Rapid Forum was inspired by the style of threaded discussion used on websites like  www.youbemom.com and http://www.urbanbaby.com. Anyone responsible for designing and launching an online community is faced with the same question: how do I create a community experience that's easy to use and engaging? Two "community forum" formats dominate most websites today -- traditional message boards like Joomla's Fireboard and real-time chat rooms. Both have serious limits, and neither lend themselves to optimial community interaction. Rapid Forum offers the best of both worlds: the threaded, organized structure of a forum and the instant satisfaction of a chat room.

What's Wrong With Traditional Message Boards?
Nothing, actually. JoomlaSimple.com maintains a Fireboard message board to support Rapid Forum. For support dialog, Fireboard is better than Rapid Forum because of the way it formats posts, allows for attachments -- it's feature rich, complex and extensive. Rapid Forum is meant to be simple, dialog focused and encourage casual conversation. Forums like Fireboard do not inspire casual dialogue and community. Why? Traditional forum formats like Fireboard are asynchronis -- a user chooses a topic, clicks, creates a post, clicks, and then waits ... waits for visitors to read the post and click, click, click ... reply. To post and reply often requires multiple clicks, multiple page reloads ... by the time you've "corresponded," you've probably lost patience with the format, or decided that what you wanted to say wasn't that important. On Rapid Forum, all dialog and posting takes place on a single page. It flows like a chat room, though it's organized like a forum with "topics." Go to the demo to see what we're talking about. 

Chat Rooms, As Well, Aren't Ideal for Fostering Community
To benefit from a chat room, you have to "be there" when the conversation happens. Chat rooms only work for high traffic sites or sites that succeed in the area of "online events" where you can gather a mass of people at a given time. This isn't how most online communities grow -- most online communities start small, on the far side of the long tail. Chat rooms never work in these contexts -- they just sit their empty -- and those who do show up are too timid to step out and post. They become more a liability than an asset -- something visibly inactive and notworking on a new website that's yet to gain traction and a loyal user base.

So, What is Rapid Forum?
If you haven't yet visited www.youbemom.com and hit refresh a few times (note: if you're not an urban-dwelling, American  mother of young children this message board probably won't hold your interest), please do. Hit it around 8pm EST and really watch it fly. All threaded discussion flows through a single screen. Most "conversation" happens in the subject line, and then can continue in the description box if you have more to say than "OMG ITA (ohmygod, I totally agree). Rapid Forum includes a few added benefits in the administrator configuration panel: have usernames link to Community Builder profiles (if you have CB installed of course), or choose to make your forum totally anonymous. I vote for anonymous when possible -- authentic dialog free of fear is far more interesting.