Internet Forums, Where Focused Interest is shared.

The definition of a "forum" by the Merriam Webster Dictionary is: 

Definition of forum
1 a : the marketplace or public place of an ancient Roman city forming the
       center of judicial and public business
   b : a public meeting place for open discussion
         // The club provides a forum for people interested in local history.
   c : a medium (such as a newspaper or online service) of open discussion or
       expression of ideas
2   a : judicial body or assembly : COURT
3   a : a public meeting or lecture involving audience discussion
        // The town has scheduled a public forum to discuss the proposal.
     b : a program (as on radio or television) involving discussion of a problem
          usually by several authorities

A Forum in relation to this article is c: a medium (such as a newspaper or online service) of open discussion or expression of ideas. 

1. Discourse is another term used that is like forums. See: SocialMettle to learn more.
2. Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Text only communication boards using channels, the most popular is Freenode.
3. Facebook Groups, If you search on a subject in Facebook will more then likely find a group that has an interest in it and discuss and share on it.

Internet Forums

Experts Exchange: if you put "https://www.experts-exchange.com/groups" in your browser addressee bar you will be presented with the groups in Experts Exchange that share an interest and interact about it. 

You can also use Experts Exchange to find information on Forums by using the "Search Experts Exchange" feature located at the top of your browser. Just type "forum" in the box and it will present all the questions that have been asked about forums.

In any Internet search engine if you just type forums you will get the search listing of internet sites that have forums. 

You can narrow them down to a forum of interest by typing a topic of interest before the word forum. 

An example is if you type: “computer forum”,  you will be presented with the websites that feature computer forums. Forums exist for just about anything that there is an interest in by people.

Here are a few that I have a particular interest in and what they offer.

• Honda Insight Forum: I have a 2010 Honda Insight Hybrid so this site allows me to interact with other owners of the car and find out how I can resolve an issue it has, get more out of it’s offering as a hybrid, and how to make changes to it that can help improve upon its efficiency
  
  
• Pachislo Database Portal: I like to gamble by playing Slot Machines, but doing it at a casino can get expensive as the odds are always in the favor of the casino. Japan has parlor's that are dedicated to playing slot style machines that only use tokens that they call Pachislot or Pachislo. The Japanese Government only allows them to be used for 2 years and then they have to be retired. So after that time, they are sold to other countries as entertainment systems.
  
  Since these are Japanese machines they have a combination of Japanese and English on them so help is needed in interpreting how to use them. Thus this site provides that with interaction with other owners of the machines.  This site has a unique feature in that it houses a database of just about every machine that has ever been produced.
  
  
• Reddit:  The site proclaims itself as The Front Page of the Internet. It has groups of communities that share information and opinions on a vast array of topics. These are presented as subreddits such as:      
  
  -- r/CrappyDesigns: Points out funny flaws found by people.
  
  -- r/diabetes: I am diabetic so this community has a shared interest with me.
  
  
• Facebook: Provides another way to connect with others that share a common interest and is arguably the most widely known social media interaction forum. It allows groups to be formed so a common interest in something can be shared.
  
  

           -- See this Wiki Link to learn more about Facebook.

• Twitter: is a service where users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". It is often used by businesses to convey information to their fans on what is happening with their company.
  
  
• Snapchat: provides pictures and messages but they are only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients.
  
  
• Myspace: Allows connections with others with a common interest.
  
  
• Tapatalk: Building & Participating in Great Communities. Their mission is to help you build a sustainable community and get recognized from your contributions.

Some notable history on forums

Geocities was started in 1999 but then later acquired by Yahoo in 1999. They shutdown they U.S Geocities in October 2009, and the Japanese Geocities was just shut down in March 2019

Prior to the internet, a computer would dial-up another computer that would host a bulletin board system referred to as a Bulletin Board System (BBS). Two of the most popular were CompuServe and America Online.

I hope you enjoyed this article about other ways the internet allows you to connect with people who have similar interests to your own. 

Please leave a like if you enjoyed this article, as well as a comment if you can add to it.