Types of Forum Software

In general, forum software can either be usernames-based or anonymous. Username-based softwares require visitors to register using a username and a password plus an e-mail address for validation purposes.  Through this type of forums, members are usually able to customize how their posts are displayed to others and how the board appears to them.    Anonymous forums offer full anonymity or pseudonymity by allowing visitors to posts without registration.  These forums often use a system of authentication in order to provide the same set of features as the registration-based ones.

Threads in a forum are either flat or threaded.  Flat threads are posts listed in chronological order while threaded posts are characterized by a reply to every parent post.  Community members have the choice on how they wish to display threads. 

The forum software packages widely available on the Internet are written in various programming languages such as PHP, Perl, Java and ASP.  Each one offers a variety of features ranging from the most basic that provides text only postings to the more advanced packages that have multimedia support and formatting code.  Most of the packages being offered can be easily integrated into an existing website that allows visitors to post comments on articles.