Discussion Forums
What is a Discussion Forum?
Discussion forums are places for online communities to discuss topics of common interest. Posts are organized into related threads around questions and answers, or community discussions.
These forums work like a bulletin board: you post a message and return later to see if people have responded. A forum helps create communities around shared interests.
In a discussion forum, you can:
- search or browse through messages to learn more about a topic
- post a question
- answer a question
Discussion forums are also known as discussion groups, community boards, message boards, and online forums.
Why Forums are Useful in Government
Agencies use forums for a variety of reasons:
- to share tips or ask questions
- to find people who deal with similar types of issues
- to create a centralized place to answer questions, also called a Help Forum
What a Forum Looks Like to Users
The typical forum has:
- Topics - names of all discussions
- Replies - how many people have commented on an topic
- Views - highly-viewed items are a good place to start
- Last Post - dates of recently-posted comments can tell you how active the discussions are
Click on a topic to read comments, for example:
You can just read the responses, or join the conversation and post an answer, comment, or question.
How to Create a Forum
To create your own government discussion forum, visit Apps.gov NOW to view a selection of discussion forum tools created specifically for the federal government. These tools are:
- Free
- Secure (tested)
- Legally and 508-compliant
Visit Apps.gov NOW to select a tool and create your forum. You will need to:
- Create a user name and password
- Create a title for your forum
- Make your forum public or private
- Add art or logos, if desired
Examples of Government Groups Using Forums
- Business.gov Community
- Web Content Managers Forum
- GovLoop (Note: Not a government site but heavily used by government employees)
