HN and Reddit aren’t traditional forums because of the way downvotes and upvotes work. I would consider a forum to be defined by the most recent activity bringing the thread to the top of the list, not a popularity contest via upvote and downvote.

I also think HN has become too general purpose to be similar in spirit to most forums. Being seen on HN has major dollar value just like trending on Reddit does.

Also, have you used Reddit recently?

Open up Reddit on the app. No using old.reddit.com, doesn’t count. That’s not the experience most users are using.

Go to the watch section. I think you swipe left or right or something? I forget, I deleted the app.

Bam, it’s TikTok.