The Best Forum Sites

Forum sites can be useful, but they are often filled with toxic communities, clustered user interfaces, nearly unavoidable NSFW content, and little purpose. This list should provide you with the safest, most useful, easiest to use, most unique, and overall fun to use sites. These categories will each get either zero, one, or two points for a total of zero to ten.

4chan

Safety: 0/2
4chan and 8kun are known for being linked to child pornography and bigotry. As they promise complete anonymity for all users (which is never the case despite these promises), the community is infamous for its unbearable toxicity and lack of shame.

Utility: 0/2
People do not want to help you. They will do whatever they can to turn even the most serious of a discussion topic into an edgy “joke” that only they will find funny.

User Interface: 0/2
The site has barely changed since its debut in 2003. The user interface is clunky and lacks the polish of its peers as of 2019.

Uniqueness: 0/2
4chan has had many copycats over the years, and it fails to stand out from any of them due to its lack of site maintenance.

Fun: 2/2
As hard as it may be to tolerate, there really can be a lot of fun on the site when you find the right people. You feel a lack of restraint yet you can still manage self-decency when you’re on the site, and it can be a great place to meme around without people ever finding out your name. The only reason this stands out as much as it does is because of its incredibly large user count.

Total: 2/10

Reddit

Safety: 1/2
Although it may be safer than 4chan, expect your average internet toxicity out of plenty of subreddits. Heavy moderation here as well.

Utility: 2/2
People on Reddit do want to help–as aggravating as their poor attitude may seem.

User Interface: 2/2
Reddit is incredibly well-made and constantly updated, meaning that it has a fantastic UI.

Uniqueness: 2/2
With awards, coins, and plenty of subreddits, there isn’t much that can compare.

Fun: 2/2
There wasn’t much to say about Reddit. It’s a clean site that’s an absolute joy to surf. No matter if you’re looking for advice, have homework you need completed, or if you just want to joke with some other people, Reddit has it all.

Total: 9/10

IGN Boards

Safety: 1/2
The site is heavily moderated, but the users are mildly more toxic than those of Reddit.

Utility: 1/2
You will get the help you need half the time. The other half, people will just shame you for not knowing the answer to your question and call you a dumba$$.

User Interface: 2/2
IGN is a company worth hundreds of millions of dollars\; so you bet its UI is flawless.

Uniqueness: 0/2
There isn’t much here that you can’t do on other forum sites. In fact, its heavy moderation drains any sort of gimmick it could have.

Fun: 0/2
IGN Boards suffers from its power-corrupt mods and inconsistent community. When its users aren’t shaming you for doing something as basic as asking a question, its mods are getting you banned for no reason.

Total: 4/10

Nexopia

Safety: 2/2
Due to tons of controversy around pedophiles and cyberbullying since 2003, it was known as one of the least safe places for teens on the internet. However, this all changed in late 2016, when the site doubled down on safety. This has become what Nexopia perfected since they managed to keep the moderation perfectly strict without interfering with privacy or conversations.

Utility: 0/2
The community is young and extremely inexperienced, and they go to Nexopia mainly to chat. Good luck finding help here.

User Interface: 1/2
As confusing as it may be some times, the Nexopia UI is wonderfully polished.

Uniqueness: 1/2
It does contain a charm to it that other forums lack, but it doesn’t do anything particularly wonderful.

Fun: 1/2
Surfing Nexopia can be pleasant, and its community has its quirks. The variety of topics is incredibly lacking, though.

Total: 5/10

d2jsp Forums

Safety: 2/2
The community was awfully nice and remained on topic. Moderators do their jobs without going overboard. Absolutely worry-free.

Utility: 1/2
Since this is a forum for gamers, it won’t have anything that isn’t related to video games. However, it does what it does very well, and you are almost guaranteed to get answers to all game-related questions.

User Interface: 1/2
Although it may look dated and unfinished by today’s standards, it’s awfully smooth and well-planned.

Uniqueness: 1/2
Although there may be other gaming forums, few are as polished as this one.

Fun: 2/2
Prepare to have some great discussions with friendly users!

Total: 7/10

Gaia Online

Safety: 2/2
Perfect level of moderation and has a decent community. Nothing incredible, but it’s safe enough while still keeping a sense of freedom.

Utility: 1/2
As an anime-based site, the community will be glad to answer your otaku needs. Most people will care more about striking up a conversation, however.

User Interface: 1/2
The site has a very complex layout with long loading times, so it does sacrifice efficiency a bit for the sake of fun.

Uniqueness: 2/2
With a remarkable game-like layout, this is definitely the most unique forum site out there.

Fun: 2/2
Amazingly creative and wonderfully inspired by its fans, this site was made primarily for fun interactivity.

Total: 8/10

TL\;DR:
4chan: 2/10
Reddit: 9/10
IGN Boards: 4/10
Nexopia: 5/10
d2jsp Forums: 7/10
Gaia Online: 8/10

Reddit > Gaia Online > d2jsp Forums > Nexopia > IGN Boards > 4chan