Online Forums
An Internet forum is a site on the World Wide Web for holding discussions by posting user-generated content. Each such discussion is commonly referred to as a thread. Generally, unless they are deleted by a forum administrator or moderator, these threads are saved on the Web site hosting the forum where they remain available for future reading. Computer games, health, politics, and technology topics (such as specific software help) are popular forum themes.
Because Internet forums evolved from early, pre-Internet dial-up bulletin boards (where users would connect directly with a bulletin board via their modem), some still refer to them as such. Internet forums are also commonly referred to as electronic bulletin boards, discussion boards, discussion groups, discussion forums, message boards, Web forums, or simply forums.
Most forums require some sort of registration process which then allows only registered members to post threads or replies to threads.
It's a good idea (and the polite, courteous thing to do) to read over other posts before you post to a forum. Doing so will help you become familiar with what constitutes appropriate behavior for that forum. Most forums also have some sort of FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page that gives the rules for the forum. Posting information or using language that is contrary to those rules can cause a user to be banned from posting further messages.
