Forums act as centralized locations for topical discussion. The Forum format is derived from BBS and Usenet.[3] This is a list of the most notable and significant Internet forums communities that have converged around topics ranging from medicine to technology, and vocations and hobbies.
^"vBulletin Community Forum - FAQ: What is a bulletin board?". vBulletin.com. Retrieved 2008-09-01. A bulletin board is an online discussion site. It is sometimes also called a 'board' or 'forum'. It may contain several categories, consisting of sub-forums, threads and individual posts.
^Aichner, T.; Jacob, F. (March 2015). "Measuring the Degree of Corporate Social Media Use". International Journal of Market Research. 57 (2): 257–275. doi:10.2501/IJMR-2015-018. S2CID166531788. p. 258: Social media are therefore not limited to social networks like Facebook but include blogs, business networks, collaborative projects, enterprise social networks, forums, microblogs, photo sharing, product/services reviews, social bookmarking, social gaming, video sharing and virtual worlds.
^Katayama, Lisa (19 April 2007). "2-Channel Gives Japan's Famously Quiet People a Mighty Voice". Wired. Retrieved 29 November 2010. This single site has more influence on Japanese popular opinion than the prime minister, the emperor and the traditional media combined. On one level, it serves as a fun, informative place for people to read product reviews, download software and compare everything from the size of their poop to quiz show answers. But conversations hosted here have also influenced stock prices, rallied support for philanthropic causes, organized massive synchronized dance routines, prevented terrorism and driven people to their deathbeds.
Holohan, A.P. Anna (6 December 2013). Community, Competition and Citizen Science: Voluntary Distributed Computing in a Globalized World. Global Connections. Dorset Press; Dorchester, UK: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 56, 63–64, 80–83. ISBN9781409452980.