It absolutely did not and it is one of my least favourite things on the modern internet.
It is a slow, ugly, overcomplicated mess designed by people who do not know how threading works and don't know how to do email properly. Yuck.
I mean, I would describe most forums in the same way, and yet they persist as well. The main thing is not the details of the interface, but the fact that the systems allow creating your own community, and discord has made this significantly more accessible and hosts a huge number of smaller, closer-knit communities.
> I would describe most forums in the same way
True that.
I have only used Discord briefly but I found it to be very closed off and to be more of a chatbox than a knowledge base.
The user is not saying that there was an evolution from forums to Discord, they are saying the popular digital space people go to has changed.
I don't recall most forums being particularly welcoming either or very good knowledge bases. Probably the main difference is the default for visibility of non-members, which does make a little bit of difference but I think if you want to maintain a knowledge base you should run a wiki, if you want a community then a forum or discord guild is the way to go, and discord is way easier for most people to set up.