The Inner Forum

Nobody respects internet forums. Despite the way in which they keep thousands of students occupied during those long, cold, windy nights when there's a long essay to start and no end in sight, they're looked down on by the general public.

Forums are for nerds, you see. Nerds and geeks. Perhaps the occasional dork, if you look really closely. They're certainly not for everyone.

In that respect, internet forums share the same relationship with the general public that The Smiths do - despite the fun music that The Smiths made during their career, they never get any respect because they're thought of as miserable, dull places.

Forums get that attitude thrown at them a lot, because people tend to think of forums as places where social outcasts dull away their days within an artificial environment that stops them from making proper friends.

But these people aren't seeing the full picture, here!

Forums are places where anyone can dull away their lives within an artificial environment that allows them to make friends they never have to meet!

Alright, serious side of it now. The brilliance of the internet is that with so many people able to access it there is no end to the obscure things you might like that you can talk about online.

Whether you're a fan of My Little Pony, Ivor The Engine, Spiderman or orange soda, you'll be able to find a small community of people who can share in your delight at all things Pony/Train/Hero/orangey.

Forums encourage debates and discussion - most of the time debates - where you can read all about what other people think about the things you find fascinating.

Imagine if the next series of Big Brother was filled with people who shared the exact same interests as you: that's an internet forum.

With great power comes great responsibility, though: there are countless forums set up to chronicle the glory of Doctor Who, but there are almost as many forums which celebrate things which perhaps shouldn't be celebrated.

You can find forums online which take great joy in slandering other people and which offer no creative interest at all, forums which are actively encouraging people to take negative stances on things like race, politics, and specific celebrities.That's no way to live!

Let's suggest the point of forums, shall we - they are here so that people who share interests can meet other people who share the same interests.

They bring individuals together to discuss and swap notes on things.

If someone chooses to set up a group specifically to build up negativity towards someone?

That's the worst reason possible to set up a group, but sadly it happens surprisingly often.

On the bright side, forums are not important in the wider world.

Apart from on the major sites for the media being discussed (TV, comics, music, etc), what gets said on an internet board is said on that board alone.[-[more]-]

Expecting that the long rant you just made about the colour of Batman's car will result in artists frantically spraying the Batmobile gold is silly.

At the same time though, certain websites can get you a hotline to the people behind what you love.

Comics are the best example. If you like comics and write on certain message boards, you've got a reasonable chance of having your post read by writers and artists - writers in particular have to spend a lot of time at their computer in order to write the scripts, and anyone who has ever written an essay will know how the mind wanders when put in front of a blank word document.

Aaron Sorkin, creator of the West Wing, is an example of a TV writer who went onto message boards seeking debate and discussion about his show, in order to make it better.

He probably ignored the majority of posts (stay positive or constructively critical when talking to people!), but the gesture remains admirable.

You should have got the impression by now that I myself like forums.

I do! I was born with glasses, ginger hair and not much height to me - eventually I just had to accept the fact that I was destined for internet forums.[-[quote]-]

What was stunning for me, though, was the sort of people I got to talk to: they were amazing.

From the Japanese guy who taught me how to swear in his language to the Australian women who write short stories for a living, there's a heck of a lot of diversity going on within internet forums. You can't define it at all.

For the sake of research, I picked something that has a very stereotypical group of fans - Stargate.

It's a science fiction TV show, so surely the majority of people who visit the associated forums will be single men with glasses and no social skills at all...

And yet, that forum turned out to be almost entirely populated by women with social lives. Just an example for you there.

It's so wonderfully impossible to second-guess people, you see!

My view of forums isn't the majority view by a long shot.

Many people seem to disregard forums as the end of all social life, and in some cases that's totally true.[-[more]-]

There are people who live online and probably only ever leave their room in order to make another sandwich.

However, the bulk of people on forums that I came into contact with have been anything but; people who nip onto forums only when they're bored and want something to do in those casual moments between their awesome social lives.

Forums are a place where they can shrug off everything and mess around online because there's simply so much going on.

Forums exist where people share pieces of writing or artwork they're drawn, hoping for feedback which will help them get into a future career doing things they enjoy.

And hey - what do you think Facebook, Myspace, and Bebo are? They're forums too. They may be forums filled mainly with people you met once when you were out for a birthday party, people you never liked at school, and a handful of people you could swear you've never seen before in your life, but they are forums nevertheless.

So quit boring your neighbours during the day, if you have nothing to do.

Go online, and talk to people who legitimately share your interest in Avril Lavigne (although if you do have a legitimate interest in Avril Lavigne, I fear you may be too far gone to save).

You can find forums all over the place, but the best way to get into forums, if you fancy it, is to find the big websites - when you want to find out about music news, what site do you tend to go to?

Chances are, they have a forum somewhere.

Get over there, register, have yourself a time. Just don't, for Pete's sake, start abusing strangers you'll never meet just because they have different opinions to yours.

After all - that's what call-centre employees are for.