A forum is generally based on the internet, and is usually a message board on an online discussion site. It first originated as the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system. From a technological standpoint, forums are web based applications that manage user generated content. People who participate in an Internet forum may cultivate social bonds and interest groups for a topic made from the discussions. Forums are a fairly new phenomenon, and came about shortly after the internet first took off.

The History of Forums

Early Internet forums could be described as a web version of a newsgroup or electronic mailing list; allowing people to post messages and comment on other messages. Later developments emulated the different newsgroups or individual lists, providing more than one forum, dedicated to a particular topic. Forums are typically prevalent in several developed countries; Japan is far in lead when it comes to countable posts, with over two millions posts each day on one of their largest forums. China also has many millions of posts on forums. A sense of a virtual community often develops around forums that have regular users. Technology, computer games and/or video games, sports, music, fashion, religion, and politics are popular areas for forum themes, but there are forums for a huge number of topics, one popular topic in particular, and sites such as Babies Base have specialized forums especially for pregnant women, fathers and even experienced mums, allowing them to get the information they need. Internet slang and image macros popular across the Internet are abundant and widely used in Internet forums. Forum software packages are widely available on the Internet and are written in a variety of programming languages, such as PHP, Perp, Java and ASP. The configuration and records of posts can be stored in text files or in a database. Each package offers different features, from the most basic, providing text-only postings, to more advanced packages, offering multimedia support and formatting code.

Registration

In the U.S and some parts of Europe, most internet forums require registration to post. Registered users are referred to as members, and are allows to submit, or send electronic messages through the application. The registration process involved verification of your age, as well as a declaration of the terms of service and a request for agreement of the terms declared. If terms are agreed to, then users will then be presented with a new page requesting a username (an alias), a password, email address and validation of a CAPTCHA code. Once this stage is completed, the user will be sent an email in order to verify the account properly, until this is done, their online account will remain ‘inactive’, meaning the user can log in, but will be unable to take part in any of the forums on the website.

Referral Systems

Sometimes a referrer system is implemented. A referrer is someone who introduced or otherwise helped someone with the decision to join the site. Usually, referrers are other forum members, and members are usually rewarded for referrals. The purpose is commonly just to give credit, like rewards, to those who helped the community to grow.

Rules, Policies and Guidelines

Forums are governed by a set of individuals, collectively referred to as staff, made up of administrators and moderators, which are responsible for the forums’ conception, technical maintenance, and policies. Most forums have a list of rules detailing the wishes, aim and guidelines of the forums creators. There is usually also a FAQ section contain basic information for new members and people not yet familiar with the use and principles of a forum. Rules on forums usually apply to the entire user body and often have preset exceptions, most commonly designating a section as an exception. For example, in an IT forum any discussion regarding anything but computer programming languages may be against the rules, with the exception of a general chat section. Forum rules are maintained and enforced by the moderation team, but users are allowed to help out via what is known as a report system. Most American forum software contains such a system. It consists of a small function applicable to each post (including your own). Using it will notify all currently available moderators of its location, and subsequent action or judgment can be carried out immediately, which is particularly desirable in large or very developed boards.

When rules are broken several steps are commonly taken. First a warning is usually given; this is commonly in the form of a private message but recent development has made it possible for it to be integrated into the software. Subsequently, if the act is ignored and warnings do not work, the first step usually taken is for the member to be exiled from the forum for a number of days. Denying someone access to the site is called a ban.

Bans can mean the person can no longer log in or even view the site anymore. If the offender, after the warning sentence, repeats the offense, another ban is given, usually this time a longer one. Continuous harassment of the site eventually leads to a permanent ban. However, in most cases this simply means the account is locked. In extreme cases where the offender – after being permanently banned – creates another account and continues to harass the site, administrators will apply an IP ban, preventing the offender from accessing the site completely.