Editing Internet forum (section)

==History==
{{See also|Web 2.0#History|Blog#History|Wiki#History}}
The modern forum originated from [[bulletin board]]s and so-called computer conferencing systems, which are a technological evolution of the dial-up [[bulletin board system]] (BBS).<ref name="bbsref">{{cite web |url=http://www.videojug.com/expertanswer/internet-communities-and-forums-2/what-is-an-internet-forum |title=What is an 'Internet forum'? (video entry by Ethan Feerst and Dylan Stewart group) |access-date=2008-11-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011092536/http://www.videojug.com/expertanswer/internet-communities-and-forums-2/what-is-an-internet-forum |archive-date=2008-10-11 }}</ref><ref name="Glossary Of Technical Terms">{{cite news |title=Glossary Of Technical Terms |url=http://www.greenwebdesign.com/Glossary-Of-Technical-Terms.htm |work=Green Web Design |access-date=2008-04-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080507024349/http://www.greenwebdesign.com/Glossary-Of-Technical-Terms.htm |archive-date=2008-05-07 }}</ref> <!-- IT definition -->From a technological standpoint, ''forums'' or ''boards'' are [[web application]]s that manage [[user-generated content]].<ref name="Glossary Of Technical Terms"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://bugclub.org/glossary.html |title=Brevard User's Group - Technical Glossary |access-date=2008-04-28 |work=Brevard User's Group |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080421205816/http://bugclub.org/glossary.html |archive-date=2008-04-21 }}</ref> <!-- short intuitive description -->

Early Internet forums could be described as a web version of an [[electronic mailing list]] or [[Usenet newsgroup|newsgroup]] (such as those that exist on [[Usenet]]), allowing people to post messages and comment on other messages. Later developments emulated the different newsgroups or individual lists, providing more than one forum dedicated to a particular topic.<ref name="bbsref"/>

Internet forums are prevalent in several [[Developed country|developed countries]]. Japan posts the most,{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} with over two million per day on their largest forum, [[2channel]]. China also has millions of posts on forums such as [[Tianya Club]].

Some of the first forum systems were the Planet-Forum system, developed at the beginning of the 1970s; the [[Electronic Information Exchange System|EIES system]], first operational in 1976; and the [[:sv:KOM-systemet|KOM system]], first operational in 1977. In 1979 students from Duke University created an online discussion platform with [[Usenet]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wang|first1=Mo|title=The Oxford Handbook of Retirement|date=2012|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=9780199746521|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GuqFh1Ff3rgC&pg=PA494|accessdate=26 July 2017|language=en}}</ref>

One of the first forum sites (which is still active today) is Delphi Forums, once called [[Delphi (online service)|Delphi]]. The service, with four million members, dates to 1983.

Forums perform a function similar to that of dial-up [[bulletin board system]]s and Usenet networks that were first created in the late 1970s.<ref name="bbsref"/> Early web-based forums date back as far as 1994, with the WIT<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.w3.org/WIT/ |title=World-Wide Web Interactive Talk|publisher=W3C |access-date=2011-01-21 |archive-date=2011-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103170047/http://www.w3.org/WIT/ |url-status=live}}</ref> project from the W3 Consortium, and starting at this time, many alternatives were created.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forum-software.org/forum-software-timeline-from-1994-to-today |title=Forum Software Timeline 1994 - 2010 |access-date=2010-12-24 |publisher=Forum Software Reviews |archive-date=2011-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127195614/http://www.forum-software.org/forum-software-timeline-from-1994-to-today |url-status=live }}</ref> A sense of [[virtual community]] often develops around forums that have regular users. [[Technology]], [[video game]]s, [[sport]]s, [[music]], [[fashion]], [[religion]], and [[politics]] are popular areas for forum themes, but there are forums for a huge number of topics. [[Internet slang]] and [[image macro]]s popular across the Internet are abundant and widely used in Internet forums.

Forum software packages are widely available on the [[Internet]] and are written in a variety of [[programming language]]s, such as [[PHP]], [[Perl]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], and [[Active Server Pages|ASP]]. The configuration and records of posts can be stored in [[text file]]s or in a [[database]]. 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]]). Many packages can be integrated easily into an existing website to allow visitors to post comments on articles.

Several other web applications, such as [[blog]] software, also incorporate forum features. [[WordPress]] comments at the bottom of a blog post allow for a single-threaded discussion of any given blog post. [[Slash (CMS)|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.

Some stand-alone threads on forums have reached fame and notability, such as the "[[I am lonely will anyone speak to me]]" thread on MovieCodec.com's forums, which was described as the "web's top hangout for lonely folk" by [[Wired (magazine)|''Wired'' magazine]],<ref>{{Cite magazine |last1=Andrews |first1=Robert |date= |title=wired.com |url=https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/06/68010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130108052733/https://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/06/68010 |archive-date=2013-01-08 |access-date=2017-03-07 |magazine=Wired}}</ref> or [[Stevan Harnad]]'s [[Subversive Proposal]].