7. Forums

A forum allows you to post messages on any topic the forum owner wants to cover.

Other visitors can read the forum messages. If they wish to reply, they usually need to have an an account with the forum organiser. Forums can also be searched by keyword so older messages covering a topic can also be found.

Forums have been set up to cover almost any topic imaginable, from thimble collectors to fan-based forums.

Forums can be informal, such as one for home cinema enthusiasts or they can be for professionals such as a medical forum for doctors.

Forum can be unmoderated, meaning posts are loaded as soon as they are sent or the forum could be moderated, where someone reads the post before making it public. If the moderator does not approve the post then it is rejected and will not appear.

They are excellent respository of knowledge. For instance there is a forum that covers repairing cars, enter a keyword or two such as 'replacing Ford brake light' will bring up all messages posted covering that term.

Common terms regarding a forum are

• 'Thread' meaning a series of related messages posted on the board. Usually the forum will arrange these in a form of tree structure so you can easily see how they relate to one another
• 'Post' a single message within a thread. Usually anyone can read threads but you need to have an account to post a reply
• 'Troll'. Someone who deliberately posts provocative comments in order to start an argument or to offend
• 'Lurker' someone who reads the messages but never posts anything

You can purchase commercial forum software but there are also many free open source software packages that do the job equally well. You need a server and access to a database system such as MySQL to set up a forum.

Typical uses of a forum

• Hobbies (fishing, running or any topic under the sun)
• Sharing knowledge. For instance repairing a car or running a software application
• Discuss real time events. For instance a fan site to discuss a popular group
• Professional. e.g. a private medical board