Online forums aren’t as popular today as they were 10 or 20 years ago. Social networks are now leading the race when it comes to online discussions.

Bitcointalk is just one community that has fewer users and less activity than it had in the past. It’s a pity because this forum offers something better and something that social media can’t. It’s a place where all the legendary bitcoiners, from Hal to Satoshi, used to write. Those threads are still here. They can easily be found and hold historical importance.

On social media, discussions are forgotten rather quickly. It’s sporadic that a topic stays active and trends for more than a few days. The quality of conversations is not comparable because little effort is put in due to the speed at which they are being held. On Bitointalk, some topics have been maintained and are active even after several years of being created.

One thing that isn’t discussed that often are ad blockers. Bitcointalk generates profit from the ad spaces it sells. But because of the greater use of ad blockers among the userbase, the brands are no longer getting the exposure they had in the past. As a result, the cost of advertising drops, as does the forum profits.


The new forum software has been in development for years. Considering the current trend of online forums losing ground to social media, there might be less incentive to hurry up and release it. The development is costly, time-consuming, but will it be worth it, and how big will the community be that uses it?

If the new forum is mobile-friendly, I think that will be the most significant feature to give it a slight push.

With all this in mind, do you believe that once the new forum is released, Bitcointalk will increase its userbase?
Do you think that in 5 or 10 years, the new generations will appreciate the significance of Bitcointalk and be happy to be part of it?
Or are we a dying breed of forum users taking their last breaths. At the same time, bigger (but not necessarily better) communities are being established elsewhere?