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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


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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RT @kidderachi: found out a UK rapper been posting my mixtape in forums whilst actin like he aint heard of me!! lol lames! •• Groupy love
EdHardtimes (Zee Zee Oruche ) Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:29:28 -0000
RT @kidderachi: found out a UK rapper been posting my mixtape in forums whilst actin like he aint heard of me!! lol lames! •• Groupy love
RT @FlyersView: RT @simpliflying PIA pilots & FAs break all rules, enter cockpit in-flight, take pics & post them on forums! http://bit ...
pamybayy (pamybayy) Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:29:22 -0000
RT @FlyersView: RT @simpliflying PIA pilots & FAs break all rules, enter cockpit in-flight, take pics & post them on forums! http://bit ...
Articulate Community Forums - View Profile: andrel http://www.articulate.com/forums/members/andrel.html
andrel58 (ANDREJS LISMENTS) Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:29:16 -0000
Articulate Community Forums - View Profile: andrel http://www.articulate.com/forums/members/andrel.html
PwR CoD:MW2 360 team ranked 2nd in europe! http://www.decerto.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4136
Power_Gaming (PowerGaming) Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:29:06 -0000
PwR CoD:MW2 360 team ranked 2nd in europe! http://www.decerto.net/forums/showthread.php?t=4136
IF Signatures in forums are no follow http://bit.ly/7cKalm
MichaelEhline (Michael Ehline) Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:29:02 -0000
IF Signatures in forums are no follow http://bit.ly/7cKalm
RT @TriRATS: check out the new RATS Forums! Once in the Forums, click on the link in the upper right corner area to register. http://bi ...
tribonzai (Bonzai Sports) Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:28:58 -0000
RT @TriRATS: check out the new RATS Forums! Once in the Forums, click on the link in the upper right corner area to register. http://bi ...

 
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Meta Description: [ The index page ]

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Bestweb - Usenet style threaded discussion, multiple forums, multiple languages, automatic archiving, printable pages, and message voting.
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bSpeak Threaded Messageboard - A PHP and MySQL based messageboard software. [Commercial]
Meta Description: [ bSpeak Threaded Message Board - A full-featured, threaded message board to build your online community. bSpeak features easy site integration, a conversation-friendly threaded format, blazing fast performance, and many other features. ]

ccForum - A simple, easy to use message board system. It supports single or multiple forums, user registration and anonymous posting, and forum administrators. ccForum is written in PHP and is based on a MySQL database. [Open source, GPL]

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Dynamic Flash Forum - A PHP and MySQL based message board with animated and easy to use Flash interface. [Open source, GPL]
Meta Description: [ DFF is the message board of the future using PHP and MYSQL, with a fast loading, animated and easy to use Flash interface. Free to use on your site! ]

ezPhpForum - A simple to use PHP forum package.
Meta Description: [ ezPhpForum is an open source project which is easy to install and use. Design your own templates, add pages with content just like a cms and more... ]

FUD Forum - Very feature-rich PHP forum system with MySQL/PostgreSQL backend

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Gravity Board X (GBX) - A PHP and MySQL based message board system. [Open source, GPL]

HydroBB - A bulletin board powered by PHP and MySQL. [Freeware]
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IceBB - Open-source forum software in PHP.
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k4 Bulletin Board - Downloads, modifications, news and general information. [Open source, MIT/X Consortium License]
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miniBB - Small, fast and free discussion board system written in PHP, can be based on any database supported by PHP (including mySQL and PostgreSQL).
Meta Description: [ How to make up a forum? Get miniBB - free and paid discussion custom forum software, bulletin board system script, written in php + mysql. Download now! ]

myBB - Coded in PHP and backed by mySQL. Free
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