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What Is It?

A Web-based forum is a capability where users engage in a general or topic-specific discussion. Based upon the public square or marketplace in ancient Rome that was used as an assembly place for business, the Web-based forum is intended as a platform for free exchange of ideas, thoughts, and comments. This format also is known as a message or bulletin board, and the messages on that forum usually are kept online for future viewing and arranged by topic and threads that serve as sub-categories beneath a specific topic.

Who Is it For?

Forums are popular among Web users who seek like-minded individuals in topic-specific discussions. Forums are hosted by a Web site owner as a means to pull in potential Web site users for various reasons. Drawing traffic to a site through conversations about that site’s offerings can bring clients to a Web site that offers commercial goods or services. Forum “posters” or users often ask questions about a specific topic, hoping for answers from an expert in that topic. Other users may “lurk,” or never participate in the forum, yet read through various posts. Still others may use forums as a means of building a social group or business network.

Features

Forums usually are designed to show main topics and “threads” or categories within that specific topic. Readers then can browse through topics and threads to find information offered by various forum users. Some forums are private, which means that users and readers must register or pay a fee or become a member of a specific club, business, or organization to read or write within that forum.

Public forums usually require registration as well, so that readers can identify a specific writer through a picture that the writer uses for identification and through a user name. This icon usually doesn’t show the actual image of the user, but features artwork or a photograph that the writer chooses for identification. Another reason behind registration is so forum moderators or owners can identify a user who presents problems for the forum by breaking forum rules for posting or by “flaming” other users. Flaming is a term used to describe the act of sending or posting messages that are hostile and insulting.

Forums usually are designed for access from any Web browser, no matter if they’re intended as private or public message boards. Usually a private message board contains a homepage that informs users about the requirements for participation. Public forums usually display the messages on the front page and may continue on other pages depending upon the activity within the forum and the longevity of that forum’s activities.

Compatibility

Web sites that offer forums can find software designed for a specific operating system, no matter if it’s Linux or Windows. Most forums are designed to carry main topics and threads, which can be developed by the Web forum host or moderators or naturally by forum users through topic- and thread-building capabilities of the software.

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