I have definitely solved the odd issue from forums... but only because forums were the only thing available. Reading through them is still a chore and a half. Especially when 90% of the posts are "has anyone found a solution for this yet" ad nauseum that you still have to scroll through to eventually (maybe) find the page with the post you actually need.
I may just be bad at forums, but that's been my experience with them for the last 20+ years.