Agreed, we need to get back to independent forums.

And there are better techniques to sustain them now, compared to back then. They don't need to be plastered with banner ads.

- Annual donations with Stripe checkout, etc

- Job boards

- If you have a product/service, host a community that caters to your general industry! For instance, if you sell film editing software, host a forum for hobbyist and professional editors, and don't make it specific to your software. You'll make conversions over time, and it's win-win for everyone. HN is essentially a form of this.