Different parts of the Forum are subdivided into subheadings within the field. You can think of these like rooms in a house, where each room is dedicated to a specific area of the larger subject. So here, there are rooms labeled "Self Publishing", "Where to Promote Your Articles", "Tools & Resources", "Non-fiction", and so on. Anyone interested in that more specific subheading can click on the title for access to that "room".

Once a person is in the room, he can read previous conversations "called threads" or start a thread by asking a question or making a statement for discussion. Anyone can read any thread, and those registered for the site (which is almost always free) can post a response to any thread. The response - officially called a reply, gee, there's a surprise that can occur almost instantaneously, or it might be years later, and all replies become a part of that particular thread. The thread itself belongs to, and stays in, the same sub-heading, or room, where it was started.

Some threads "die" with few or no replies. Some generate multiple replies, replies to replies, etc., and the thread can go on and on, sometimes for weeks or months. At any time, multiple threads are active, and in theory, all threads started since the birth of the board are active, though in practice, threads do tend to die after a while from lack of attention, as they are pushed farther back by new threads. All threads, active or not, are always searchable, by subject, keyword, date of posting, name of person who posted, etc. Which is to say, everything that has ever been said in the public areas of the board is searchable, and accessible by anyone, forever. Bear this in mind when you are writing or replying in a forum, especially if your blood is up a little, or it's late and you are tired. And when doing searches among the posts, limit your searches to specific time periods. If you go too far back in your search, you run the risk of outdated information, as well as data overload.

If you spend much time on Message Boards/Forums, you will notice that certain people tend to post more often than others, and other people's replies to them will tend to be extra respectful and deferential. These are the people you should cultivate; they tend to be authorities. They know a lot about their subject, and they seem to know the most people. If you want to communicate with one of these people only, most Message Boards will allow you to send messages directly to that particular person; these are called private messages, or PMs. Private messages are not included in the board's database, and are not searchable or viewable by others. This is how people exchange email addresses without exposing themselves to spammer harvesting bots and the general nuisance types (who "just don't get it") that sometimes hang around the boards. If you spend time on Message Boards, and get to know the people there, they can be terrific places for cultivating contacts.