Seeking a comprehensive list of internet forum communities
January 10, 2016 7:37 PM   Subscribe

Does there exist an updated catalog or wiki list of internet forums and web communities living and dead over the coarse of the internet's history?
posted by Taft to Technology (6 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Given how many secret/private forums there are, I seriously doubt it.
posted by Jacqueline at 1:51 AM on January 11, 2016 [2 favorites]


"comprehensive" seems...unfeasible?

Anyone with a few bucks can spin up a cloud server, set up a forum, invite their friends to have a chat and then shut it down again right away. Bring it back a week later at a different IP/URL just for kicks.
posted by juv3nal at 1:52 AM on January 11, 2016


No sure there is one - Maybe try contacting boardreader and see if they'd be willing to share a list ?
posted by motdiem2 at 3:09 AM on January 11, 2016


No.

(I ran something a long time ago that ended up cited in journals a few times; I'm confident it's not in any directories/catalogs/etc in 2015. Also, just...no, not possible.)
posted by kmennie at 6:28 AM on January 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


Nthing above answers. It's not just a scale problem--although the scale would be massive. It's also a problem of many forums being non-discoverable by machines or humans, because they're hidden behind a login or one of many other measures designed to keep the public out.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 9:39 AM on January 11, 2016


I remember this being a thing way back when http://www.thebiggestboards.com
posted by Marcc at 1:24 PM on January 11, 2016


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