There are so many different names for a “forum”.  Some think of them as message boards or bulletin boards.  Some call them threaded discussions, discussion boards or discussion groups while others call them conferences.  FuseTalk simply calls them forums.

Deciding if just one forum or multiple forums is needed can be difficult, especially if there is an uncertainty of how they are defined and what makes a forum.

The simplistic definition of a forum is a place where people have the ability to start communication (in the form of threads) and reply to other people's threads.  A member of the community in the forum posts a message, which is visible to everyone in that community.  Once read, there is the option to post a reply, which can also be visible to the community.  Thus, a discussion can build up without all users having to be online at the same time.  

FuseTalk can allow for more than one forum to be created.  These forums can be considered as containers for threads started by the community.  Depending on the permissions of community members as defined by the forum administrator, they can post replies to existing threads and start new threads as they wish.  In addition, users of a forum can post anonymously (if this is enabled by the Forum Administrator) or as their registered username.