Forum terminology

[zetreque]

I have been frustrated lately about how the term forum is being used.

Say you want to look online for a place like the science forum where you can post questions or ideas and get responses feedback and conversations about a certain topic. Some examples might be a forum about crafts, or jeeps, or food recipes.

The problem is when you search the internet using the word "forum" there is a lot of irrelevant sites that come up. Everyone is using the word forum to describe conferences at convention centers, meetings, webcasts, summits, etc.

Is it fair to say that the usefulness of forums like the one we have here is being threatened by lack of terminology that creates difficulty in finding what you are looking for?

Often times, the hardest part about searching for answers is finding the right terminology to use. Another example for instance is say you want to look up that spring thing that automatically closes your door. Knowing that it is often called a "door closure" can significantly help in finding your answer.

[zetreque]

Another complaint I have. Bulletin Boards are wonderful, but the internet spam bots have ruined them and made it so hard to have one that it kills the wonderful tool that is available to the world.

We spent a great deal of effort fighting them on here. For the average Joe who wants to have an interactive website, it can be extremely difficult to keep up with the battle.