Nice to know: What exactly is an Internet Forum?

Nice to know:  What exactly is an Internet Forum?
   
 

An Internet forum is a discussion area on a website. Website members can post discussions and read and respond to posts by other forum members. An Internet forum can be focused on nearly any subject and a sense of an online community, or virtual community, tends to develop among forum members.
 
An Internet forum is also called a message board, discussion group,bulletin board or web forum. However, it differs from a blog, the name for a web log, as a blog is usually written by one user and usually only allows for the responses of others to the blog material. An Internet forum usually allows all members to make posts and start new topics. 

An Internet forum is also different from a chat room.Members in a chat room usually all chat or communicate at the sametime, while members in an Internet forum post messages to be read byothers whenever they happen to log on. Internet forums also tend to bemore topic-focused than chat rooms.
-  Click here for more details:  http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-internet-forum.htm
 

Forums prefer a premise of open and free discussion and often adopt de facto standards.Most common topics on forums include questions, comparisons, polls ofopinion as well as debates. Because of their volatile and random behavior it is not uncommon for nonsense or unsocial behavior to sproutas people lose temper, especially if the topic is controversial. Poor understanding of argumentation theoryand differences in values of the participants is a common problem on forums. Because replies to a topic are often wording aimed at someone's point of view, discussion will usually go slightly off into several directions as people question each others validity, sources and so on.Circular discussion and ambiguity in replies can carry out arguments for several tens of posts of a thread eventually ending when everyone gives up or another similar debate takes it over. It is not uncommon for a style over substance or ad hominem debates to be the ones to take it over. Other problems on forums include catch-22 logic, regress arguments, vagueness, counterfactual history arguments and so on.
- Click here for more details:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum