An Internet forum is a facility on the World Wide Web for holding discussions, or the web application software used to provide the facility. Web-based forums, which date from around 1995, perform a similar function as the dial-up bulletin boards and Internet newsgroups that were numerous in the 1980s and 1990s. A sense of virtual community often develops around forums that have regular users. Technology, computer games, and politics are popular areas for forum themes, but there are forums for a huge number of different topics .

Internet forums are also commonly referred to as web forums, message boards, discussion boards, discussion forums, discussion groups, bulletin boards (but see also dial-up bulletin boards), fora (the proper Latin plural) or simply forums.

Culture

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Internet forums are prevalent in several developed countries. In terms of countable posts, Japan is far in the lead with over two million posts per day on their largest forum, 2channel. The United States does not have any one large forum, but instead several hundred thousand smaller forums, the largest of which are GameFAQs, Gaia Online, and IGN. Other countries such as China, the Netherlands, and France are also home to hundreds of independent forums. Some countries such as Finland and Sweden do not have many prevalent forums despite having open and easily available Internet access. As of yet no study has been done on the prevalence of forums in countries around the world. It is also dubious as to whether any country has its own fora, as - especially in the English language - contributors to a forum often come from outside the country in which the forum is hosted. There is often not a 1-1 relationship between languages and countries: for example, English language fora are contributed to by people all over the world, whilst Japanese language fora are likely to be contributed to only by Japanese people, but Japanese people also contribute to English language fora, so there is no 1-1 relationship between Japanese language fora and Japanese people contributing to fora.

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eWeek - RSS Feeds

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The Seattle Times: Business & Technology

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NYT > Technology

Bits: Google Puts Privacy Link on Main Page
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:08:11 -0000
The move brings Google into clear compliance with a California law that requires many Internet sites to have a link to their privacy policy on their home page.
Google Told to Turn Over User Data of YouTube
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:30:23 -0000
The order raised concerns that the online video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed.
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CNN.com - Technology

Stealing ideas from nature
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:01:21 -0400
When self-confessed "nature nerd" Janine Benyus coined the term "biomimicry" in a book she published a decade ago, little did she know it would make her a household name, rubbing shoulders with Hollywood stars.
Faked tiger photo sparks Web furor
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Read full story for latest details.
Tunguska blast still a mystery 100 years on
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It produced a blast hundreds of times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb, was seen hundreds of miles away and narrowly missed obliterating an entire city -- but 100 years to the week after the mysterious explosion in Siberia, no one is any closer to understanding what caused it.

NPR Topics: Technology

We Know What You've Been Watching on YouTube
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:13:00 -0400
A court has ordered Google to turn over a database that links users to every video they've watched on the popular Web site YouTube. Jennifer Urban, director of the University of Southern California Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic, says the ruling has big implications for online privacy.
Twitter, What Are You Doing? Co-Founder Tells All
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:51:00 -0400
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Free Speech In China? Text Me
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:21:00 -0400
Hundreds of millions of people in China have cell phones, and with no voice mail, many turn to text messaging to make sure their messages get conveyed. Texting remains one of the few outlets for free speech in a country notorious for its censorship practices.

BBC News | Technology | UK Edition

Google 'faces Street View block'
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:56:34 -0000
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Warning letters to 'file-sharers'
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:41:04 -0000
The music industry says thousands of UK broadband users who share tracks illegally will be warned about it in letters.
Google must divulge YouTube log
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:19:53 -0000
Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched avideo on YouTube, says a US court.

Reuters Video: Technology

Japan asks: anybody out there?
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AP Top Technology News At 6:44 p.m. EDT

Court orders YouTube to give Viacom video logs
By ANICK JESDANUN Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:52:13 -0000
NEW YORK (AP) -- Dismissing privacy concerns, a federal judge overseeing a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the popular online video-sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and when....
2 teens attacked in town mocked in YouTube videos
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:44:12 -0000
DOVER, N.Y. (AP) -- Two teenagers who drove to Oniontown after a series of YouTube videos portrayed the hamlet as a run-down, backwoods dump were pelted with rocks by an angry group of young residents, authorities said....
Internet addressing agency loses its own addresses
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:57:41 -0000
NEW YORK (AP) -- This doesn't sound good: The nonprofit agency in charge of the Internet's addresses recently lost track of its own....

CNET News.com

Ask.com closes Dictionary.com deal
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VeriSign names interim CEO
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:02:00 -0700
Company's founder takes the place of the CEO and president, who resigned abruptly earlier this week.

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