The Activeworlds Forums are a web resource where users of AW discuss various topics ranging from program features, programming, and artwork to the direction the program is going and non-AW related topics. The forums are loosely monitored by employees of AWI and can be found here.
The Activeworlds Forums were established by Martin following the closure of the Newsgroups -- AWI's previous online discussion area. In August, 2006, the forums went live on a vBulletin system and Rick Noll announced the new forums in this thread. Since it's launch the forum has only allowed for citizens to join in discussion, and is moderated by AWI staff.
The forums were updated to a new software in 2013, following several months of maintenance.
Features
Discussion Forums
The most noticeable and immediately recognizable feature of the forums is the vast amount of discussion topics the forums support. 7 major categories separate 40 individual boards on the forum.
Blogs
Forum users are entitled to their own blog, which can be accessed from the top menu bar. Blogs have typically been used to post individual announcements -- though some users, such as Bach Zhaa have made legitimate blogs out of the area.
The forums support a fully functional calendar, which allows you to add events that will appear on the main page of the forum the day they occur.
Social Networking
Friends
Individual users can be specified as a user's friend from the control panel, which creates a link between the two users and allows for greater privacy settings on a user's individual profile.
Photo Albums
Users can upload photos to photo albums hosted on the site and share them with friends.
Social Groups
Social groups can be accessed from a users control panel, which allow groups of users in Active Worlds to establish a web presence and post updates, announcements, or images to their group page.
Other Activeworlds Forums
Activeworlds related forums generally do not last for a long period of time, although they do exist and some have thrived.
The Scarabian Republic Forumforum.swcity.net - The Scarabian Republic Forums host discussion relating to SW City and the member cities of the Scarabian Republic. They have been very active since their induction in the early 2000s.
