Hey guys. For a long time I've been at odds with Subeta and many other avatar websites because of their forum-style communities. I am an introvert, and haven't tended to branch out all that much. The times I have tried to on Subeta have often ended poorly. I do not intend to turn this into a rant of any kind though - I'm here because I just realized that maybe this could be an interesting topic of discussion among us.

So to define the two community types I mentioned in the title, obviously the forum community site is what we have as Subeta; it's literally a forum, where everyone can post and everyone can read those posts. At least from what little I've payed attention to, often subjects on the Subeta forums are kept pretty light, which makes sense to me. I don't know how everyone else feels about it, although I would love to hear what you think, but my take on it is that because forums are so open we usually have to keep in mind that we're essentially talking into a crowd of strangers. In that sort of setting, heavier or more personal/real subjects often don't seem particularly appropriate.

The second community I mentioned is what I'm choosing to describe as a blog-style community, which I've only known one avatar site to have. In this style, there really isn't one big central hub of communication, but instead people can essentially post blogs about whatever they want, and people in their friends list will be able to see it and read it if they want to. In that particular website it was quite common to friends pretty much anyone and everyone, so you could still end up with a pretty huge list of people to talk to that way, but it still felt more personal - at least to me.

I personally am a big fan of the blog-style. Like I said earlier I am very much an introvert, even if a pretty outgoing one, and the site I mentioned above is the only site I've ever been particularly active (within the community) in. That site is gone now and I miss it a lot, but I do personally wonder how much of my view on forum-style sites like Subeta is just... misconstrued.

If you've had the opportunity to try both styles, which do you prefer and why? Even if you haven't been able to try both, what are your thoughts on this subject? I'm really curious to know others' interpretations of these features.

I prefer blog-style as well (hence why Tumblr is my go-to), but forums have a benefit too. On a blog-style website, you have to have a tagging system, which is inherently flawed. I'm not sure if you use Tumblr or not, but there are a lot of problems with the tagging system: People not tagging NSFW posts (try searching "kitten", "Princess", etc and you'll see more NSFW images than PG), people using the wrong tag or not tagging at all so its hard to find what you're looking for, and maybe this is just me, but I've notice blog-style websites have a higher tendency for people to be volatile. I'm not sure if it's because it's easier to come across things you don't like (ie you control what other people reblog), or if it's the atmosphere of the websites themselves.

I've also noticed forum-style sites have better moderating. If I report someone's post for being against TOS on Tumblr, it could take a week or more for anything to happen, and I know Tumblr larger than say Subeta, but I've even been a part of beta testing for blog-style websites and even with only a few hundred people, it's still the case. On every forum website I've been on, if I report something, I usually hear something back much faster. The only time this didn't happen was on a website that's not Subeta and I reported a moderator. I've never actually have reported anyone/any forum on Subeta.

Another plus with the forum that I touch on with blogs, is I can control what I see easier. If I a trans people, hypothetically speaking, see a forum thread called "Trans People Suck" I can easily avoid it or even report it without having to read what it says. In a similar vein if I see a thread called "Cutest Puppies Alive" I know there is a huge chance I'll love that forum.

I don't mind blog-style communities but I actually find it harder to find people to talk to, like on Tumblr, Twitter (to an extent), etc.

I actually prefer forums and I'm not an extroverted person at all. I grew up with forums and that's what I'm most comfortable with. I was on an InvisionFree forum when I was 12, then started using Neopets' forums a few months later then I branched out to InvisionFree, Subeta, Marapets, Animal Crossing Community, etc. I honestly MUCH prefer forums.

I don't mind things like Discord/Slack because things are generally organized but it's much harder to find older messages than it is in forums. Like there's searching but... idk, maybe it's not really harder and I just prefer forums, lol.

Anyway, I'm kinda weird and somewhat set in my ways because I grew up with forums and even though they're very much outdated I still love them.

While I've had a Tumblr since the middle of 2010, it's so difficult to find a niche in there. And if you do, that can fall apart so quickly. Forums aren't all bad, Subeta's more forgiving than most other forums I've belonged to in that regard.

