Image Comics has closed its message boards

[John Pannozzi]

The Image Comics forums (and by extension, also the Savage Dragon forums)

http://forums.imagecomics.com/closed.php

The boards were notable in that Robert Kirkman was once a member as a fan of Savage Dragon, long before becoming famous for Walking Dead.

Hopefully someone will be able to archive threads from the boards.

[ToTheNines]

Same **** happened to IDW. Sucks.

[Powder]

Can't say I ever used them, but it's really sad seeing forums go the way of the dodo.

Telling of negative social changes.

[DestronMirage22]

Dang, that stinks.
Wonder where all those members will run off to, now that their place to discuss their favorite comics is gone.

[sdp]

Message boards are basically on life support now, sadly replaced by Facebook groups, subreddits and tumblr. The more casual fans went for facebook groups, the more hardcore to subreddits and the freaky to tumblr instead of all being together in one nice website.

[plastroncafe]

The face of fandom is changing, and the format of its organization has to change with it.

It's not all in one place because it doesn't have to be, which is nice because it shouldn't be.

[Spike Spiegel]

Originally Posted by sdp

Message boards are basically on life support now, sadly replaced by Facebook groups, subreddits and tumblr. The more casual fans went for facebook groups, the more hardcore to subreddits and the freaky to tumblr instead of all being together in one nice website.

Oh man, now I'm getting flashbacks to terrible anthropomorphic Sherlock fanart...

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by sdp

Message boards are basically on life support now, sadly replaced by Facebook groups, subreddits and tumblr. The more casual fans went for facebook groups, the more hardcore to subreddits and the freaky to tumblr instead of all being together in one nice website.

While I can see why people would prefer talking on Reddit than in a message board, why would ANYONE want to have lengthy discussions on facebook? Doesn't seem so practical to me and you can't even quote.

Dunno if message boards will ever go away for good. I mean, remember when chat rooms were big? Well nowadays there's services like Discord. Technically Discord counts as a chat program, doesn't it? And I was surprised to hear many people still used IRC. So forums will just have to evolve and adapt to modern times. Reddit could technically be considered a message board.

[sdp]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

The face of fandom is changing, and the format of its organization has to change with it.

It's not all in one place because it doesn't have to be, which is nice because it shouldn't be.

Except it's the exact opposite, it's the mainstreamification of fandom which has come since geek culture became "cool". Fandoms are becoming less "hardcore" and more casual which might be fine for some but basement dwelling nerds are a dying breed and that's sad.

Change is good but here we're seeing eliminating "deeper" discussions on our favorite things in exchange for the equivalent of youtube comments.

Originally Posted by Prowler

While I can see why people would prefer talking on Reddit than in a message board, why would ANYONE want to have lengthy discussions on facebook? Doesn't seem so practical to me and you can't even quote.

Dunno if message boards will ever go away for good. I mean, remember when chat rooms were big? Well nowadays there's services like Discord. Technically Discord counts as a chat program, doesn't it? And I was surprised to hear many people still used IRC. So forums will just have to evolve and adapt to modern times. Reddit could technically be considered a message board.

See my reply to plastroncafe, instead of people joining nerdy places to have lengthy discussions they're joining these casual places to talk about the stuff that they like. We won't have as many "hardcore" fans anymore.

Of course message boards will continue to exist but chatrooms is not analogy, they're dead and used by very few people, it's not like it was in the mid 90s.

You can't have the same level of discussion on places like Reddit as a real forum.

[plastroncafe]

If those basement-dwelling nerds weren't such insufferable Gatekeepers, maybe their main form of communication wouldn't be going the way of the dodo.

There is Hardcore deeper discussion happening all over the internet, it just doesn't happen on forums.

I've had more in depth Ninja Turtle Canon dissection and discussion on plurk than I've ever had on this board. And it happened there because those folks took one look at this place and decided it wasn't worth it.

That it was ultimately easier and more rewarding to use a different fans space.

So if you're not seeing that kind of dialogue, chances are good you're either looking in the wrong places, or you just weren't invited to participate.

[sdp]

I'm not sure plurk is the example you want to use to prove your point, that's about as niche as you can get and a twitter clone that its most notability was when it was mentioned on TWiT many moons ago, I forgot that was even a thing, it was only in my radar for about a week.

I'm not saying you can't have good discussions in other places but the problem is other sites are not designed for it. I have seen many good discussions on Reddit for example that because of the way the comments system works a lot of great discussion is lost.

What made Forums a better alternative to chat rooms was because things were archived and discussions weren't lost forever and this way people could easily find them. In other places these discussions are too messy to follow and get lost easily so they're often asked again and again while on forums it doesn't happen as much as many can easily search.

I do think forums should evolve as the current format makes it difficult to follow threads that are too big and it's not as easy to use as say twitter. But as forums continue to die many discussions like the ones we have about continuity here and we've had many great ones will be forever lost in inferior ways of communicating.

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

If those basement-dwelling nerds weren't such insufferable Gatekeepers, maybe their main form of communication wouldn't be going the way of the dodo.

In their defense Gatekeepers are what made the internet a more reputable place back then, now anyone can share FAKE news because of the lack of gatekeepers and look all the trouble it has caused.

Pussyfying the internet is not doing anyone favors, back in my day, you had to walk ten miles to get to internet school to get trolled and having no safe space.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by sdp

I do think forums should evolve as the current format makes it difficult to follow threads that are too big and it's not as easy to use

They have. Krang is using 10 year old vBulletin board software. 5.0 is way better and easier to sort through, with the ability to Like posts, switch the way things are laid out, and even Facebook integration.

[plastroncafe]

Originally Posted by sdp

What made Forums a better alternative to chat rooms was because things were archived and discussions weren't lost forever and this way people could easily find them. In other places these discussions are too messy to follow and get lost easily so they're often asked again and again while on forums it doesn't happen as much as many can easily search.

While I agree that we're in dire need of a good fandom UI, I far preferred LJ/Dreamwidth to this sort of set up.

The ability to nest comments alone is amazing.

I do think forums should evolve as the current format makes it difficult to follow threads that are too big and it's not as easy to use as say twitter. But as forums continue to die many discussions like the ones we have about continuity here and we've had many great ones will be forever lost in inferior ways of communicating.

And the library of Alexandria is destroyed anew.

In their defense Gatekeepers are what made the internet a more reputable place back then, now anyone can share FAKE news because of the lack of gatekeepers and look all the trouble it has caused.

Pussyfying the internet is not doing anyone favors, back in my day, you had to walk ten miles to get to internet school to get trolled and having no safe space.

Gatekeepers create safespaces. That's literally all they've ever done, and all they ever do. Their sole focus in life is to keep their little pool as little and stagnant as possible.

The only things stagnant things do is fester and then die.