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If there's one thing that the internet can lay undisputed claim to, it's revolutionising the way we communicate.

Whether we're using e-mail, instant messaging, or any of the sundry means of communication the internet affords us, by allowing our computers to connect to one another, the wonder of the web has effectively brought the whole world together.

No more so than by the use of the internet forum. Arguably one of the most popular forms of online interaction and certainly one of the largest in terms of the concept's longevity and divergence, web forums connect like-minded folk from all walks of life, who converge upon cyber-space to converse about their favoured subject.

From politics to pop music and all that falls between, if there's an interest or hobby that you're passionate about, there's a very good chance there's a web form out there for you.

If there isn't, well, that's probably why you're reading this isn't it?

Maybe you already own a website and long to provide your visitors with a means to communicate with each other and discuss your site's content, or perhaps you can't really be doing with all that website business and just want to bring together a group of friends or fellow enthusiasts; either way, you're in luck.

See, the good news (and in all honesty there really isn't much in the way of bad news when it comes to running a web forum) is that forums are relatively cheap to set up, in fact, they're practically free.

If you already own a website and want a forum you can customize to your hearts content, then you're best bet is probably to go down the phpBB route.

PHP Bulletin Board is a forum package which, as you may have guessed, is written in computer scripting language, PHP. By visiting their website (at www.phpbb.com) , the folks behind phpBB allow you to download the whole package, for absolutely no cost, and upload it to your own server, via FTP, where you can customize to your heart's content and a have a fully-functional, professional looking web forum running in next to no time.

Yet if the concepts of FTP, PHP etc fill you with dread, or even if you simply lack the web-space and patience to be dealing with such things, then worry not, there's always Proboards.

Proboards (www.proboards.com), provide free, practical web forums which may not be as stylish or as customizable as self-hosted PHP forum, but work just as well.

After signing up for a free account, within minutes you can set up you categories, alter the colours and images, and spruce your

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