What is a forum?
A forum is a place where users of a site may go to ask questions about the need they acquired, whether it being a product just off the line or where to find a good veterinarian. It's a simple Q&A format, someone asks a question while others reply. A forum has multiple lengthy discussions that anyone, or anyone joined to the site can reply to. It's a median to voice new ideas or ask questions.


Who created it?
Forums were actually made in ancient Rome. They were market place meeting areas like town square and often used for judicial or personal matters. In today's day and age it's used for more personal matters. Internet wise these sites started appearing in the 1996 but there was no one person responsible for this online bulletin board.

Why should you use it?

• Intellectual exchange
• Learning new ideas and refining old ones
• Enjoying community membership
• Influencing the forum's evolution
• Contributing to others
• Making new friends and contacts
• New business leads
• Keeping up with current events
• Learning about new opportunities

Why might you be against it?

• Reduced concentration and focus
• Reduced productivity
• Chronic procrastination
• Increased pessimism and/or apathy
• Being distracted by endless debates and idle gossip
• Gradually substituting tribal group think for your own intelligence
• Impaired social skills, neglected relationships, and a weakened social circle (a consequence of substituting online socialization for face-to-face conversations)
• Reduced energy (forum participation is sedentary compared to more active social outlets)
• Reduced self-esteem
• Career and income may suffer (including loss of employment)
• Forum addiction

pros and cons taken from here

Who can make a forum?
Anyone!

Top Forum Sites taken from here

• Gaia Online - Role Playing Community
• CNet - Technology Discussion Forum
  
• 4Chan - Japanese Culture Discussion Board
  
• IGN Forums - General Video Game Board
• Nexopia - Picture Rating, Sex and Relationship Discussion Board
• VNBoards - Role Playing Games Discussion Site
• OffTopic - General Discussion Site
• Something Awful -General Discussion Site
• PBNation - Paint Ball Site
• VWVortex - Car Forum
• Christian Forums - Christian Faith Discussion Board
• Body Building - Body Building Discussion Site
• Fan Forum - Celebrity Fanbase Discussion Board
• Digital Spy - General Digital Entertainment Forum
• Honda Tech - Honda Forum
• Corvette Forum - Corvette Discussion Site
• Rooster Teeth - Web Comic Community
• DIS Boards - Disney Trip Planning Discussion Site
• JLA Forums - General Discussion
• Sky Scraper City- Architecture, City-Scapes and Urban Photo Forums
• Two Plus Two Poker - Poker Forum
• Harmony-Central - Music Discussion Site
• The Force - Star Wars Forum
• HF Boards - Hockey Discussion Board
• Cruise Critic - Cruise Travel Messaging Board
• Sher Dog - Mixed Martial Arts Discussion Forum
• WoW Forum - World of Warcraft Discussion Board

The difference between a forums and:

• Wikkis

- Wikis are another collaboration based sites like the forums. Many people can post topics, videos, replies, or pictures. You can edit the whole page rather then your individual post. Someone creates a wiki for a topic and everyone can add, edit, delete, post, and do what they want with the site as long as the wiki moderator lets you join the wiki. Visitors can come and go for a forum, but people are there to stay for a wiki.

"Fundamentally, forums and wikis serve different purposes. wikis are good for creating a relatively compact knowledge base, but aren't great for building a community. forums are much better for allowing members to interact with each other, but the knowledge tends to be dispersed and somewhat lower in density. "

Quote from here

Also you can have several forums inside a wiki, but you cannot have a wiki inside a forum

• Chat Rooms
• Blogs
  -Forums are created for discussion bewteen several people while Blogs are mainly designed for a single user input, with possibility for other people to comment. So, Blogs are more like a simple homepage where other people may contribute with comments, but one person rules, blog owner, and blog owner can delete any comment he/she doesn't like. While, in forums, ther could be thousands of people posting topic messages and also adding comments ...When people try to use forums for the purpose of writing a journal, their messages get lost in the stream of messages, making it hard to follow the story. Also, people tend to post many short messages inside forums, while blogs are more used for posting longer messages (on average).
  

• How to make a forum on Blackboard 8?

What is blackboard?
Blackboard develops software that enables schools to create Internet-based learning programs and communities. The company's software connects teachers, students, parents, and administrators via the Web, enabling Internet-based assignments, class Web sites, and online collaboration with classmates. The software also assists instructors with course administration and includes a content management system for creating and managing digital course content.