I'm old school, and I love forums because you can hear people, and have a conversation. It's not all about your media impact, and how popular you are, but about what you say. I like that.
I too think that forums are disappearing, I've seen many disappear over the years, like Anargo (but the ghost is still there, a treasure trove of ideas, but most disappear without being preserved) I'm still angry that BL and BI shut down their forums, and that's more than ten years ago! I wish I knew back then how to archive the whole site, because I would have.
In the future, the few forums that are left will work well, have a good community, and be carefully conserved and handled. I think B&C will be one of those communities. At least I hope.