On-line Discussion Forums

On-line Discussion Forums are a large part of Internet-based interactions. This chapter will cover the various forms of discussion forums that have developed. The original form was simple email, the second use to which the father of the internet, the Arpanet, was put to use. The "founding fathers" quickly found that email was even more useful than data exchange, its original purpose. Correspondence between two people rapidly evolved into correspondence between many people, which become known as "Discussion", and the true power of email became evident.

Correspondence and discussion have evolved along several different patterns. There are many variations of format for discussion forums. Discussion groups may make use of features such as anonymity, password limited access, message filtering, message archives, and web based image or multimedia materials. Discussion forums exist for members of orthopedic specialty societies, open forums for orthopedic surgeons and surgeons in training, therapists and orthopedic patients support forums. We will start with simple email, since it is the basis for Discussion Forums of all forms. Email as a subject itself is covered in Chapter 2.