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.
More on [ Internet forum ]
About.com Paintball - Discusses general paintball issues. Has scheduled times for guide or chat host.
Meta Description: [ Welcome to an exciting blend of strategy, team work, action and adventure, also known as paintball. Enter the About Paintball Guide Site where you'll learn what paintball is all about, including the basic rules, what equipment is needed, strategies, safety, different paintball games and product ... ]
PaintballForum.com - Offers general discussions and sections about specific guns and gear reviews.
Meta Description: [ Discuss paintball guns and paintball gear on our message board. Paintball forum includes categories for paintball markers, goggles, masks, air, stores, and everything paintball related. ]
PB Nation - Online paintball forums with movies and other paintball related topics.
Meta Description: [ PbNation is a site dedicated to the sport of Paintball. ]
The Walkon Zone - Tournament calendar, chat forum, tech area, links, and information.
Meta Description: [ Paintball WalkonZone is the definitive paintball resource with paintball links, paintball guns, and plenty of paintball information. ]
WARPIG PigChat - A Java applet to connect you to WARPIG's DALNet IRC channel.