Which would you prefer: Forum-like Reddit v Reddit-like forum?

I'm currently working on a proprietary forum project mainly for fun. Thought a throw this question out there and see what people think here. I kinda want to design my forum towards the gamer crowd.
You don't necessary must pick between the two,. It's more of an open question. I see a lot of forum admins here (I was one as well back in the day) but I feel there's definitely something that forums can do better to compete with giants like Reddit. Perhaps its just that forums don't scale well and there's no algo for engagement bait but at the same time forums makes up for that with nuanced discussions, making the reader go through the thread to understand context.
What do you guys think?

I prefer traditional forums over a reddit like forum.
Forums are perfectly fine the way that they are. They don't need to compete with giants like Reddit, they do well in their own way.
We also don't need algorithm's on forums, that's what social media is for. Forums scale well depending on the niche, and the broad appeal. It takes time to build a forum from the ground up, and you can't rush the process of building one.

It's like growing a garden, you have to tend to it, and keep at it.

cpvr said:

I prefer traditional forums over a reddit like forum.
Forums are perfectly fine the way that they are. They don't need to compete with giants like Reddit, they do well in their own way.
We also don't need algorithm's on forums, that's what social media is for. Forums scale well depending on the niche, and the broad appeal. It takes time to build a forum from the ground up, and you can't rush the process of building one.

It's like growing a garden, you have to tend to it, and keep at it.

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A fair take. I think I just have a slightly different perspective.
Like I look at this XenForo interface I'm typing on today, it is miles better than the first forum I hosted (can't remember what platform). I think there's always little things in user experiene that can be improved.
I do resonate a lot with the garden comment. Thinking well you gotta put a lot of work on it. That's the plan for my forum project.

Call me old school, but I would just like to have my forums look like forums. Nothing fancy.

I definitely prefer threaded forum software to nested threads like Reddit. However I think you're doing a good job on the software you're working on for your community! It's unique, it's not quite like Reddit or a threaded software!

I prefer the traditional look of forums.

I find it more difficult to read and use Reddit to read long posts with a lot of replies compared to forums which is easier for me to use. I feel forums have better looking themes than the default reddit theme.

TheRavenfreak said:

I definitely prefer threaded forum software to nested threads like Reddit. However I think you're doing a good job on the software you're working on for your community! It's unique, it's not quite like Reddit or a threaded software!

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Interesting. May I ask why you prefer non-nested instead of nested? So one obvious benefit of nested is that you can easily reply to a person vs. moving back and forth and finding the right number to post. A benefit of non nested is that its easier and also forces everyone to read every post.

Re my forum: thanks man. It's almost a design project first vs. a forum project. Perhaps a non popular take here but I tend to think that software is infinitely malleable and just purely on aesthetics, design, and function (outside of moderation / corporate interests), there doesn't always have to be very strict lines between Forums v Reddit v Discord. We tend to think that way because each is well defined and pretty much nobody is trying to make a Forumish Discord, or Redditish Forum. A huge part of this is what sparked the question.

Lastly, always down for more feedback man, so feel free to DM anytime. Also if you are on desktop, you should check out the dragons.

froggyboy604 said:

I find it more difficult to read and use Reddit to read long posts with a lot of replies compared to forums which is easier for me to use. I feel forums have better looking themes than the default reddit theme.

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I agree with your take on reading. Although I think there's an argument that can be made that Reddit style comments are more space efficient. On themes you're totally right. I think the latest forum software like XenForo have done an excellent job giving forums a modern look. I think when it comes to design, really the sky is the limit right. There's always a million little things or tiny details you can change to make something look better (and often you fail and its worse). Just that nobody has tried to do that for a Reddit-like style because its literally the only one in that space. If you can, would you mind elaborating on what do you mean by "looks"?

Demon_Skeith said:

Call me old school, but I would just like to have my forums look like forums. Nothing fancy.

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A fine opinion probably shared by many here.

IndieGamesCafe said:

If you can, would you mind elaborating on what do you mean by "looks"?

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I am mainly talking about the forum's template graphics, avatar profile image sizes, colors, and text size and spacing when I am talking about looks.

froggyboy604 said:

I am mainly talking about the forum's template graphics, avatar profile image sizes, colors, and text size and spacing when I am talking about looks.

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Gotcha. My post/reply design currently is more minimal focused like Reddit. But profiles I do take extensive inspiration from many gaming forums. I'll keep your note in mind in case for new features where I think it makes sense to draw from the forum's template for inspo.

I prefer the layout of forums. I can see the post timeline of events.

My least favorite thing about Reddit is its (in)famous upvote/downvote system. I know forums aren’t immune to hive minds, but I know Reddit is notorious for silencing people who disagree. Forums are more fun for duking it out.

