Forums

Several weeks ago, I was talking to another website author and giving him feedback on his website. He had some blog-like "community," which, when he explained it to me, didn't make much sense. I found out that he does know what a forum is, but I decided to post my email anyways, just for those who don't know (and you can link them to this post ;)

A forum is a online discussion place, but the word dates back to Roman times, as a "forum" in Rome would be a place where people would get together and talk. Naturally, people get together and talk in an online form.

A Forum can somewhat be related to a blog, but not quite. First, you have Categories. For instance, on my website, you can see the Support category, Questions category, and Stories category. Within each are threads, or topics. You can start a new thread by clicking Add Topic, New Thread, Ask a Question, or such a similar button. To relate to a blog, this would be the blog post. For example, let's say a person is having a problem getting Internet Explorer 8 installed. He adds a new topic, describing his problem. He gives it a title, something like "Cannot install IE 8: not supported service pack." Later, other people can give him comments, suggestions, or ask other questions by "replying" to his topic. The relation to a blog is that the "replies" are "comments" to a blog post. For our example, I may ask what Operating System and service pack he has, if he had not provided that in his "Topic starter" (first post).

He eventually replies, then I can reply with a set of solutions for him to try, in which he would reply back. Of course, other people can help out too, giving their suggestions, and asking other questions. This can also be related to "open" email, or as a "message board."