Searching for information posted to forums can often be picked up on the general Web search engines. An increasingly popular Web-based communication tool that goes beyond the single topic approach of a guest book is the message board. Also known as forums, bulletin boards, and conferencing, these interactive tools can manage discussions on multiple topics and subtopics. The messages are all posted on the Web, not sent via email or Usenet news. There are many software programs available for running a message board, and their features vary greatly.
Forums can be open to anyone or restricted to registered users only.
Some boards can be searched and some cannot. Others allow image posting. In a typical discussion forum, the main topics are listed along with the date of the last message posted in that topic. Choosing one of the topics will either open a list of subtopics or go directly to the discussions. The messages themselves may be in chronological order or reverse chronological order.