I think there should be a option to enable both at the same time. I often see devs sacrificing an entire comment section to switch to the discussion board and vice-versa. Comments are ideal for a quick and convenient way to express yourself, while forums are better for more in-depth discussion and organizing community content. While I see cases where one would prefer one over another, I also see cases where one would prefer to have both, like myself.

I agree. Each time I start a new project, I think:

• “Will the game be big enough (in scope or popularity) to be worth opening a community forum?”
• “If it’s not popular enough and I still have a forum, will players see it as a project that was too ambitious and missed the spot?” I always end up with simple Comments because I prefer a few comments than ending up in lengthier discussions than having people hesitate to open a thread for small remarks and an empty forum.

But now, I also think that both are useful for both small and big projects:

• a small project can have bugs, troubleshooting and suggestions that require a long chain of messages. I just did that on a certain project, which happened to be an introduction for a longer story.
• as @crocdev said, comments are great for quick expression, and a player could totally comment “That was fun, thanks!” or “I loved how character X’s expression in chapter 2!” even on a big project

P.S.: I had troubles finding this thread, I also missed it and was about to open a new one. This is because itch thread search defaults to “Exact Phrase” instead of “All words”, unlike most search engines.