What is an Internet Forum and How are they Made?
Table of Contents
What is an Internet Forum?
An internet forum is where users post messages debating or talking about a specific topic, each of the messages saved below the previous one.
Usually, a forum talks about the same topic. However, the most common is that it is divided into different categories to order the content and facilitate users’ search on a specific topic.
They are used, among other things, as a meeting and discussion point between people with a typical taste (cars, movies, comics, etc.) or as a tool to offer support from companies or brands (answering customer questions, troubleshoot, etc.).
So there are several types of forums depending on the utility that remains given.
The forums where a specific topic remains discussed, there are usually several types of users.
In the first place, the administrator is the creator of the forum and who can do and undo at his ease everything that is published by all users.
In second place are the moderators, who are in charge of controlling that the rest of the users comply with the forum’s rules. They can delete and edit comments, block users, etc.
Finally, some users are anyone who registers to participate in the forum. They can create new discussion topics, reply to comments, and even depending on the platform. They can report other users who are breaking the rules of coexistence.
Platforms to Make a Forum
Anyone can have their forum on the internet thanks to the many tools that exist to create one.
Next, I will list some of the most used platforms to create them:
Phpbb
short for PHP Bulletin Board, free software based on the PHP programming language allows you to install a forum easily. It is an example of a platform created with phpBB.
SMF
Short for Simple Machines Forum is another PHP-based forum management system for setting up a fully functional forum. Here you can see an example on SMF’s page.
MyBB
short for My Bulletin Board, like the previous two, is an open-source forum manager. In this link, you can see an example of a forum made with MyBB.
XenForo
it is another forum manager, but unlike the ones we have seen so far, it remains paid, and the necessary license costs $ 140. Besides, it has several add-ons that remain also paid to include improvements. Now you can see an example of a forum made with this manager.
Vbulletin
another of the most used payment forum management systems (does ForoCoches sound familiar to you?) and powerful. The basic version can remain purchased for € 231. it is an example that you can see on its official website.
bBpress
it is a plugin for WordPress that allows you to have your forum within a website made with this content manager. Here is an example of a platform made with this plugin.
WpForo
it is also a plugin for WordPress, and you can create a quite visual forum on a website created with this manager. Now you can see an example of a panel made with wpForo, and I also leave you with an article explaining how it works.
How to Make a Forum in WordPress
As you already know, and if it is the first time that you land here, now you will know, this is a blog specialized in WordPress, so, although all the options that I have mentioned are excellent to have your forum, I will explain how to do it on your website made with WordPress.
As I consider that this explanation is not typical of Enciwordpredia. I have prepared a separate article to explain it to you step by step, starting from scratch. That is, starting from the basis that you still do not have your website mounted.
