As an old internet guy, I really like forums. Social media has almost usurped its usefulness, but nothing compares to the sense of community you get from hanging out with a (relatively) small group of like-minded fans for a particular game, movie, music, or whatever is interesting enough to bring people together. Sadly, nostalgia does not equal relevance. Next week, Bethesda Softworks will begin the process of closing the forum permanently.

"When the forums first started on Bethsoft.com, it was a great place for everyone to discuss great games, share stories, and meet people with similar interests," Bethesda said. The forum has undergone many changes over the years, and we've enjoyed watching the community grow and evolve along with Bethesda and all the games. But now that people are communicating in so many different ways, we feel it's time to move away from the forums and chat where you all like.

On May 24, all Bethesda forums will be in read-only mode and posting will no longer be allowed. However, access to the forums will be maintained, so users will have a chance to save what they want to save; on July 6, the "smaller, less populated" forum categories will begin to be archived, at which point they will no longer be accessible.

Instead of forums, Bethesda is moving to Discord, which will have a dedicated server for each big game series:

Bethesda's community team continues to have a presence on Reddit, and support requests can be made through Bethesda's Help Portal; forums dedicated to the MMO The Elder Scrolls Online will not be affected by the closure. The forums will operate separately and will continue to function as before.