Best general discussion forums?

August 23, 2008 12:18 PM

Best general discussion forums?

I've been looking for some places to add to my daily reading lists like for news, jokes, debates, etc.

Popurls.com is probably the single greatest site of all time as well as cracked.com. However, I am now looking for sites where you can just shoot the shit about anything.

I've been a semi-fan of the immature everything/nothing forum on ebaumsworld.com. I want a forum that has the kind of variety of topics they have in there, but a LITTLE bit more mature, lol.

Can anyone recommend similar forums? The only requirement I'd say is that they actually get replies and there's not like 2 replies fro the most popular thread on there.

-Travis

posted by isoman2kx to Computers & Internet (16 answers total)

forums.somethingawful.com
posted by nasreddin at 12:31 PM on August 23, 2008

something awful
posted by bradbane at 12:31 PM on August 23, 2008

Is it worth the registration fee? That's what irritated me when I first signed up for metafilter. Yet it was pretty good, so if this site is pretty good I'll consider it.
posted by isoman2kx at 12:38 PM on August 23, 2008

My love for The Straight Dope Message Boards knows no bounds.
posted by Savannah at 12:43 PM on August 23, 2008

The entry fee keeps out the idiots, kind of like it does here on MeFi. It's well worth it, the discussion is intelligent, the moderation is good, yet it is still irreverent and hilarious and there is a pretty huge variety of sub-forums on every topic.

ie. their "Debate & Discussion" forum is the only place on the internet I have ever seen where people intelligently discuss current events on the merits of the positions - logical fallacies, partisan bullshit, name calling, immaturity, etc. are not tolerated and all the regular posters there have well thought out and articulate positions.
posted by bradbane at 12:59 PM on August 23, 2008

I would steer clear of the SA forums, as it's exactly a community fully believing that paying the $10 signup fee (and subsequent $10 unbanning fees) makes them instantly relevant and experts on every subject. Hope you got ten bux.
posted by knowles at 1:40 PM on August 23, 2008

Brunchma is your new home. Originally, the Official Unofficial Brunching Shuttlecocks Bulletin Board, it's become quite the community of funny, interesting, and intelligent people. We don't bite, unless you ask, and even the old tradition of booting people with <4>
Also: No entry fee, mods who actually do their job, and a decidedly irreverent tone in most of the forae. I met my girlfriend on Brunchma, and we've even had a number of couples meet and marry, so keep that in mind.
posted by SansPoint at 1:54 PM on August 23, 2008

I try not to break rule number 1, bit there are forums out there for people that just want to talk about Off Topic stuff.
posted by deezil at 2:15 PM on August 23, 2008

I would steer clear of the SA forums, as it's exactly a community fully believing that paying the $10 signup fee (and subsequent $10 unbanning fees) makes them instantly relevant and experts on every subject.

Ha. Find me a forum that doesn't have that problem on the internet. Right here for instance.
posted by smackfu at 2:59 PM on August 23, 2008

Ya, but we're just $5 experts here.
posted by Tbola at 3:09 PM on August 23, 2008

I like I Love Everything. It's free, and grew out of I Love Music in the early 00s. More freewheeling than Metafilter, but lots of very smart people; good, minimal board design; many long-running threads about politics, some weirdness, some chatty threads. Moderation is light but effective. It seems to be populated by a rather self-selecting, not very large group of posters, about 40% US, 40% UK, 20% other (mostly European). It can get cliquish if you want to post a lot, but I find it a reliably enjoyable and informative read.
posted by FrauMaschine at 3:14 PM on August 23, 2008

Monkeyfilter.
posted by Morrigan at 3:39 PM on August 23, 2008

SomethingAwful is hilarious and fun, but it's also full of racism, misogyny and middle-class college-boy opinion. It's also full of people making fun of this, but FYI.
posted by Countess Elena at 4:15 PM on August 23, 2008

I'll agree with the fees keeping out the idiots for the most part. I wasn't thrilled about the $5 when I came here, but the replies on ask metafilter have been 5000 times better than sites like answerology.com, ask yahoo, ask jeeves, answerbag.

I'm definitely giving SA a consider as well as checking out the rest of them. Thanks for the replies so far everyone! :)
posted by isoman2kx at 5:54 PM on August 23, 2008

I'd definitely recommend SA. Sure there are idiots but they don't last long. All in all there is a wide variety of people from all walks of life, ages, countries, etc. It's pretty easy to avoid the idiots, just stay away from FYAD.
posted by JJ86 at 7:03 PM on August 23, 2008

I really enjoy Barbelith, though it's a bit more under the radar than some and the topics are really, really all over the place.
posted by medea42 at 11:47 PM on August 23, 2008