An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site. It is the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dial-up bulletin board system. From a technological standpoint, forums or boards are web applications managing user-generated content.
People participating in an Internet forum can build bonds with each other and interest groups will easily form around a topic's discussion, subjects dealt within or around sections in the forum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_forum
AEF - Advanced Electron Forum is a free bulletin board software written in PHP and MySQL.It has a lot of unique features and is very fast.Features include UTF-8, SEO URLs,IP Ban,W3C Validated,News System,ShoutBox,Threaded Mode,WYSIWYG,Themes,Languages etc
bbPress is plain and simple forum software, plain and simple. It’s easy to use, easy to administrate, fast and clean. But don’t let its simplicity deceive you; underneath the gleam, it’s got some powerful features and is highly customizable.
Beehive is an open-source project for creating a high-configurable frame-based discussion forum.
DeluxeBB is a powerful open source bulletin board, which helps you create your own web communities in less than 10 minutes.
Discuz is one of the most powerful forum system in the world, and best of all, its competely free as long as you keep footer untouched.
FluxBB is a fast, light, user-friendly forum application for your website.
FUDforum is an extremely fast and scalable forum that can fulfil the needs of both small and large forum operators. The software is highly customizable and supports a large feature set. Messages can be imported from USENET posts, Email lists and XML Feeds
IceBB is a powerful, fast, free, and open-source forum solution powered by the free PHP and MySQL. IceBB scales well, no matter how many users or posts, due to it's clean and efficient code. It is also fully customizable, with full skin and language...
Mi-Dia Forum is a simple and efficient Forum System written in php and mysql. Its simple interface allows ease of use for both user's and administrator's.
miniBB (an abbreviation of "minimalist bulletin board") is a flat-type (not threaded) free web forum and discussion software, open source PHP bulletin board, written in PHP and using mySQL or another PHP-compatible database as data backend.
MyBB is a powerful, efficient and free forum package developed in PHP and MySQL. MyBB has been designed with the end users in mind, you and your subscribers. Full control over your discussion system is presented right at the tip of your fingers.
my little forum is a simple PHP and MySQL based web-forum that displays the messages in classical threaded view. It's Open Source licensed under the GNU General Public License. The main claim of this forum script is simplicity.
nextBBS is an open-source Internet forum system written in PHP. Development of nextBBS was started on August 23, 2004 [by the] owner of clicdev.com[...] nextBBS multi-boards is currently running in public beta at clicdev.com.
NinkoBB is an open source forum script written in the PHP language and uses a MySQL Database. Small in size, big in features, and still simple as can be.
Simple to use, easy to edit, NovaBoard is an extremely feature-rich but also lightweight solution for those wishing to start up an online community with little effort.
Phorum is a web based message board written in PHP. Phorum is designed with high-availability and visitor ease of use in mind. Features such as mailing list integration, easy customization and simple installation make Phorum a powerful add-in to any...
phpBB is a high powered, fully scalable, and highly customizable Open Source bulletin board package. phpBB has a user-friendly interface, simple and straightforward administration panel, and helpful FAQ.
PunBB is a fast and lightweight PHP-powered discussion board. It is released under the GNU General Public License. Its primary goals are to be faster, smaller and less graphically intensive as compared to other discussion boards.
Elegant. Effective. Powerful. Free. SMF is all of the above. SMF is a next-generation community software package and is jam-packed with features, while at the same time having a minimal impact on resources. And, yes, it is free.
UseBB is a light and Open Source PHP and MySQL based forum package, distributed freely under the GPL license. Developed with simplicity and usability in mind, UseBB is ideal for small to medium sized websites which need a clear and efficient forum package
With Vanilla we wanted to break the mold created and followed by just about every other forum on the web. We sat down and thought about what we liked, and more importantly, what we didn't like about web forums.
Viscacha is a free bulletin board system with an integrated CMS. The intention of the software engineers is to combine the current standards with new and user friendly features. The system supports packages for easily extending the core system.
