I really DON'T see it as a family - to me that notion is silly. If it was a family, then EVERYONE would be close and know each other. This was the case in the early old forums (Jan-Apr 2013), but as the forums grew it lost its family feel; I (like a lot of veterans probably) barely know a lot of the active posters, and I'm sure a lot of active posters barely know me as well. Therefore, I see this forums more as a smallish town, which started out as a small close circle of people, but as it grew it divided up into several (intersecting) groups, including, but not limited to, the forum veterans, the newer members, the bronies, the anime fans, the people into games, the people mostly into forums themselves, etc. People who left the forums are equivalent to people who moved out of the town. Edit: That's how I see pretty much every online forum, big or small.
I see it as a school: There are many different groups of people, and some overlap. For instance, there is the skyblock community, but within that community there are people who are also in groups like Factions, or forums. Yes, they are somewhat separate, as most people only do a few of them for most of the time, and do the rest only a bit, if at all. I'm definitely forums, and an overlap with factions. I play on the server plenty and move around, but the community that knows me are here, on the forums :3
An escape. In real life, with all your troubles, you can just enjoy and be yourself on the forums and get away from all the shit going on. You can make new friends and jusr have fun
I see sort of like a labyrinth. Each forum being a different path. At the end of each path is a room. In that room is a platter of all sorts of food, which is to represent a thread. As you eat the food, you get thirsty. Each food item also cures thirst. The thirst is each post. But at the end of some paths is a room that leads to other rooms, similar to a hallway in a hotel. The hallway of sorts is a subforum. Which then leads to the scenario above. But the labyrinth is a safe and fun place where you can never get lost.