<chapter id="intro.main">
  <title>Forums and Phorum - An introduction</title>
  
  <section>
    <title>What is a forum?</title>
    <para>
     A forum is an online system which allows a group of users 
     to communicate. Users can then post threads (essentially a 
     starting point for a conversation) in a number of separate 
     sub forums (each one usually covering a different topic).
     </para>
     <para>
     A simple example forum structure would be as follows:
     <itemizedlist>
     <listitem><para>
     Announcements
     </para></listitem>
     <listitem><para>
     General Discussion
     </para></listitem>
     <listitem><para>
     Entertainment
     </para></listitem>
     <listitem><para>
     Technology
     </para></listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
     </para>
     <para>
     In this way, users can discuss numerous topics amongst 
     themselves in a centralized community, in a more convenient 
     way than other communication methods (e.g. email) can facilitate.  
     Many websites have forums as a way for visitors to meet and discuss
     site content, and some sites are purely based around their forums.
     A number of administrators and/or moderators are also usually present
     on forum systems, making sure the forum runs smoothly and the users
     adhere to the rules specific to that forum.
     </para>
     
   </section>
   
   <section>
   <title>What is Phorum?</title>
     <para>
     Phorum is one of many forum scripts available that internet users
     can upload to their webspace. Started in 1999, it was designed to 
     be as flexible as possible so as to meet the varying needs of 
     different websites. It is extensively customisable, fast and stable,
     with a large ever-growing number of modules available to extend
     its functionality.
     </para>
     <para>
     There are many forum scripts available for users to download, and while
     most of them focus on particular needs (some are feature packed, some 
     are minimalistic, some are designed specifically to be lightweight and 
     fast), most of them also adhere to the same basic forum system outlined
     in the opening section of this guide; they use a structure of multiple
     categories/sub forums, in each of which users can post and reply to 
     threads.  
     </para>
   </section>
   
</chapter>
