A forum, also known as an internet message board, is a website that’s used to have conversations and exchange information with people across the world. They are different than typical chat rooms as the public messages that are created are typically archived for the entire life of the site. This makes it especially important to exercise some level of anonymity when participating in a forum and to also use some discretion in regards to what you say publically.
The most common format of an online forum is the use of categories, subcategories and threads. A site may be about dogs, while a category may be about dog food, with a sub category of lamb dog food and a specific thread may be someone asking, what is the best lamb dog food? The hierarchy used by most forums makes them extremely easy to navigate to find information. Commonly, the most important threads will also be “stickied”, meaning they will always be at the top of each category’s thread listings.
Forums have become a great place for people to ask questions about specific things that users of a forum may specialize in, such as home repairs or automotive maintenance. If you have trouble coming up with an answer, odds are someone on the forum will be able to help you directly or lead you in the right direction. This makes forums an invaluable tool for research and information gathering.
Modern forums have evolved from bulletin boards, and are the modern day equivalent to the bulletin board systems that were popular during the 1980s and early 90s. The first forums found online allowed people to post messages and leave comments and were probably more similar to what you would find on a blog nowadays. Later on advances emerged that broke forums up into the hierarchical format we know and love today.