I recently started working for a very large travel network. A real job, filled out a W2 have to commute to work... When I interviewed for the job I had to explain my previous online business experience etc. I told him how much I relied on webmaster forums like DP. He had never once been on a webmaster forum. I have never done any business on the internet without using a forum. And honestly I never really thought about people not using them while venturing on the internet. Then I thought how do people learn so much about ebiz without a community like DP and the others?
generally large companies work with television ads, newspaper ads & word of mouth. if you talk to them about communities they wont have so much time to think about, since they want things to be done very quick, they would work with phone calls if they need anything. forums are not that popular, but once they know the power of communities, they will come here always.
No doubt forums are great place for sharing ideas and individual experience but its not just enough, you may also consider to visit relevant blogs, social networking sites, bookmarking sites, news sites and seo specific boards to gain throughout experience.
Some people with little time just don't want to try anything new... they have set ways to do things... thats how they do it.. (phone , email)
They learn from experience There are marketing courses etc etc Just my thoughts to and some posible answers
Yeah, no doubt there are ways to learn a lot without a forum/community. I just never really though about having to do it. Example: If I need a quick job done, I can just post it up in the services section. Someone not on a forum probably needs to make a few phone calls, and its probably more expensive.