I find that a lot of the forums that I used to visit closed down when everyone started using facebook, reddit, deviant art, digg, etc.

Nowadays most of the personally hosted websites tend to be either: resume / portfolio site or a developer/tech guy that wants to bring the feeling of a community from the early 2000s back and has a forum (and has the know how).

For a time I also checked out some creators slack/discord channels, but the vibe didn't feel right (and apparently are unsearchable).

I would say its very different now.