I spend so much time online nowadays with blogging, reading blogs, researching, writing and a little more reading. This is the information age and there is so much knowledge out there.

But when I suggest a forum to a non-technical friend I usually get that “deer trapped in headlights look” – you know exactly what I am talking about!

Blogs offer insight into one person’s head and in the case of MakeUseOf a lot of people’s heads. But a forum is a collection of peoples posts and comments as a way to share knowledge.

I use a lot of different forums for my Windows Mobile Phone addiction, my all things software and hardware site and a little Car fun with my automobile forum. I am going to show you these three really good forums I use daily and what they are all about. Hey I might even convince you to go check out some forums that are right up your alley!

First up is XDA Developers. XDA, as I affectionately call it, is my one stop shop for customizing, troubleshooting and modifying any HTC device. If you have not read my Windows Mobile Guide,  you should check it out. I talk extensively about XDA in it.

This community is simply amazing and if you have a problem with your device simply scroll down, locate your device and enter the forum. My device is still the HTC Touch Pro (Raphael) you can do a Control F for find and type in the name or just look.

Here is what my selection looks like:

Now I like to “Flash” custom ROM’s on my phones so I normally stick to the Raphael ROM development forum. I download firmware from here and ask questions related to getting my device to do exactly what I want and how I want it ““ pretty anal huh? Still my phone behaves as I want it to thanks to this amazing forum.

Next up is another site I am on all day long. It is ITKE or the IT Knowledge Exchange for those of you that have never heard of it. You can see how much I love it from this past article on it.

ITKE simply rocks when you have an IT issue that you need help with. Feel free to post your questions or search through their extensive database of gagillions of questions and answers.

As you can see above there are loads of tags that can help you narrow down your search as well as the search bar at the top.

Let’s say today I am getting my ass kicked all over the place by our Windows 2003 DNS server”¦ I can simply search for my issue and”¦

More than 1,500 records!  If you cant find what you are looking for sign up for a free account and ask away like so:

This forum seriously keeps me busy all day long! I love participating and answering questions as much as I like having my problems solved for me by the community! They also give away prizes to participants in the community. Definitely a forum worth checking out.

And now finally on the leisure side (I guess some people think IT and Mobiles are leisure as well!) we have a little site called Forum Automotive and as you could probably discern from it’s title, it is all about cars.

By hitting that drop down menu at the top you can get a glimpse into the wide range of automotive topics check it out below:

Just like the other forums you can pick topics, search or simply browse around. I went ahead and picked the SUV forum to show you what the individual forums look like on here:

Feel free to click on a item or post a new topic just like the other forums. All forums allow you to browse but you cannot post or download attachments without registering and verifying an account.

Long story short, forums are a great source of information and knowledge! