I think it might depend on who controls the forums. I've been active on two forums including this one and they've both have changed from night to day to me. On the writing forum, where I was actually something of a big shot, even though my writing skills aren't all that great, it was what we used to call a benevolent dictatorship. In other words, even though the owner called the shots, he encouraged a free flow of ideas with the caveat that personal attacks would not be tolerated, and for a couple years, it was a happy forum.
Then came the ill- advised transfer and that's when I came here. And this was a different place. There seemed to be no moderation whatsoever and personal attacks were as common as right wingers getting covid. To me, it was a toxic atmosphere and I left this forum twice.
Now we go to today, where my old forum is now closer to a fascist style dictatorship. Now you don't dare criticize the leadership (there were avenues where you could under the old owner) lest you may be banned. Here, on the other hand, we still have the same anarchist spirit but without all the toxicity that once prevailed here. I really like it here now.
I think Adidasss has it right when it comes to forums in general and particularly this one. It's a way to interact with people with generally the same major interest, in this case, music (even though we're usually talking about something else
). I think some forums on some small scale, maybe even this one, can thrive for years as long as there are people who want to communicate with each other.