Chat rooms vs forums
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This document compares and contrasts chat rooms and forums. It discusses their differences in terms of synchronicity, moderation, longevity, community, and technology. Chat rooms are synchronous, have less moderation, less longevity as conversations are not archived, have users that come and go, and often require plugins. Forums are asynchronous, have more moderation as content is reviewed, have more longevity as content is searchable, have users that regularly check for updates, and are accessible through regular browsers allowing images and attachments.
Chat rooms vs forums
- 1. Chat Rooms Forums Definition Allow you to communicate with people in real time. More suited for discussions wherenot all participants have to be online at the same time. Synchronous Vs. Asynchronous Occur in real time with all the participants logged in and present. Conversations in chat rooms occur at a much faster pace due to rapidly change, depending on the mood of the participants. Participants are always online and discussions occur ata much slower pace due to forums tend to stick to a specific topic. Moderation Have filters to block inappropriatewords, butit is impossiblefor moderators to check each messagebefore it is displayed without slowing down the conversation considerably. The slower pace of forums make them easier to moderate and mostforums havevery specific rules about what is allowed to ensure that nothing inappropriateis shown. Longevity Very less longevity. Integrated search feature is not possible. Chat logs are not always available. More longevity due to content is archived and crawled by search engines. Forums usually have an integrated search feature via which you can find threads or posts based on keywords or user names. Community Chat users tend to come and go, depending on how interesting they find the currentdiscussion. Forumusers will also regularly check for updates. To prevent spamposts, forums usually require registration with a valid email address. Technology Chat rooms often require the installation of a browser extension, plugin or third-party software such as Java or Flash. Chat rooms do not allow postimages and attachments functionality. Forums aredisplayed as ordinary websites in your browser. Forums often allow users to postimages and attachments functionality. Microphones or webcams for chatting is not possibleon forums.