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I like the SE format, and I like the fact that it focuses on clearly defined questions and discourages open-ended discussion. However, sometimes I want to engage in open-ended discussion, like in the old days on Usenet. I qualify for membership in SFWA, which has forums, but my impression of SFWA is that it's a dysfunctional organization, so I don't want to pay dues to join.

Can anyone recommend an online discussion board for SF?

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    You can always try Science Fiction & Fantasy Chat here, usually someone on. Otherwise a work’s appropriate subreddit is likely one of the more popular places for this sort of thing.
    – TheLethalCarrot Mod
    Commented Dec 28, 2020 at 17:14
  • This is somewhat related, think there might be a couple other meta posts on it too.
    – TheLethalCarrot Mod
    Commented Dec 28, 2020 at 17:17
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    @TheLethalCarrot Here's another one, still tagged as FAQ, but it hasn't been updated for years. Maybe this new meta could be a chance for a new updated FAQ on alternative discussion forums, and we can close the older ones as duplicates?
    – Rand al'Thor Mod
    Commented Dec 28, 2020 at 19:45
  • @Randal'Thor probably a good idea, it was one of the suggestions I made in the Ways to improve post I believe.
    – TheLethalCarrot Mod
    Commented Dec 28, 2020 at 19:48
  • @Randal'Thor Also there's the SE identification post, not what the OP is after but somewhat relevant.
    – TheLethalCarrot Mod
    Commented Dec 29, 2020 at 9:27

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The official chatrooms here are always an option. The interface has a lot to be desired, and it isn't very active, but you can often find someone there to chat with, especially if it's about Stack Exchange.

The site's blog has a Discord, but there's even less activity there than in chat. (For example, there were a total of twelve messages posted there in the past six months.)

There's a Slack group started by the late KutuluMike that has a number of this site's long-time users (ten of the top thirty rep users are on it).

It was created a few years ago to give a forum for more open discussion than Stack Exchange chat allows, and has been steadily continuing since, with a good 5-10 users active there on any given day, and I've found it a to be a great community.

Pretty much all topics of sci-fi are welcome to be discussed, both related to this website and not.

You can also just head to a subreddit like /r/scifi. You won't find much overlap in the userbase, but you'll certainly find a lot of activity.

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