Discussion Board Introduction / Basic
Premise
Discussion boards are chronological records of people's discussions about
a given topic. Here at the Dharma Memphis, most of the discussions are
likely to be about Buddhism, The Dharma and events in and concerning our
community. The basic idea is that one person makes a discussion board post
in one of the boards. He/She is then responded to by another person who is
also interested in the conversation. People read these posts and join in
the conversation. Each discussion board is like a mini town hall where
lots of people come together and talk about something that interests them.
What's the difference between a chat room and a discussion board?
A chat room is a place where you go and engage other people in real-time.
You enter a room and other people are 'visible" to you . Text scrolls
upwards on your screen as individuals "talk" to one another. If you find
something that someone writes to be compelling, you'll type in a response
and it will appear on the screen for everyone in the room to see. Once you
leave a chat room, there is generally no historical record kept of the
conversation. Also, the topics in a chat room are wide-ranging and
generally not as well organized as discussion boards. Finally, if you want
to participate in a chat room, you have to be FAST. Because text is
scrolling up the screen each time someone types something, you have to
respond quickly and generally don't have time to think about your
response. Chat rooms are most conducive to lighter, more socially focused
conversations.
Discussion boards, on the other hand, are not "face-to-face" experiences
like chat rooms are. The premise is the same, as people type their
thoughts and others respond, but the difference is that each message
written on a discussion board has its own page and shows up alone. People
then read that message and have time to think about and respond to it.
Discussion boards are permanent records of the conversations, you can
refer to everything days, weeks, or even years after it was written.
Discussion boards, while also social, act as much better research and
publishing tools than chat rooms.
If you have any questions about how this all works, please feel free
to email the webmaster.
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