Before the rise of large social media platforms, private web-based forums were the service of choice. Many of these have great archives that have outlived AOL, Myspace, Tumblr, LiveJournal, Yahoo, and other walled gardens and platforms.
Many toxic online communities also exist on forums, so be very careful about what you share. Never send or post anything you would not want forwarded to your family, friends, neighbors, classmates, and coworkers. For more, see interacting safely with others online.
Most forum-style activity is now on reddit, discord, and other social media platforms.
Supportive forums
Susan’s Place (susans.org)
- Large forum with over 2 million posts.
TG Forum (tgforum.com)
- News, resources, and forum.
TG Chatroom (tgchatroom.com)
- Free supportive and friendly chat for community, friends, and SOs.
Transgender Zone (forum.transgenderzone.com)
- Not very active.
Inner Female (innerfemale.com)
- Friendship, support, community.
Transgender Heaven (transgenderheaven.com)
- More than 5,000 members and dozens of daily posts.
Angels (angelsforum.co.uk/phpforum)
- UK based
Historic transgender forums
My Husband Betty Message Boards (myhusbandbetty.com/community)
- Offline as of 2019. For spouses and significant others. [archive]
True Selves (trueselves.com)
- No new accounts accepted as of 2020. Gen X/Y focused. [archive]
Genderpeace (genderpeace.com)
- Offline as of 2008, destroyed by troll Denise Magner. Gen X/Y focused. [archive]
Genderlife (genderlife.com/forum)
- Offline as of 2014. [archive]