by Amelia Bray

Created on: September 12, 2008

Online message boards are those places where reality meets the virtual world. It's the one place on earth where people change themselves willingly, knowingly, and all because it's easier to be who you either really are, or who you want to be online when no body knows you. It's easier to speak up, say what you really think, but is that really the best way to go?

The virtual world is an amazing place, where people adopt second families' of people they've probably never met because they took the right steps when starting out. For those of you who have heard the horror stories of what lurks out there online there are simple solutions for you to keep a certain level of privacy while earning the friendship and trust of those you will find yourself able to talk to far easier than your real life' friends, because you haven't met them. They can't judge the way your real friends will!

So how do you go about making this world somewhere happy for you to be? When you sign up, think about your screen name/user name. I can understand it being tempting to come up with something witty, amusing, mildly offensive, but bear in mind this could be what you become known as on the site. Do you really think it's worth giving yourself a name that just, once you've thought about it, really isn't that funny at all. Choose a name that fits you, and abides by the site rules. They're all different on every site so read them first.

When it comes to introducing yourself, find out where and how this is done. Some sites will only allow you to post in one forum first so you understand the rules, and make friends with those of you who are starting out too. Others will allow you to make your own thread so everyone can jump in and say hi. Choose what to say carefully too. What do you want to give away? What don't you? This comes far easier than you think. Simply go by what feels comfortable, and what doesn't. If you don't want people to call you by your real name, you've got a screen name. Find a good nick name from that or even your user name itself and already you've got a bit of privacy. The internet is the one place where you can go by a random name you made for yourself and have no one say anything about it. (If they do, you can ignore them, or tell one of those higher up in the site to sort it out for you). Say what you like, be friendly, people will be happy to make a new friend.

Web forums normally have those in charge to make sure people abide by the rules. Depending on the site, they can have different names or roles, but what they do is generally the same. Administrators or Admins, always come top. They normally own the site. Then comes either a Moderator, or Super Moderator, or any other variation of a Moderator. After that, can sometimes be senior members, who have proven themselves to have the qualities of a Mod, or the members themselves. These people are there to help you, so don't be afraid to ask questions.

Once you're comfortable posting about, helping give advice, your opinion, or what ever it is that site offers, you could always start to post your own questions. Think of a good title, something catchy, and something that is too the point. Something completely random will just annoy people.

Once you have got the hang of all of this, you're well on your way to becoming a forum pro. It's easy once you know how.

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