An Internet forum is a web or NNTP application for holding discussions and posting user-generated content. phpBB is a popular Internet forum package written in the PHP programming language In Software engineering, a web application or webapp is an application that is accessed via Web browser over a network such as the Internet The Network News Transfer Protocol or NNTP is an Internet application protocol used primarily for reading User generated content ( UGC, often hyphenated also known as Consumer Generated Media ( CGM) or User created Content ( UCC) refers [1][2] Internet forums are also commonly referred to as Web forums, newsgroups, message boards, discussion boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, fora (the Latin plural) or simply forums. A newsgroup is a Repository usually within the Usenet system for messages posted from many users in different locations Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The terms "forum" and "board" may refer to the entire community or to a specific sub-forum dealing with a distinct topic. Messages within these sub-forums are then displayed either in chronological order or as threaded discussions. A threaded discussion is an electronic discussion (such as one via E-mail, e-mail list, Bulletin board, Newsgroup, or Internet forum In many cases a gateway allows access to the same data via an HTTP or an NNTP interface.
Such forums perform a function similar to that of dial-up bulletin board systems that were common from the late 1970s to the 1990s. A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a Computer system running software that allows users to connect and login to Early web-based forums date back as far as 1996. A sense of virtual community often develops around forums that have regular users. A virtual community, e-community or online community is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as Newsletters Technology, computer games and/or video games, sports, fashion, religion, and politics are popular areas for forum themes, but there are forums for a huge number of topics. Technology is a broad concept that deals with a Species ' usage and knowledge of Tools and Crafts and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt A personal computer Game (also known as a computer game or simply PC game) is a Video game played on a Personal computer, rather A video game is a Game that involves interaction with a User interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Sport is an Activity that is governed by a set of rules or Customs and often engaged in competitively Fashion refers to styles of dress (but can also include cuisine literature art architecture and general comportment that are popular in a culture at any given time A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Internet slang and image macros popular across the internet are abundant and widely used in internet forums. Internet slang, Internet language, Netspeak, Chatspeak, Leetspeak, Chat Room Shorthand, Computer Language, An image macro is a term coined for a Picture with digitally superimposed text often for humorous effect
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Membership and anonymity
Anonymous forums may offer full anonymity or pseudonymity, allowing posts without registration. Pseudonymity is a word derived from Pseudonym, meaning 'false name' and describes a state of disguised identity resulting from the use of a pseudonym (also called nym Captchas, e-mail authentication, and tripcodes are often used to prevent comment spam on such forums. A CAPTCHA (ˈkæptʃə is a type of challenge-response test used in Computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer E-mail authentication is the effort to equip messages of the e-mail transport system with enough verifiable information so that recipients can recognize the nature of each incoming message Tripcodes are a method of Authentication that does not require registration Spam in blogs (also called simply blog spam or comment spam) is a form of Spamdexing.
Registered members of a forum, who are identified by unique usernames, may have additional privileges, such as the ability to edit their previous posts, start new topics, and control their individual settings and profiles. Users in a Computing context refers to one who uses a computer system The profiles tend to include graphical avatars and signature blocks which are appended to their future posts, sometimes consisting of elaborate shoutboxes. An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself/herself or alter ego whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games a two-dimensional Icon A signature block (often abbreviated as signature, sig block, sig file,. A shoutbox, saybox, tagboard, or chatterbox is a chat -like feature of some Websites that allows people to quickly leave messages Members also have the ability to send personal messages to each other. A personal message or private message, often shortened to PM, is like an E-mail sent from one Internet forum or Bulletin board system In certain cases, members have been given the ability to close their own topics, edit previously posted comments, or delete posts in topics they have started.
Western-style forums place heavy emphasis on identity and user registration. This makes the tone of discussion very different from the more anonymous 2channel style boards. The burdens of status and persona encourage both highly formal discourse and close personal relationships, depending on the tone given a forum by its moderators and heaviest users. The permanence of messages on many western-style forums can encourage users to self-moderate. Precursor systems like Usenet have been archived as far back as 1981 by Google Groups (formerly DejaNews). Usenet, a Portmanteau of "user" and "network" is a world-wide distributed Internet discussion system Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Google Groups is a free service from Google where groups of people have discussions about common interests The Deja News Research Service was an Archive of messages posted to Usenet discussion groups started in 1995 by Steve Madere in Austin Texas
Administrators and moderators
A forum administrator typically has the ability to edit, delete, move or otherwise modify any thread on the forum. An, or message board, is a Bulletin board system in the form of a discussion site Administrators also usually have the ability to close the board, change major software items, change global skins, modify the board, and ban, delete, or create members. A ban (derived from Banishment) is generally any Decree that prohibits something Moderators have a subset of these powers, which may include editing, deleting, and moving threads, mass pruning, warning members for offences, and changing minor forum details. A forum moderator, often shortened to just mod, is a person granted special powers to enforce the rules of an Internet forum ( Message board) or Electronic It is often possible for moderator privileges to be delegated to other forum members.
