| By :
Dirik Hameed
Online discussions are a crucial part of websites that are out to create interaction and quick communication amongst users. Forum discussions are slowly if not totally replacing email chains and newsletters as a means of websites to reach their users and for users to communicate with. For any webhosting package seeks to create this interaction, discussions and prompt feedback from and between the users it is crucial to select forum software that encompasses various features that will facilitate this form of interaction. A forum is an online discussion where users hold conversations by posting messages. A thread is a forum message archived and can have a lot users replying to a single conversation unlike with instant messaging. Forum software creates these forums on website thus is important for any web hosting package that intends to incorporate forums on the sites. Basically when setting up a forum there is the choice of having users as anonymous or having them to register with the forum after which they log into the forum to post messages. When choosing a forum software package for your web hosting you need to consider several key features that software offer in order give the users the best experience. This software offers basic features like security and anti spam, search tools, full RSS support, search tools, member features such as control panel together with tools for forum administration and moderation. The excellent forum software package recommended would be the ASPPlayground.NET Forum with an up to date version being 3. This software has a registration process that gives members options to choose available user names and also requires email verification after registration. It offers full text search which sorts results by relevance by placing the most relevant results on top, date or forum. It also has the RSS feeds and email notifications which allow users to keep updated with the latest activities on the forums. There is a feature known as WYSIWYG that acts as a message editor with a spell checker that enables you to format and edit your messages. There is also a feature that presents an option of sharing documents, photos, videos and other files through attachments which can be several. There are users who prefer having private messaging between them and this forum offers this feature to such users. Forum administrators on using this software will have total control on server messages like notifications. They are also able to organize users into user groups and give different features for each group for example storage limits, upload limits and other features. For security purposes, if you choose this software for your webhosting, your administrator will be able to block spamming email domains or abusive users by restricting some emails from registration and also blocking inappropriate words or phrases within messages. It also uses CAPTCHAS to prevent registration by computers. Some other features this software provides include a threaded forum where users specify or indicate their message as a reply to an already posted message. It also presents styles and themes that enable users to customize their look and feel for their forum views. There is a broad range of forum software that you can select from that will suit your webhosting package. This is a direct association with your users and this makes sure they have the top most experience they can probably accomplish from their communications with you and other users.
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