Ah, web forums. Some of nicest places on the internet, and some of the worst.
A Little History
Web forums came into existence in the very late 90's. Only then did the web itself have enough features to allow web forums to flourish. Before that, most internet discussion was on two places: Usenet, which collapsed in 1996 because of the Great AOL Invasion, and dialup bulletin boards, which died because of their own limitations.
Websites quickly created forums for their own regular readers, and soon there were forums for every conceivable interest. There are even some websites that are nothing but web forums, such as the infamous 4chan (which contains some pornographic material).
How They Work
On a web forum, all discussion activity is stored on a server. You go to a website, which may contain a number of sub-forums (sometimes just called "forums"), usually all on the same topic. So, for example, a cooking site might have a "Forums" area, with specific forums just for Southern cooking, Asian cooking, French cooking, etc.
Each forum contains a number of topics or threads, each of which will contain any number of messages. The forum is usually sorted so that the most recent topics are listed first.
How To Join In
Some forums allow anonymous comments, wherein you can add to any topic--or even create your own topic--by just typing your comments into a box. Others require that you register, or create an account, on the forum.
Registering an account on a forum is separate from creating an account on any other service. So, while a company may have forums, even if you're a customer of that company who's logged in to add products to your shopping cart, you may need to register an account separately in the forum.
Registering an account sometimes requires several steps. In some cases, it's as simple as typing in a username--the name by which you're known on the forum--and a password. Some forums require that you type a special code word, and some require that you enter an email address, and click a link in an email they send you to confirm the email address. This is all to prevent automated software from hacking into the board.
Most English-language forums require that you create an account. Many Asian forums are completely anonymous, which fosters a different kind of discussion that I won't go into here.
Once you've registered an account, you'll typically need to log in; look for a link or button labeled "Log in" or "Login" somewhere on the screen. Then, you can post to any topic or create a new one; look for links or buttons labelled "Add a topic" or "Reply."
Formatting Your Posts
Some forums don't let you format your posts at all, keeping everything in plain text. However, many allow you to add bold, italics, formatted lists, and other formatting to your messages.
Some forums let you use HTML tags, which are just special words inserted into your text to format it. Here are some popular HTML tags in forum software:
| Example HTML | How It Looks |
|---|---|
| The following word is <b>bold</b> | The following word is bold |
| The following word is <i>italicized</i> | The following word is italicized |
| The following word is a <a href="http://www.yahoo.com/">link</a> | The following word is a link |
Other forums use BBCode, which is very similar to HTML but uses slightly different characters. Here are some popular BBCode tags:
| Example BBCode | How It Looks |
|---|---|
| The following word is [b]bold[/b] | The following word is bold |
| The following word is [i]italicized[/i] | The following word is italicized |
| The following word is a [url="http://www.yahoo.com/"]link[/url] | The following word is a link |
| [url]http://www.wikipedia.org/[/url] | http://www.wikipedia.org/ |
Who Runs This Place?
Every forum usually has at least one moderator, who is supposed to monitor the forum for unruly behavior. The moderator can usually delete posts, edit posts, and even delete accounts if someone won't stop harrassing others.
Administrators are often marked with a little icon next to their name, labeled "Admin" or some such. If you see an admin, tread with care.
Etiquette
Which brings us to the question of etiquette. What's considered okay, and what not okay, on a forum?
What's not okay:
- Threatening other forum members with physical violence (or digital violence, as in sending viruses)
- Insulting other members of the forum
- Multiple posts — Sometimes, if somebody's question isn't answered right away, they'll ask it again five times in a row. This is just annoying.
- Spamming — Repeating the same word or phrase over and over, posting nonsense messages, or advertising a completely unrelated commercial product.
- Trolling — This is a somewhat tricky term. There are two distinct meanings here. A troll is a person who posts deliberately inflammatory material; insults, violent pornography, or well-worn issues that everyone's tired of. This is pretty clear. Alternatively, a person can troll by posting inflammatory material, even if they don't realize it. So, I might inadvertently troll a technology forum by posting an impatient rant about a bug they're well aware of; I'm not a deliberate troll, but I have trolled.
How to ensure you don't accidentally fall afoul of etiquette? Read the forum for a week or two before you post your first message. This is known as lurking, and it's a great way of learning about the forum's participants and popular topics, at no risk to yourself.
Generally speaking, if you keep to the forum's subject and don't get insulting, you'll be fine.
If you do find yourself replying to a topic in anger, stand up and go for a walk before you post the message. You'll make fewer enemies, develop a stronger reply, and maintain a better reputation on the forum.