Forums past and present!
GameSpy hosted a huge collection of web forums on its ForumPlanet platform from 2000 to 2012, with millions of users spanning the entire Planet network. Thanks to the efforts of Archive Team, much of ForumPlanet as it existed from 2007-2012 was archived. Anything from before that time can still be seen via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
GeekSpy.net was originally set up to continue the fun with a genuine ForumPlanet design.
forums
The GeekSpy Forums launched in 2012 with three retro looks - recreating the GameSpy, 3D Action Planet, and Planet Black & White ForumPlanet skins from a decade earlier.
The forums were built using phpBB, with precise styling made possible by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Beyond simple themes, the accurate ForumPlanet look was only possible via edits to core phpBB code. This ultimately impacted upgradeability, with code merges becoming onerous.
The GeekSpy forums were archived in 2023. With the cybersecurity landscape changing in attackers' favour thanks to the emergence of LLMs, I decided the risk and maintenance imposts had become too high. What remains now is a static copy created with HTTrack.
With centralised plaforms like Reddit and Discord becoming popular these days, forums have become a bit of a second tier community option on the web. The GameSpy boards on IGN are still running though, following their creation in 2012 upon ForumPlanet's shutdown. Some old faces call in there from time to time.
