Internet services for the discriminating user

A: These names refer generally to a web site where visitors may post messages and read what others have posted. They are most often used for supporting communication among a community because potentially everyone in the community is able to both read and post messages.  "BBS" is short for bulletin board, although earlier bulletin board systems were quite limited compared to today's forum software.  For convenience however, we will refer to such software as a BBS or a "board" in this discussion.

Q: What purpose does a BBS serve? 

1. A general discussion forum among a group of members.
2. An announcement board where one or a few people such as the leaders of an organization post announcements for the rest of the organization to read.
3. A personal or group blog.  Posting to your blog requires no special web maintenance skills.  You can allow visitors to comment on your postings or not as you choose.  You can include pictures, links to other web pages, etc.
   
4. A guest book facility on a web site.
5. A personal messaging system among a group of individuals.  Messages may only be sent between members and so are 100% protected against spam.
   

A: The administrator of a BBS has complete control over who can view and post.  At one extreme, the board can be set to require member login before it can be seen or used at all.  This guarantees a completely private discussion among members.  Another common alternative is a board which allows any visitor to read the posts without registering or logging in, but accepts posts only from logged in members.

Q: How does a BBS compare with an email list?

A:  A BBS is a good alternative to an email list for ongoing group communication in many cases.  This is especially true when the purpose is a discussion forum for a number of people.  The following summarizes some of the advantages of a BBS as compared with email lists:

1. When a new subscriber joins a BBS, there is immediately a body of previous posts to view.  This does several things: it provides some immediate reward for having joined, and it provides an immediate sense of the character of the community.  In contrast, someone might join an email list and see nothing for days.  Or they might have just missed several very important posts and see nothing until the next off-topic or insignificant post appears.
2. The replies to a topic are grouped together with the topic for easy reading in sequence.  Email readers may do this to some extent, but after a series of email replies, the original subject line often becomes irrelevant.  If someone joins a BBS in the middle of a thread, or has been away and not reading posts for a while, they can see the start of a thread get up to speed on the discussion.  Previous posts on a topic can easily be seen, so there is no need to quote them just to provide context for a continuation of the discussion.
3. Members can edit their own posts if they notice a typo or something that was said a bit too hastily.
4. Email lists typically get "bad" mistaken posts occasionally.  Examples: (1) a reply that was intended for one individual and had private info but was accidentally sent to the whole list; (2) a post to the wrong list which reveals unintended information; (3) post to the list that accidentally quoted a private message that was never intended for general circulation.  With an unmoderated email list, there is no way to retrieve or call back such mistakes.  It is much less likely that such mistakes will be made on a BBS, and if some post is found to be a mistake, it can be deleted and no one will see it after that point.
5. Announcements remain visible for a time and can be updated if details are added or changed.  People who join later can still find the announcement.  With email, people frequently delete a message and then find that they need to refer to it.
6. The BBS includes a calendar feature that displays upcoming events in a graphical format.
7. Multiple forums can be created to serve a range of purposes. For example: Announcements; personal shares; political discussions; ads, etc.  A person need only register once to have access to all the different forums.
8. Email of posts is optional. Most users enjoy the benefit of choosing when to read discussion messages rather than having them arriving in their inbox at unpredictable times.  However, those who want email notification or email copies of board posts can select that option for themselves on a per forum or per topic basis.
   
9. A BBS allows users to post thumbnail pictures of themselves which are displayed with their posts. Users find that it feels more personal to read someone's post when their picture is right next to the text. This sense of talking to a person reduces the liklihood of immoderate posts and flame wars.
10. A BBS  (by administrator option) may allow attachments of various kinds to be included with posts.  This facilitates sharing of documents, pictures, etc. but does not clutter email inboxes with large messages.
11. A BBS supports member profile info to the extent members want to provide it. This again can increase the sense of community and reduce the tendency of some people to "soapbox" to a nameless, faceless group.