Forums
Forums or boards are communities. Almost every bit of advice that you could give or receive about moving into a new community in real life applies to online communities as well. The main difference is that we can move into as many of these online communities that we want to at the same time.
Just like in real life, some of these communities are welcoming to everyone and some of them are virtually gated communities. Just like in real life, the cost of living is higher in some communities than it is in others. Just like in real life, some communities are more tolerant than others. If was writing all this boring stuff on a forum thread, somebody might make an ad hominem upon me. In online communities, several trusted members are given the ability to kick people out of the community. I’m not sure if there is a real life counterpart to this practice, at least not a legal one.
Big-boards.com has an ordered and searchable list of all the most active boards on the Internet.
