Related:

• bboard /bee'bord/ n. [contraction of `bulletin board'] 1.
  Any electronic bulletin board; esp. used of BBS systems running on personal micros, less frequently of a Usenet newsgroup (in fact, use of this term for a newsgroup generally marks one either as a newbie fresh in from the BBS world or as a real old-timer predating Usenet)....
• board: n. 1. In-context synonym for {bboard}; sometimes used even for USENET newsgroups (but see usage note under {bboard}, sense 1).
  2. An electronic circuit board. -- The AI Hackers Dictionary...
• board n. 1. In-context synonym for bboard; sometimes used even for Usenet newsgroups (but see usage note under bboard, sense 1).
  2. An electronic circuit board....
• BBS /B-B-S/ n. [common; abbreviation, `Bulletin Board System'] An electronic bulletin board system
  hat is, a message database where people can log in and leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically) into topic groups....
• BBS: /B-B-S/ [abbreviation, `Bulletin Board System'] n.
  An electronic bulletin board system; that is, a message database where people can log in and leave broadcast messages for others grouped (typically) into {topic group}s....
• forum: n. [USENET, GEnie, CI$; pl. `fora' or `forums'] Any discussion group accessible through a dial-in {BBS}, a {mailing list}, or a {newsgroup} (see {network, the}).
  A forum functions much like a bulletin board; users submit {posting}s for all to read and discussion ensues....
• USENET: /yoos'net/ or /yooz'net/ [from `Users' Network'] n.
  A distributed {bboard} (bulletin board) system supported mainly by UNIX machines....
• emoticon /ee-moh'ti-kon/ n. [common] An ASCII glyph used to indicate an emotional state in email or news.
  Although originally intended mostly as jokes, emoticons (or some other explicit humor indication) are virtually required under certain circumstances in high-volume text-only communication forums such as Usene...
• metasyntactic variable n. A name used in examples and understood to stand for whatever thing is under discussion, or any random member of a class of things under discussion.
  The word foo is the canonical example. To avoid confusion, hackers never (well, hardly ever) use `foo' or other words like it as permanent names for anything....