Are you aware that, according to Business Insider, there are now more than 644 million websites of varying types spread across the world wide web? Many of those are, or feature, forums meant to be an area for online discussion. Whether you are a fan of cats, football, or mobile technology, there is a forum that exists just for you. If you are part of the 20% of Americans, according to Entrepreneur, that comment and discuss online, here are three ways to find the highest quality discussion forums free.

• Forum Rating Forum Directory

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For many specific topics covered on forums, there are web pages that serve as forum directories that also rate forums on multiple points. For instance, Tolkien Forums is a webpage that links to multiple web communities where J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous Lord of the Rings universe is discussed. If you are looking for discussion boards talking about a specific topic, whether it is elves or football, sites like this exist to aggregate pages and provide forum reviews.

Community pages themselves contain a microcosm of this feature in a forum rating forum directory. Single conversations, called threads, can be rated by community members. Further, forum directories allow users to easily search boards for forums pertaining to specific information quickly and easily.

• Post Amount

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Most forums have a tool that allows them to keep track of the amount of posts published by each user. Oftentimes, different rankings are assigned to users based on their activity level separate from a forum rating forum directory. For instance, the Aquatic Community, a community centered around taking care of fish in the home, gives different fish names as rankings.

Whereas user post count can be a sign of their activity and popularity on a given site, so too is the total post amount on a given forum a sign of its fame on the worldwide web. For instance, 4chan, an extremely popular online forum, has 1,000,000 posts per day. This marks it as being very popular indeed.

• Word of Mouth

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According to Statistics Brain, 1.15 billion people now use Facebook to connect with friends and share their favorite web content. Each month the site hosts 70 billion pieces of shared content between its users. If a piece of web content, be it a forum, video, or otherwise, is shared on social networks, it is generally something that was found engaging or entertaining to at least one person. If a forum is shared by a friend, check it out!

However, on the flip side, you should be aware of the squabbles that happen on the internet between forums. For instance, 4chan and 2chan are infamous for trying to degrade the other’s reputation on the web. The point is that while many negative comments about web pages are accurate, many others are written to be spiteful. Tread carefully.

Whether you are looking for a place to discuss aliens, vegetarianism, or Japanese animation, there are free discussion forums for you to do exactly that. Like other types of web content, however, not all forums are created equal. Use these three tips to find the best forums and start your way towards becoming a lurker; a forum user who posts and reads specific topics on forums. Get to it!