Online forums, also called discussion forums or message boards are one of the most popuar groups of social software applications. They allow people to post messages to a website where these messages can be read and commented by other members of the community.

As such they are an alternative to mailing lists and chat rooms for group discussions.

Advantages of Online Forums over Mailing Lists

• Low barrier of entry
• No subscription neccessary
• Conversations are easily referencable 

Disadvantages of Online Forums over Mailing Lists

• Bad e-mail integration
• Pull-model is cumbersome for power users like the team communicator