The Birth of Microforums
Internet forums have been around for years, and they’ve historically been huge. Large, sprawling collections of threads and threads and more threads. For the old guard power users, they are a collection of intellectual accomplishment and dedication, for newer users, they can be a flustering labyrinth of Brobdingnagian unmeaning.
Enter microforums.
Microforums aren’t so much a collection of threads, but a single thread, separate from any single unifying body. At least, this is how new microforums startup Lettery sees it. Other startups have a different idea. Roundtable seeks not to necessarily minimize the organizational paradigm, but to improve and curate conversations by limiting membership. Both approaches are interesting, and, I believe, have their place. I find conversations on Roundtable to be wholly engaging (like this conversation on blogging), and those on Lettery to be fascinating (like this one on Swedish bookcovers).
I’ve often wondered why forums are at cumbersome as they are, apparently I’m not the only one. Let’s see how this all goes.
