Chats & Forums

Everyone is so internet savvy these days, you'd probably know or have used an Internet Chat room or Internet Forum in your life at one point.

Often called a message board, an Internet Forum is an online discussion site. It originated from the traditional bulletin board, or the technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system. Forums or boards are web applications managing user-generated content (which means anybody who has access to a computer and the forum can input information on the board). Forums are basically postings by users on different topics, and usually ran by a moderator. Discussions and questions are exchanged between users about any topic, usually the one that the moderator sets. Responses and feedback between people can range anywhere from a few seconds to days, or even longer.

Internet Chat is quite the opposite. It is "live" (meaning your discussions online with other users are instantaneous, almost like a real discussion face-to-face). Responses and questions usually generated by each user only within a few seconds.

So why don't people just talk face to face? Or how about just calling them? Why do they need to use a computer to communicate with the outside world? What impact will result from type of social interaction between people?

A big reason why people use computers to meet people or discuss topics in the first place is anonymity. It is much easier to talk about subjects that you normally wouldn't talk about because your identity is hidden. This type of interaction online and recently been shown in studies that people who only use online forums and chats to communicate with other people have a very difficult social life in their community.

Forums are governed by a set of individuals, referred to as a 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 guidelines of the forums creators. There is usually a FAQ section with basic information for new members and those who are not familiar with the use and guidelines of a forum.

Forum rules are generally enforced the moderation team, but there are users who are allowed to help, which is called the report system. If a person sees a rule being violated, they are encouraged to report the user and/or Forum discussion to either be removed or evaluated.

A forum consists of a tree like directory structure containing at the lowest end topics (commonly called threads) and inside them posts. Logically forums are organized into a finite set of generic topics (usually with one main topic) driven and updated by a group known as members, and governed by a group known as moderators. All message boards will use one of three possible display formats. Each of the three basic message board display formats: Non-Threaded/Semi-Threaded/Fully Threaded, has its own advantages and disadvantages. If messages are not related to one another at all a Non-Threaded format is best. Forums prefer a premise of open and free discussion.