>So where do you suggest people post that is zero cost and advertisement free?
These days, Reddit seems to be the best option available (unfortunately).
Back during better days, we had lots of independent forums running software like PhpBB, which served this purpose well. For some reason that I don't really understand, back then (when computers were less powerful and efficient than now) that worked well enough, but now everyone's screaming about hosting costs and how expensive it is to run even a single bulletin board on the internet so they turn to Discord when they don't like Reddit. Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago with crappier hardware and much less storage space, I honestly don't know.
I said 0 cost and ad free but your answer does not satisfy those requirements, because your interest are at odds with the interests of these various communities.
Communities generally don't need their content to be indexable. People in the community can use Discords search feature. Indexable content is only a benefit to people outside the community.
So why should these communities move away from discord to help you? Especially given that you do not respect their interests.
Do you get what I'm saying?
> Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago?
It's not that hosting costs are so much higher now. In the 2020s I ran a forum for ~10$ a year but then I realized exposing my home IP was a bad idea. Then I ran the forum for $50 a year and... no one but me used it.
Recently one of my friends paid $500 to set up a forum using a dedicated provider /w a support plan. Fingers crossed it sees more activity than mine did.
So you can still host a forum pretty cheap but it requires trading in your personal time or paying $500 and given most Americans don't have $500 liquid you would need donations/organization (which requires more of your personal time).
It's not impossible but it's not super easy either.
You're just repeatedly asking that these communities deal with advertising to make things easier for you personally because you think they need your participation to survive.
But what if they don't need you?
P.s. not every community recruits primarily through the internet.
> Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago with crappier hardware and much less storage space, I honestly don't know.
Back in the so called "golden days", I actually hosted a forum with a friend. His uncle offered his old office PC(bought at a bargain) and internet with fixed IP for us to tinker with. Our tiny forum has local kids and some "supervising adults" doing moderation. Many of our international members were mostly on dialup, so even if we didn't have lovely CDN, the slowness was accepted as normal thing. We did not face much spamming, grifting and any trouble makers were policed out immediately by moderators.
In present days, I am very afraid to put something online, because if the moderators are not vigilant, I could very well expect a police letter by a week or two asking about certain type fo contents and my infra provider banning or null routing my forum. It was easy back in days, now the risks are too high and trouble makers have more resources than well intent folks.
These days, Reddit seems to be the best option available (unfortunately).
Back during better days, we had lots of independent forums running software like PhpBB, which served this purpose well. For some reason that I don't really understand, back then (when computers were less powerful and efficient than now) that worked well enough, but now everyone's screaming about hosting costs and how expensive it is to run even a single bulletin board on the internet so they turn to Discord when they don't like Reddit. Why hosting costs apparently weren't such a big deal 15-20 years ago with crappier hardware and much less storage space, I honestly don't know.