Welcome to a wiki on effective forum use. Here, people with no experience with forums can learn what forums looks like, what topics can be discussed, and how people can learn to read and contribute to forums. Those who are more experienced can find information about how to more effectively contribute to forums through their writing, and also learn how to navigate the complexity of forum threads when topics within topics are being discussed.
How do Forums Relate to Digital Writing?
Forums are a perfect representation of digital writing because they encompass everything that defines digital writing. Digital writing is any online communication that can usually be written by anyone without any specifications or prerequisites. For more information on digital writing, see the wiki homepage here.
Forums are composed of different topical threads that can greatly vary in subject. On each thread, members of the forum community (any group of members with similar beliefs and values) converse about the topics at hand. Forums are only possible through digital writing. Digital writing helps forum users to express their thoughts and opinions with others through the internet.
The image below shows an example of a forum from Reddit.
Articles for Newer Users:
Using a Forum
This article shows how easy it is to begin and use a forum when given the right instructions.
This will help users to know how to sign up for an account and where to look for forums. It will help them understand the rules and proper etiquette of a forum and the article includes a few tips and warnings regarding forum usage.
First-Time Users: Values and Beliefs
This article will give the reader a “how to” guide on how to learn the values and beliefs of forums. This will particularly help new users find out what is generally acceptable content to share on forums. Also, how they can effectively contribute content by still keeping it appropriate for the audience and topic.
Articles for More Experienced Users:
Effective and Persuasive Forum Language
This article is written for more experienced forum users who are comfortable reading and contributing content to forums, and who wish to use more effective language when writing in forums. In order to do this, users will learn about ethos, or the art of conveying knowledge and experience through their language. Pathos, or writing to elicit emotion from other forum user, will also be discussed as a way of effectively and persuasively using language.
Ranging Focus of Forum Topics
As a new forum user, it may be difficult to know what information you have to contribute to the community. Many users often stray from the forum topic at hand and talk about other subjects that may or may not be relevant to the forum. Before posting a comment, there are several things you might want to consider such as appropriate subjects to talk about and how to stay on a particular topic within a forum. This article will help you to know what content is appropriate and help you tailor your information to make the most effective contribution to the forum.