Not only has facebook, imgur, twitter, etc killed free hosting - They have also killed forums, rather than head over to a webmaster forum now days for assistance, I just head over to a webmaster facebook group and post my question on their wall 
Normally get an answer really quickly.
Forums are needing to evolve to keep up, offer things that facebook / twitter cant. Mobile apps are one aspect, however, the "sweet spot" has not yet quite been found... During the end of my spell at FWS (last time I was here) I came for the social aspect - However, I left mainly due to twitter / facebook, as I got my social fill from them. The only way I see pure "forums" keeping up is to offer something else along side - Be it some form of bidding system, etc...
I'm not sure what FWS could do, but the only reason I hang around other forums, is because they have idea / project offers / systems. AKA:
User1 is looking for a PHP script that can do X, Y and Z, they can only offer $10 for it.
User2 has a great idea for a website - They need a skilled PHP developer to help, offering X% of the ad revenue.
Something new is needed.. What the is for FWS is anyones guess.. No longer can sites just be "forums", create a facebook group for that! Sites need to be more, the forums just need to supplement the site, rather than the other way around.
Normally get an answer really quickly.Forums are needing to evolve to keep up, offer things that facebook / twitter cant. Mobile apps are one aspect, however, the "sweet spot" has not yet quite been found... During the end of my spell at FWS (last time I was here) I came for the social aspect - However, I left mainly due to twitter / facebook, as I got my social fill from them. The only way I see pure "forums" keeping up is to offer something else along side - Be it some form of bidding system, etc...
I'm not sure what FWS could do, but the only reason I hang around other forums, is because they have idea / project offers / systems. AKA:
User1 is looking for a PHP script that can do X, Y and Z, they can only offer $10 for it.
User2 has a great idea for a website - They need a skilled PHP developer to help, offering X% of the ad revenue.
Something new is needed.. What the is for FWS is anyones guess.. No longer can sites just be "forums", create a facebook group for that! Sites need to be more, the forums just need to supplement the site, rather than the other way around.
