Whether it's by e-mail, social networking, or any of the many means of communication the Internet provides us with, the wonder of the web has effectively brought the whole world together.
No more so than by the use of the internet forum. Though social networking sites such as Facebook may have trumped the humble forum in terms of popularity, it must be said that forums are indeed still going strong and are certainly one of the largest in terms of the concept's longevity and divergence, web forums connect like-minded folk from all walks of life, who converge upon cyber-space to converse about their favoured subject.
From politics to pop music and all that falls between, if there is something you're interested or passionate about, there's a very good chance there's a web form out there for you.
If there isn't, well, that's probably why you're reading this post, right?
Maybe you already own a website and long to provide your visitors with a means to communicate with each other and discuss your site's content, or perhaps you can't really be doing with all that website business and just want to bring together a group of friends or fellow enthusiasts; either way, you're in luck.
The good news is that forums are relatively cheap to set up, in fact, they're practically free.
If you already own a website and want a forum you can customize to your heart's content, then your best option might be to look at PHP Bulletin Board (phpBB).
PhpBB is a forum package which, written in the computer scripting language, PHP. By visiting their website (at http://www.phpbb.com ), the folks behind phpBB allow you to download the whole package, for absolutely no cost, and upload it to your own server, via FTP, where you can customize to your heart's content and a have a fully-functional, professional looking web forum running in next to no time.
Yet if the concepts of FTP, PHP etc fill you with dread, or even if you simply lack the web-space and patience to be dealing with such things, then worry not, there's always Proboards.
Proboards (http://www.proboards.com), provide free, practical web forums which may not be as stylish or as customizable as self-hosted PHP forum, but work just as well.
After signing up for a free account, within minutes you can set up you categories, alter the colours and images, and spruce your new site up a bit, and though free accounts are plagued by ads, for the truly professional look, there is a option to remove them by upgrading to a premium account.
Once done, you'll no doubt experience all the benefits that running your own web forum can bring.
From seeking out like-minded people to share your enthusiasms with, to giving people a good reason to return back to your website time and time again, web forums are probably the simplest, most effective web tools you can own.
That's not to say there's no work involved.
As a forum owner/moderator/admin, you'll undoubtedly have to scan your forum and keep some sort of order; removing offensive posts and obvious spamming and, in a worse-case-scenario, banning persistent offenders.
Of course, you could always forgo such things altogether and allow your new forum to become a free-for-all, but think about that for a second:
Imagine walking into a room with the intention of chatting to a group of people who you know share similar interests as you, only to come across one guy hurling offensive remarks towards another, with and some strange fellow in the corner constantly trying to self everyone some Viagra.
Hardly makes for a positive atmosphere, does it? And it's just the same thing with your new web forum.
So whilst forums are cheap, easy to get going and certainly effective, just be conscious of your duty as a forum owner.
Chris Skoyles works is a writer, journalist, social media specialist and digital marketing officer with a passion for using the many wonders of the web to provide fast, effective solutions, enhance communication and get things done. He blogs regularly about his interests at http://www.chrisskoyles.co.uk and tweets at http://twitter.com/cskoyles
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