To Everyone

I'm actually not referring to straight-up blogs like Tumblr when I say blog-style communities. I know that's not exactly clear, I have having a bit of a hard time figuring out how to describe it. Like I said I've only found one site that does it the way I'm talking about and that site doesn't even exist anymore. It is similar to having a blog, but it didn't include things like hashtags, and like many other avatar sites (as this was primarily an avatar game site, not primarily a blog site like Tumblr) it included items, shops, trading, direct messaging, minigames, groups.... It even had a town where people could walk around in freely, just in place of the forum it had your own personal little home page that showed you new personal posts from your friends, as well as new posts from groups you follow. It was an extremely versatile site in terms of ways that people could talk to or meet other people, I just personally didn't tend to use most of those others, yet I still ended up with a ridiculous number of people in my friends list.

I realize however that Tumblr is going to be what most people are actually familiar with. Just... basically imagine if something like your tumblr home page were in place of the forums page here on Subeta - it's not the entire site, it just replaces the one page.

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Even with my clarifications I still agree that normal forum sites would and do tend to have better monitoring. That's definitely a good point. From an admin/mod standpoint as well it would be a lot harder to keep track of without the central hub.

Oddly I used to be pretty active in Neopets' community as well, things (aka I) just sort of shut down at one point. Actually I wasn't aware that there was much to the Animal Crossing community.

It sounds like that's probably the case, I'm a part of seventeen different active servers that aren't personal/friends-only servers, they were pretty easy to find though it was through google searches. I don't actually talk to people in them a whole lot, but they're there ha;;

Hey, that's cool though. ^^ I have a little bit of love for my own history with forums as well, it just doesn't carry over into today.

Wait, Subeta's more forgiving? How so?

You can't really debate anything, actively, therefore... it's a lot more forgiving.

Yikes. I don't think I want to know what sites you've been on if Subeta is the better one, then.

I have spent most of my 20+ years of internet access in forum-based communities so this is what I got used to. I have nothing against blog-style but to me it's just confusing and I try to avoid it if possible.

That is entirely understandable. Thank you for adding your input!

I had a blogspot when I was younger with my best friends. It was a lot of fun, and I remember talking to people around the world for the first time. Meeting new people really takes effort though, you have to take the time to find their blog in the first place and read their posts. But end up making stronger bonds. I feel as I get older I have less energy to do that.

Here, it's less time consuming, more casual. Like you said, you're basically posting to a room of strangers. New topics by different people pop up each day and you're welcome to all of them. That's pretty cool too. It's easier, but i haven't made the kind of friends I had from a blog.

It'd be nice to see a blog feature on subeta.

Also, can I just say that I really miss myspace? I do!

You absolutely nailed it, and I'm really glad to know I'm not the only one who's taking it this way. Though you do have an overall more positive view on it than I do, so for one kudos to you for that, and two maybe I could learn something from you haha.

I would personally take the time consuming for the closer bonds any day, but right now I can afford to. I don't see that changing for me very easily though. And of course, if they could implement it in a way where it would actually get used, I would love a blog feature here too.

It's been so long since I was on MySpace I barely remember it. About the only thing I remember about it is something about making glittery banners, and doing other random little things like that.

Myspace was like each person having their own bedroom - blaring the music they wanted, painting the walls their favorite colors and wallpaper, lists and lists of their favorite things and presenting themselves exactly how they wanted to be seen. You could easily get a sense of the personality of someone you'd never met and it was really just the pinnacle of expression online it seems. It did give rise to that whole "scene" cliche and that was kind of weird.

Do you know of any good sites for blogging? It'd be nice to have a place to write down thoughts and have it be open to the possibility that someone will read it again. The only one I still know of is blogspot, which I haven't used in years. I guess there's livejournal, I've never tried that out. I have a tumblr but I'm in a weird niche of not talking to anyone there and just posting images. It loads so slow on my phone I rarely use it anymore either.