How does forum works

Optionally, type instructions or a description in the Description text box. Format the text using the Text Editor functions, if you want. The Description appears below the forum name. Under Forum Availability, select the Yes option. Select Forum Settings. Click Submit. Close Menu. Allow author to delete own posts Allow author to edit own published posts Allow members to create new threads Allow members to rate posts.

You also have to agree to follow certain rules laid out by the forum's administrators, and each forum can be different. Netiquette is a portmanteau meaning "Internet etiquette. Basic netiquette includes these 10 rules:. There are thousands of Internet forums out there, about any topic you can think of.

They are a great way for Internet users to get information and to have fun. Forums give you a place to share your knowledge and meet other people with similar hobbies. Go out and look for a forum, and join the conversation today! Each week, Bask sends fun educational content to our thousands of members and email subscribers. Improve your technology know-how with tips, tricks, history, news and more by signing up for our newsletter today!

Do you know proper forum "netiquette"? Back to Blog. How Forums Work In a standard Internet forum, a user creates a post. Via these channels you can exchange ideas with friends, family, and other like-minded people — about everything and anything.

Having said all that, it is quite astonishing that the traditional internet forum, one of the oldest forms of virtual exchange , is still in demand. Web users still appreciate the opportunity to be part of a usually free community that is connected by a shared passion, a similar life situation, or a common goal. In addition to the general public discussion platforms and information forums, there are many support forums that offer help for services or products and are usually integrated into the official website of the stores and companies responsible.

The structure of the forums alone is no guarantee of success. The goal of a forum, therefore, differs depending on what the forum operator is hoping to achieve. There are four types of forum operators:. If you want to offer your customers added value in the form of a support forum or information forum, or create a completely new internet forum, you have a choice of software and hardware structures.

The costs associated with these different structures differ, as does the amount of effort needed to go into the installation and administration. You also have the option of whether you would like to host yourself or whether you prefer to rent the appropriate resources from a provider. If you want to have full control over your forum, search for the appropriate forum software and host this on your own private server or a rented one.

The requirement for this is comparatively low: for the current version of the very popular open-source forum software, phpBB, which is based on the scripting language, PHP , you just need a webserver that runs on at least PHP 4. Free systems like the aforementioned phpBB are great options for beginners to create a forum free of charge with the exception of hosting. Fee-based software such as vBulletin is a good idea for ambitious projects that are designed for a large number of users.

There are two possibilities if you are already running a web project based on a content management system and plan to link it to a forum. The first is to run CMS and forum software separately. This usually has the advantage of allowing you to be free to choose which program to use in creating your forum.

On the other hand, integrating the forum into an existing content management system and the page and design structure of a website can often prove to be a mammoth task. The second option is much more straightforward: for many modern CMSs like WordPress or Joomla there are now many powerful forum plugins like bbPress or Kunena that are easy to install and extend the website into a forum that is seamlessly integrated into the existing layout.

These service providers offer you forum software often free of charge including the required webspace. You often have the option of booking additional features that increase the functional range of the forum.

Thanks to these services taking on a lot of the load, you can concentrate entirely on creating your forum. Due to how popular some solutions have become, many classic forum software providers have decided to add their own hosting options to their portfolio. For example, vBulletin is also available in the cloud edition. Choose one of three tariffs and you will get access to a ready-to-use vBulletin installation including web space, backups, and tariff-specific bandwidth.

By using an external hosting service provider, you save a lot of time that you would otherwise have had to use to install and update forum systems and server software. In the following, we consider the strengths and weaknesses of the two options by taking the different criteria into account. By opting for a forum hosting provider, you will always have a more comfortable start into forum creation.

Applications are installed on an executable server structure and are kept up-to-date so you can focus on configuring your forum. You need to allow time for extra workload. Hosting the forum yourself gives you a high degree of freedom.