The document discusses online forums and message boards. It notes that forums allow for online discussions on any topic and can be used by anyone with internet access, such as doctors, engineers, students, and more. Forums provide a modern alternative to mailing lists and bulletin boards and are generally available for free as open-source software, with examples given of both commercial and free forum platforms.

1. Prepared by:
Jatinder Pal Singh,
Assistant Professor,
Dept. of Computer Science,
PCTE, Baddowal,Ludhiana

2.  Well known as
◦ Internet Forum
◦ Message Board
◦ Forums
◦ Online Discussion Site
 Web Based Software
 Hold the conversations online

3.  Hold the conversations online
 Discussions on any topic:
◦ Games
◦ Software
◦ Education
◦ Programming
◦ Paintings
◦ Etc..

4.  Any one who knows internet:
◦ Doctor
◦ Engineer
◦ Developer
◦ Teacher
◦ Student
◦ Shopkeeper
◦ Etc…

5.  Modern Alternative of Mailing Lists
 Modern Alternation of Bulletin Boards
 Easily Manageable
 Easily configurable
 Generally available as free and open-source

6.  Categories of
◦ Forums
◦ Users
◦ Discussion Topics
◦ Content Type

7.  Commercial
◦ Vbulletin
◦ IP Board
 Free and Open Source
◦ Phpbb
◦ Punbb
◦ Mybb