Using Forums--Part 4: Staying Involved
Once you've chosen your forums, you'll need to participate and stay active. Keeping up with several forums can be a bit time consuming, so here are some pointers:
*Keep some kind of schedule: visit every forum you've joined at least once a week--more if you can. The more active the forum, the more opportunities you'll have to participate. Try to follow threads you have posted in.
*Use Bookmarks: I use bookmark tabs in my browswer to organize the way I visit forums.
*Email Updates: Some forums automatically send updates to your email (updates on specific threads you've posted in or a updates from the whole forum). For this reason, you may want to create a new email account specifically for your forum participation.
*Quick Links: Most forums will have a link to new or unread posts along the top (sometimes this is under the "quick links" tab). This is very useful for finding "fresh" discussions to join.
I think I've covered the basics of using forums. I'm still learning, so just let me know if you think I've missed something.