Internet forum

Also, depending on the access level of a user or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes publicly visible.

Forums perform a function similar to that of dial-up bulletin board systems and Usenet networks that were first created in the late 1970s.

[2] Early web-based forums date back as far as 1994, with the WIT[5] project from the W3 Consortium, and starting at this time, many alternatives were created.

Forum software packages are widely available on the Internet and are written in a variety of programming languages, such as PHP, Perl, Java, and ASP.

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.

The topics (commonly called threads) come under the lowest level of sub-forums, and these are the places under which members can start their discussions or posts.

Registered members often will refer to themselves as lurking in a particular location, which is to say they have no intention of participating in that section but enjoy reading the contributions to it.

Essentially, it is the duty of the moderator to manage the day-to-day affairs of a forum or board as it applies to the stream of user contributions and interactions.

There, they are often referred to as janitors (or, more pejoratively, "jannies"[note 2]) given their job, which is tantamount to cleaning up the imageboards' infamous shitposting.

[14] A post is a user-submitted message enclosed in a block containing the user's details and the date and time it was submitted.

Because replies to a topic are often worded to target someone's point of view, discussion will usually go slightly off in several directions as people question each other's validity, sources, and so on.

Circular discussion and ambiguity in replies can extend for several tens of posts in a thread, eventually ending when everyone gives up or attention spans waver and a more interesting subject takes over.

In 2019, Facebook was faced with a class action lawsuit set forth by moderators diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In a tripcode system, a secret password is added to the user's name following a separator character (often a number sign).

Most implementations allow for single-choice or multi-choice (sometimes limited to a certain number) when selecting options, as well as private or public display of voters.

They may also allow the user to attach information to all of their posts, such as proclaiming support for a cause, noting facts about themselves, or quoting humorous things that have previously been said on the forum.

Recent developments in some popular implementations of forum software have brought social network features and functionality.

For example, in an IT forum any discussion regarding anything but computer programming languages may be against the rules, with the exception of a general chat section.

Forum rules are maintained and enforced by the moderation team, but users are allowed to help out via what is known as a report system.

Using it will notify all currently available moderators of its location, and subsequent action or judgment can be carried out immediately, which is particularly desirable in large or very developed boards.

First, a warning is usually given; this is commonly in the form of a private message but recent development has made it possible for it to be integrated into the software.

In extreme cases where the offender – after being permanently banned – creates another account and continues to harass the site, administrators will apply an IP address ban or block (this can also be applied at the server level): If the IP address is static, the machine of the offender is prevented from accessing the site.

The term sock puppet refers to multiple pseudonyms in use by the same person on a particular message board or forum.

[30][31] But such auto-censors can make mistakes, for example censoring "wristwatch" to "wris****ch", "Scunthorpe" to "S****horpe or "Essex" to "Es***".

When a thread—or in some cases, an entire forum—becomes unstable, the result is usually uncontrolled spam in the form of one-line complaints, image macros, or abuse of the report system.

Many forums have created devoted areas strictly for discussion of potential flame war topics that are moderated like normal.

Registered users of the site are referred to as members and are allowed to submit or send electronic messages through the web application.

[32][33][34] Subsequently, if all goes well, the candidate is presented with a web form to fill requesting at the very least a username (an alias), password, email and validation of a CAPTCHA code.

Until that time, the registered user can log into the new account but may not post, reply, or send private messages in the forum.

There are also software products that combine forum and mailing list features, i.e. posting and reading via email as well as the browser depending on the member's choice.