I miss traditional message boards. No karma, no sorting algorithms, you just get new topics on top and replies are sorted oldest to newest.
You can have forum threads that go on for decades, but Lemmy’s default sorting system quickly sweeps older content away. I’m aware you can mimic the forum format by selecting the “chat” option in a thread and sorting by old, and you can sort posts by “latest comment” which replicates the old-school forum experience pretty well, but nobody does it that way, so the community behaves in the manner facilitated by the default sorting algorithm that prioritizes new content over old but still relevant content.
I also notice that I don’t pay attention to usernames on Lemmy (or Reddit back when I was on it). They’re just disembodied thoughts floating through the ether. On message boards, I get to know specific users, their personalities and preferences and ups and downs. I notice when certain users don’t post for a while and miss them if they’re gone for too long.
I don’t care much about karma (that would be up and downvotes, around here) but I do miss the old forums not being centralized and/or owned by a single entity or authority or, more exactly, not being the only space available no matter who owned it.
This allowed for a lot more divergence of opinions and dissent. There was no such thing with the advent of centralized social media. Which is the reason why I was so happy to jump onboard the fediverse when I heard about it: no more owerpowered centralized/unique owner and censor. Worst thing happening around here, I would still be free to move to another instance, or even create my own. To me, even though I don’t think I will ever need it, it’s great.
Another thing I miss of back then are blogs. They still exist, but I miss the thriving (and exciting) communities that existed around them, with its engagement(s).
Blogs sometimes allowed for incredibly interesting conversations, between very different persons expressing their various and oftentimes conflicting opinions. It’s something I think is badly needed today more than it ever was. Something that would help a lot of us rediscover the true meaning of the word ‘discussion’ (which is not to agree with one another singing Kumbaya) and would help us re-learn/rediscover the importance of being able to debate with people we disagree with without calling for them to be censored or worse… That neutering logic of the ‘either you agree with us/me, or you’re out of here’ (or, I insist, worse).
That variety (and healthy tension in debating), I miss. It still exists online, but it’s rare. It’s much simpler to find it offline, irl while having discussions with close friends who are not afraid to speak freely. And inside books… those books whose authors are challenging to read at least. Which sadly means avoiding not all but a large chunk of the contemporary production to focus on long gone writers, classics or not, who trusted/expected their readers to be smart enough to be able to read even the most disturbing ideas without immediately suing them or calling for their cancellation.