A board's moderation system can include moderation of the moderators via a meta-moderation system. On Internet Websites which invite users to post comments a moderation system is the method the Webmaster chooses to sort contributions which are irrelevant A meta-moderation system is an arrangement used on some Internet Websites (such as Internet forums Blogs and news websites which invite user comments The board software may also allow administrators to create wordfilters, automated scripts which strip undesirable text from users' messages. A wordfilter (sometime just "filter" or "censor" is a script typically used on Internet forums or Chat rooms that automatically scans users' posts Other features may include sticky threads, allowing moderators and administrators to cause significant threads to display at the top of the forum's index. Sticky content refers to content published on a Website, which has the purpose of getting a user to return to that particular website or hold their attention and get
Features
Forum software packages are widely available on the Internet and are written in a variety of programming languages, such as PHP, Perl, Java and ASP. The Internet is a global system of interconnected Computer networks A programming language is an Artificial language that can be used to write programs which control the behavior of a machine particularly a Computer. PHP is a computer Scripting language. Originally designed for producing Dynamic web pages it has evolved to include a Command line interface capability NOTES FOR EDITORS "Perl" is not an acronym (read the "Name" section below Active Server Pages ( ASP) is Microsoft 's first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated web pages The configuration and records of posts can be stored in text files or in a database. A text file (sometimes spelled "textfile" is a kind of Computer file that is structured as a sequence of lines. A Computer Database is a structured collection of records or data that is stored in a computer system Each package offers different features, from the most basic, providing text-only postings, to more advanced packages, offering multimedia support and formatting code (usually known as BBCode). Multimedia is media and content that utilizes a combination of different content forms. Many packages can be integrated easily into an existing website to allow visitors to post comments on articles.
Several other web applications, such as weblog software, also incorporate forum features. A blog (a contraction of the term " Web log " is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary descriptions of Wordpress comments at the bottom of a blog post allow for a single-threaded discussion of any given blog post. Slashcode, on the other hand, is far more complicated, allowing fully threaded discussions and incorporating a robust moderation and meta-moderation system as well as many of the profile features available to forum users. Slash (a Backronym for S lashdot- L ike A utomated S torytelling H omepage is the collection of Free software Full content management systems such as Drupal or Mambo can also incorporate full-blown forums as plugins or basic features of forums in other portions of their website. A content management system ( CMS) is a computer application used to create edit manage and publish content in a consistently organized fashion Drupal (ˈdɹuːpʰəl is a free and Open source modular framework and Content management system (CMS written in the programming language Mambo (formerly named Mambo Open Source or MOS) is a Free software / open source Content management system (CMS for creating and
Comparison with other web applications
One significant difference between forums and electronic mailing lists is that mailing lists automatically deliver new messages to the subscriber, while forums require the member to visit the website and check for new posts. An electronic mailing list (sometimes written as elist or e-list) is a special usage of e-mail that allows for widespread distribution of information to Because members may miss replies in threads they are interested in, many modern forums offer an "e-mail notification" feature, whereby members can choose to be notified of new posts in a thread, and web feeds that allow members to see a summary of the new posts using aggregator software. A web feed (or news feed) is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content In computing a feed aggregator, also known as a feed reader, news reader or simply aggregator, is client software or a Web application The main difference between newsgroups and forums is that additional software, a newsreader, is required to participate in newsgroups. Visiting and participating in forums normally requires no additional software beyond the web browser. A web browser is a software application which enables a user to display and interact with text images videos music games and other information typically located on a
Wikis, unlike conventional forums, typically allow all users to edit all content, including each other's messages. A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content using a simplified Markup language. This level of content manipulation is reserved for moderators or administrators on most forums. Wikis also allow the creation of other content outside of the talk pages. A talk page, or discussion page is used in Wiki collaboration containing discussion about the contents of its associated "subject" page (or "article" On the other hand, weblogs and generic content management systems tend to be locked down to the point where only a few select users can post blog entries, although many allow other users to comment upon them.
