Does anyone know any curated forum directories? Forums like in the early 2000s. Places that aren't owned and governed by some corporate overlord. Places with genuine interaction rather than senseless ragebait and "content" designed to generate likes and shares. Places that aren't merely echo-chambers.
The general directories I have found are mostly just compilations of forums rather than curated lists listing just the best ones. You best bet to search for them would be looking for "awesome"-type resource compilations for the particular niche you are interested in, and then seeing if that list has an entry for "Forums" under its resources.
I haven't seen anything like this before, but I think it's a good idea. I would suggest starting it yourself and putting it on GitHub something similar so that anyone can submit more via pull requests.
The main domain curates links on various topics by humans. Lots of interesting links you don't come across on search - https://linklists.net/.