Have you been part of an online group or forum that just died?

[Chicchicchicchiclana]

I was just looking at my neighbourhood forum this evening (not on FB) and it used to be really lively, lots of posts, sometimes quite amusing. It was started in something like 2007 so quite early in the timeline of these things.

Sadly now I think it's about to go to that great Forum in the sky. I can't put my finger on why it has become so deathly dull. Combination of some people posting too much (so it makes you roll your eyes that old so and so is dominating every thread), and I guess WhatsApp and FB groups for those who prefer them. Also a marked lack of interest from the Admin, who I think is a one man band, to doing anything other than the bare minimum with the Forum.

I remember Friends Reuinited and how popular it was and then ... pffft!

A few - there was one writing and roleplaying forum I was on in the late '90s/early '00s...I was gone for a few months when I moved and came back and it had just imploded while I was gone. Lost touch with some lovely people. There were couple others of those that slowly died around a similar time, maybe a bit later, but that one was the most sudden and I still wonder about some of the people from time to time.

Not sure if they count as a forum, but a lot of livejournal groups I was when my oldest was a baby died.

I was reminiscing about long gone forums today, I was on ivillage, Parents Lounge which merged with UK parents, they also had a 'dark Web' version which was vicious.
The was some brouhaha with an admin called Carol Ann, not sure why, she seemed okto me. I think my favourite poster was tillymints, no one could ever get the better of her and she seemed like a really cool person.

I was on Babyworld, used to love the pregnancy diaries on there, one of the posters became a very minor celeb when she appeared on The Wright Stuff after winning a funny photo competition.

Also loved the Daily Mirror forums, got closed down because of the discussions about the Doctors from Leicestershire 🤐

A Tolkien fandom forum that I joined back when the Lord of the Rings movies came out. I loved it, but it eventually went quiet after the rise of social media.

Facebook will fizzle out. I remember when it happened to Myspace. It was massive, nearly as big as facebook and it really was over a few months that it just dropped through the floor. Hilariously I seem to remember R Murdoch had just paid an absolute fortune for it as well.

Just had a look. Murdoch bought it for 580 million (a fortune back then) and Myspace Tom the owner vanished into the sunset just in time. It then fell through the floor due to Facebook and the fact myspace was crap on phones/for anybody older than 18 and Murdoch sold it on for basically nothing a few years later.

Me and another woman I met online created a fan site for European fans of Richard Marx in the late 90s. It was quite popular but hugely basic as neither of us was a Web genius and we just used a Geocities account. I had to give it up when I escaped a DV relationship and left without the computer, didn't have Internet access for a couple of years and by then the other woman had given up and it had died.

TES forums, before they “upgraded” and ruined them forever. I still have lots of friends from there and a subsequent parent/baby forum that developed off the back of it (and itself later died off and what was left migrated to Facebook), as well as my baby/ birth group from TES. Most of them are probably on here too waves though I’m using a different username!

My first forays online were to MSN chat rooms (they were like a cartoon strip?) and then WinMX chatrooms. That was over 20 years ago now but I’m still in touch with a good few people from that time.

Met my husband on a forum too that used to be very busy and involved but now sees much less traffic. Sad really as was a big part of my life. I am still in touch with those who’ll still talk to me though

Baby greenhouse here too.

@Ultimateblends

Looking forward to the day FB fizzles out...

Does anyone think that will actually happen?

I hope so.

I only joined because my son wanted me to but I don't like it and don't put my full, married name or a photo on there.

Babycentre in the early 2000s. I met up with some of the mums from my birth board. We kept in touch for ages then I got an email saying that the archives would be deleted, I was quite sad.

Also the chat rooms like Party House, where you could hook up with people

I loved iVillage. I was a cl on 2 boards and a poster on loads more.

I used to spend entire days on the AOL chat rooms starting in 2004, particularly “Whingers” as the regulars were lovely, even though I was a gobshite 14 year old lol. They all had meetups together but ofc that would have been a massive no no for me. I often wonder how they’re all doing.

The Vogue forum

Yes, I was a regular poster on an REM fan site in the early 2000s, Stipey/myrem I think? It was really active with a regular group of members, felt like my friends! Not sure what happened to it or why I stopped posting.

Another Handbag here. Can't remember what on earth I posted about but it was fun. I think it moved to a different format then died?

On a nicer note I recently rejoined a forum from when I worked overseas and it was interesting to catch up after 15 years! It's still going strong.

Another Handbag fan.

I was on Bounty, then came here for some reason and realised it was better here.
Weirdly I can remember a few names from the Bounty days, but can't remember what mine was. Although I know what my picture was

Australian here - I planned my wedding through the i-do.com.au forum and then went through TTC, pregnancy and babies and children on Essential Baby, which was huge in its heyday in 2003-2012 or so.

Sadly the parent company just closed the EB forums for good. End of an era.

Oh, loads, i loved the chatroom/forum pre facebook days. Twitter & fb have ruined the internet - plus side is I spend much less time online than I did.

Loved Ivillage. Was gutted when it just died a death. Was annoying that each j dividual reply was on a separate page, so uou couldn't just scroll through.

I used to be on a forum for massage and holistic therapists, and I was practising at the time. It was really helpful but it just fizzled out.

[quote MrsJBradders]@raskolnikova me too! Forever Delayed?[/quote]
Pretty sure I had an account on Forever Delayed, wasn't very active there though. The Placebo forum took up all my time instead.

RIP Yorkshire Divers 🥲. It was once the UK's leading dive forum. An underwater version of Mumsnet. The site owner sold it and the marketing company who bought it literally killed it stone dead in a matter of months.