Forums differ from chat rooms and instant messaging in that forum participants do not have to be online simultaneously to receive or send messages. The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by Mass media to describe any form of Synchronous conferencing, occasionally even Asynchronous conferencing Messages posted to a forum or Usenet are publicly available for some time, which is uncommon in chat rooms that maintain frequent activity.
Forum netiquette
Forum netiquette can vary on different forums. Netiquette, a portmanteau of " network Etiquette " is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks ranging from On default, individuals must agree to a Registry Agreement that defines a forum's rules before joining that particular forum, but whether those rules are actively enforced varies from forum to forum. For example, a family friendly forum would prohibit sexually explicit content, but a sex-oriented forum would encourage it. Also, some forums are more tolerant of cursing and rude behavior than others.
Multiple posts (or Double posting)
One common faux pas on internet forums is to post the same message twice. Users sometimes post versions of a message that are only slightly different, especially in forums where they aren't allowed to edit their earlier posts. Multiple posting instead of editing prior posts can artificially inflate a user's post count. Multiple posting can be unintentional; a user's browser might display an error message even though the post has been transmitted or a user of a slow forum might become impatient and repeatedly hit the submit button. Multiple posting can also be used as a method of trolling or spreading forum spam. An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community such as an Spam is the posting of advertisements abusive or unneeded messages on Internet forums It is generally posted by automated Spambots. A user may also send the same post to several forums, which is termed crossposting. Crossposting is the act of posting the same message to multiple forums, Mailing lists or Newsgroups This is distinct from multiposting which involves This problem was inherited from Usenet and is a common complaint in many forums.
In many forums which have editing allowed they have rules asking people not to make multiple posts, and also use a common plug-in to merge double posts (without an administrator/moderator having to manually delete or merge the posts).
Spamming
Forum spamming is a breach of netiquette where users repeat the same word or phrase over and over, but differs from multiple posting in that spamming is usually a wilful act which sometimes has malicious intent. Spam is the posting of advertisements abusive or unneeded messages on Internet forums It is generally posted by automated Spambots. This is a common trolling technique. It can also be traditional spam, unpaid advertisements that are in breach of the forum's rules. Spamming is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages Advertising is a form of Communication that typically attempts to persuade potential Customers to Purchase or to consume more of a particular Brand Spammers utilize a number of illicit techniques to post their spam, including the use of botnets. Botnet is a Jargon term for a collection of Software robots or bots that run autonomously and automatically A different form of spamming is making posts that have little or no meaning (e. g. , "I lik to tadada").
Trolls
A troll is a user that repeatedly and intentionally breaches netiquette, often posting derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an established online community to bait users into responding. An Internet troll, or simply troll in Internet slang, is someone who posts controversial and irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community such as an Netiquette, a portmanteau of " network Etiquette " is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks ranging from Words and phrases are pejorative if they imply disapproval or contempt They may also link to shock sites or plant images on networks that others may find disturbing in order to cause confrontation. A shock site is a Website that is intended to be offensive disgusting or disturbing to its viewers containing materials of high Shock value which is also considered Trolls known as gravediggers purposefully post in old and irrelevant threads simply to bring that thread to light again.
See also
- Hit-and-run posting
- Comparison of Internet forum software
- Imageboard
- Online consultation
- Online deliberation
- Shoutbox (also known as a "tagboard")
- Social software
References
- ^ Brevard User's Group - Technical Glossary. Hit-and-run posting refers to a tactic where a poster at an Internet forum enters makes a post only to disappear immediately after This is a comparison of the features of various Internet forum packages An imageboard (also chan, which itself is short for channel is a type of Internet forum that revolves around the posting of images. Online consultations or e-consultations refer to an exchange between government and citizens using the Internet. Online deliberation is a term associated with an emerging body of practice research and software dedicated to fostering serious purposive discussion over the Internet A shoutbox, saybox, tagboard, or chatterbox is a chat -like feature of some Websites that allows people to quickly leave messages Social software encompasses a range of software systems that allow users to interact and share data Brevard User's Group. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title
- ^ "Glossary Of Technical Terms", Green Web Design. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title
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