I sometimes run into problems for some games (mostly some indie titles or sims like Ship Simulator Extreme) and needed the forums to find a solution to some common problems. The issue I was having at the time was an issue other Steam users had and since the game is niche, Steam's forums was the only place where I could find some decent troubleshooting help.

So yes, I completely understand the need for forums. I've used them sparingly but often enough to see their value.

Also, for some games I've managed to find out if a game is woke or not. Most people ask these things for most new games (indie, AAA or otherwise) and usually there's a thread or two about how woke a game is. I was able to find out a couple of times that a game was woke before buying it, even though it didn't seem particularly woke from the promo material. It was thanks to the forums that I was able to gather this information. Without the forums I may have added a woke game to my wishlist and purchased it unknowingly.