For those of you who are unfamiliar with Internet message boards, allow me to explain: back when (and perhaps even now in some places), there were message boards. These would often be made of cork and you could tack a message (i.e. Dorm furniture for sale!! Just call Trish at 555-5555!). Today, message boards have evolved into something much easier, or at least those of us in my generation believe them to be so. On the internet there is a host of message boards where you can chat, make announcements, sell things, or even ask random questions.
My personal message board experience has been one of the wonderful, the good, the bad, and the extremely ugly... The best message board I have ever been a member of had a very "family" feel to it for quite some time. Unfortunately, the traffic has dwindled there to the point that little is said. I have retained several friends from there, and hope that it will one day be back to it's former glory as a message board. To those friends from there who may be reading this, it has truly been a blessing meeting all of you over the internet, and no, this is not a goodbye. Just a thank you.
The "bad" and "ugly" of message boards is that there often can be a lot of drama. There are message boards I will never recommend to anyone simply because of the hating that goes on there on a regular basis. I've even seen people consider divorces on these message boards because they got too involved. There is such a thing as sharing too much information online, and depending on the type of message board it is, sometimes that can be difficult to control.
In the last several years, I have participated in several types of message boards, including: Christian, Pet-oriented, Anime Fan, military (duh)...
Christian Message Boards:
- Pros - Lots of people to chat with about your faith, great place to share without too much scrutiny (depending on the board).
- Cons - Sometimes you get a whole bunch of people of differing faiths who argue over petty things. Other times you have a message board that is just very religious in general, to a bad point.
- Pros - You can find a lot of helpful information about your pet there.
- Cons - Often very slow and don't have much traffic.
- Pros - You find people who enjoy the same things you do. Many of these people are very down-to-earth and nice.
- Cons - A lot of dramatic people join them...
- Pros - Great for spouses of military to meet others like them, lots of helpful information. There are both good and bad out there.
- Cons - Dramatose people join many of them, others are fully centered around the drama that goes down there, still others do not take the time to really read what one has typed, and therefore jump to a great many conclusions, not helping the asker of a question at all.
ChristianRock.net - As the name states, it doubles as an online Christian music station. Great music, great people.
A Sailor's Anchor - Wonderful for the wives/girlfriends of any branch of the military. So far, this is one of my favorites out of the military ones I've been to.
Loving You - Great for people of all walks of life, both male and female. Focuses a great deal on relationships, including military spouses.
WebMD - Did you know that they have a place for you to ask questions about yoru pet's health? They do. Go check it out.
Miss Manners - Great for just about anyone, particularly if you have a manners question. If you have a random question, though, you can post with the letters OT (for Off Topic) at the beginning of your subject line and no one will mind. Just be careful how you word things here.
Happy boarding!!
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