ZForums are a place where people can converse and their words are preserved so that sustained conversations can occur and also be read by others. That's really the whole of it - but instead of a public square, it is online.

So, think of ZForums as a big (cyber) house you can visit to meet and talk with others. Within the house, a Forum is a big room. The room - particular forum - has its own focus.If you want to talk about economics, you go to a room for that - and there you can find others with the same intent. Similarly for a room about some other topic.

An unusual thing about the house is that we can add rooms (forums) endlessly. Another unusual thing is that inside each room, there is another demarcation, again to facilitate finding things of interest - topics. 

So, you go to the ZForum System as a whole - this page, for example, looking for things of interest to read, or even better, looking to engage with others about topics or concerns you share. Then, you choose a particular room - forum - to focus on an area of concern. Then you choose a particular topic, to hone right in on your interest. Topics, too, can be added without limit.

Of course at the beginning there is little activity. Few people even know the house exists, much less are hanging out. Whether that changes or not, will be up to our users.

ZForums have many nice and convenient features. For example, if you are a free user or Sustainer who can log into the system, whose email is in the system, you can have them send you notices about posts in particular rooms or topics, or about replies to something you have posted. You can operate in many topics and rooms at once, if you like. All this makes it easier to keep up with content that interests you, and to contribute content, too. 

This page is just an entryway to the house, not the house itself. It is a means by which to enter the ZForum system, but it is not the ZForum system itself. For that, click a forum name, or a topic name, appearing on this page, to go to it and see the actual venue and some of its contents! Try it. You will find it is quite simple to use.

One proviso.

We are experimenting with having the forums open to any and all users, rather than available to only people who have signed up as free members, say, or even to just Sustainers. A virtue of free entry, of course, is a larger universe of potential users. A potential debit, however, is nasty folks abusing the system, either just because it is their style, or because they seek to do mischief. 

So here are the rules: no sexist posts, no racist posts, no classist posts, no hounding of any user, no personal attacks. Again, just think of it like a house. You don't go into someone's home and treat them or their other guests disrespectfully. The same applies here!