E-mail is used by tens of millions of people worldwide every day for their basic form of communication. Groups of people sharing their interest in a common topics subscribe to and participate in mailing lists. Topics run the gamut from tens of thousands of specific surnames, ethnic groups, nationalities and geographies, religious groups, and a plethora of topics. Another Internet tool, however, is the message board. Similar to mailing lists, message boards are organized by topic and they are used by people who share a common interest in that topic.
People read the subject lines of the messages posted there and decide whether to read the message.
A person reads a message and can take one of several actions. He or she may post a reply at the message board site. A series of replies is referred to as a thread and can be read in sequence to provide an understanding of an entire discourse. He or she may respond privately to the poster via e-mail. Lastly, he or she may also opt to respond both on the message board and via e-mail.