who are very famous / successful in the industry. Charlie Clouser & Butch Vig have posted there before. Best example is the thread where someone asks about Serban Ghenea's techniques (he mixed for The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran etc) and by the end of the 4000+ reply thread, Serban's assistant John Hanes now replies personally every week to new questions.

https://gearspace.com/board/high-end/1213742-serban-ghenea-m...

Dracophoenix
For those unfamiliar, the site was once known as Gearslutz until about two years ago. The name change came as a result an attempt to appear more professional than the Internet equivalent of a watercooler that it has been for the better part of two decades.
SenHeng
I used to post on various forums related to my hobbies but as I’ve aged, I’ve found myself more content being a lurker than engaging with other users.

This is particularly exacerbated by the megaforums like Reddit and this site, because whatever I may have wanted to say will usually already have been said by someone else, often more eloquently and well thought out.

This then further disengages me from most forums and after a while, I simply forget about them. Now, I only interact here, niche subreddits and a forum for locals.

tirwander
Even if it hasn't been said... There are already 1,397 comments so who the hell would see it anyway?
aquajet
I go on https://lobste.rs pretty frequently in addition to reddit and twitter. Also do discord groups count as forums?
jawmes8
> Also do discord groups count as forums?

For myself, I wouldn’t count it. I have a hard time searching for past information on discord. In my experience, forum posts do a good job of keeping the conversation at-hand focused.

eps
I find lobste.rs discussions threads to be often dominated by dismissive and arrogant "elders", which tends to suppress any desire to participate in them. Still visit it for the links though, but the overlap with the HN and programming-related reddit subs is, unsurprisingly, quite significant.
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erikig
https://slashdot.org I still frequent /. comments & discussions. It is probably not as popular as it was back in the day but this decline in popularity has actually helped the quality of the discussions.
gaws
> It is probably not as popular as it was back in the day but this decline in popularity has actually helped the quality of the discussions.

The UI still gives me migraines.

JacobAldridge
I enjoy the right subreddits, and my engagement can wax and wane with my interests.

Mostly I'm active on r/DigitalNomad and a few of the relevant-to-me Financial Independence subs.

I imagine hobby stuff can be a little hit and miss, especially trying to find the sweet spot between a sub that's too small (with negligible community) and one that's too big (powered by too much groupthink).