Grungie said:

I prefer the layout of forums. I can see the post timeline of events.

My least favorite thing about Reddit is its (in)famous upvote/downvote system. I know forums aren’t immune to hive minds, but I know Reddit is notorious for silencing people who disagree. Forums are more fun for duking it out.

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The upvotes/downvotes were supposed to be for flagging off topic posts but yeah they're definitely abused on Reddit and are more opinion driven now.

Neither? I prefer forums like OG vBulletin 3.8.x and IPB 2.x

You get to share in the discussions of your favorite passions while still having a sense of identity. vBulletin allowed a little more in the way of social interactions with visitor messaging and profile customization as well as the ability to unlock more 'perks': albums, large file uploads, etc.

Shame they never patched the 3.8.x files and made them more secure. I'd probably be using them still.

TheRavenfreak said:

The upvotes/downvotes were supposed to be for flagging off topic posts but yeah they're definitely abused on Reddit and are more opinion driven now.

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I’ve seen some horrible or useless advice get upvoted on places like r/privacy and the useful ones that don’t follow their paranoia get downvoted

Grungie said:

I prefer the layout of forums. I can see the post timeline of events.

My least favorite thing about Reddit is its (in)famous upvote/downvote system. I know forums aren’t immune to hive minds, but I know Reddit is notorious for silencing people who disagree. Forums are more fun for duking it out.

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I'm pretty much in agreement here with a few nuances. I think forums use up a lot of screen real estate.

• Timeline - I like posts by date too. Often on Reddit the first poster has a lot of advantages as you can get your upvotes early. The boxed reply design takes a lot of space. The other one is threaded comments. It's very hard to keep track of who you are replying to so threads IMO are significantly better in this regard.
• Voting - I think there's benefits of trying to capture what the community likes or not as signal to the average reader. However I dont like it changing the order of replies. Now a great ranking system would be that people you follow or interact often comes first but thats slightly tricky in engineering (not impossible but annoying to well)

The above 2 ideas are pretty much how I implemented my forum. These days I'm trying to experiment with a spell system, something that will allow users to cast on a reply or thread to indicate appreciation but reduce the instant emotion reaction like Reddit votes; still mulling over it.

TheRavenfreak said:

The upvotes/downvotes were supposed to be for flagging off topic posts but yeah they're definitely abused on Reddit and are more opinion driven now.

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If you're up for a challenge Raven, how would you design a system that's for flagging off topic posts without people using it for disagreement. I think this is a core problem in social media that's kinda impossible to solve. The best system I can think of is have a report button where users can report a post off topic and then a mod can action on it. The additional mods work is the downside.

bittersweet said:

Neither? I prefer forums like OG vBulletin 3.8.x and IPB 2.x

You get to share in the discussions of your favorite passions while still having a sense of identity. vBulletin allowed a little more in the way of social interactions with visitor messaging and profile customization as well as the ability to unlock more 'perks': albums, large file uploads, etc.

Shame they never patched the 3.8.x files and made them more secure. I'd probably be using them still.

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Interesting. I never looked that closely to the exact differences between profiles although I do think forums put a much better emphasis on profiles vs. Reddit.

I think for interaction though, nothing beats a live chat. Forum software could add it but I think most doesn't want to because perhaps cuz they'll have to raise the price and admins/mods don't really watn to pay for that extra feature.

On 'perks' like albums, large file uploads, etc, I hope forums would go much more beyond that. Like League of Legends or Dota 2 where you're not just changing your user name to a flashy color (which is a bit tacky I feel) but maybe completely change the frame of your profile or add some fun effects to each of your replies but make it subtle and option so that it isn't too attention grabbing.

IndieGamesCafe said:

• Voting - I think there's benefits of trying to capture what the community likes or not as signal to the average reader. However I dont like it changing the order of replies. Now a great ranking system would be that people you follow or interact often comes first but thats slightly tricky in engineering (not impossible but annoying to well)

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Maybe it’s just me, but I never cared for voting on posts. I’m fine with a Facebook style line system.

Grungie said:

Maybe it’s just me, but I never cared for voting on posts. I’m fine with a Facebook style line system.

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Nah I think that's a totally fine preference. Opinions may differ if you look at it from a consumer or moderator view. I'm looking at it from a developer / web design view, at least on this topic.

IndieGamesCafe said:

If you're up for a challenge Raven, how would you design a system that's for flagging off topic posts without people using it for disagreement. I think this is a core problem in social media that's kinda impossible to solve. The best system I can think of is have a report button where users can report a post off topic and then a mod can action on it. The additional mods work is the downside.

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I think the report button would work for sure, and having a moderator double check to ensure the post is off topic and or spam. But it definitely is challenging these days.