You bet!

Message boards, AKA, discussion forums.

A message board is a place on web that allows for reader participation and interaction.

Here, you can ask questions and become part of what is known as a "thread."

A "thread" is just an ongoing set of comments, discussions, and questions that starts off with one member's post. A "post" is simply someone's comment or question that is "posted," or sent to board.

So, essentially a message board is similar to a "bulletin board in cyber space." There are certain guidelines of etiquette on most forums. They are usually posted at beginning of site. Here are some general guidelines:

(1) Watch your language! ~Common sense, really. Don't swear! Be courteous! Otherwise, your message could be deleted.

(2) Advertising ~Read rules of any board that you participate on. If they allow ads, go for it! That's why they exist! But... If they don't allow ads, and you post one, chances are your post will be deleted and, you could get kicked off board.

Note: ~Most forums will allow you to include your site URL and/or a signature file. You might even get to include a text "link caption" to spark curiosity. (3) Recruiting ~Most boards don't allow recruiting. It's pretty much akin to advertising.

There are 2 types of discussion boards--moderated and unmoderated.

Moderated boards usually have someone who reads each new message before it's posted. Then a decision is made about it's contents, if it meets board regulations, or if it's just an ad.

If it's decided that it is an ad, then chances are it will get deleted. Some moderators will even send some type of "tsk,tsk" message to poster. You might get an even nastier email from members of board.

It was also no surprise when Standard ceased publication. Just two years old, company had quickly swelled as it succeeded in becoming major business publication tracking Internet business. But a $40 million revenue projection for 2001 just wasn't enough to cover bills. I suppose $40 million in sales is a crushingly small when you've budgeted for $100 million.

Yet it still hot me as a quiet blow when I read that Standard Website had gone dark.

I know it's a tiny blip of a news item. Like rest of country, I'm still struggling to absorb staggering magnitude of last month's attack. I'm still trying to understand new world we entered on September 11. Plus, economy, already a confusing bird, has suddenly entered very mysterious waters. So who cares about last whimper of passing Internet economy?

Call me a sentimentalist, but I'm nostalgic for those heady new-economy days that came to an abrupt end just 10 months ago, It seems like ten years. The Standard was flagship of a burgeoning business publishing boom, leader among a flowering of magazines and Websites that got it. Remember when you could divide world into those who got it and those who were hopelessly brick?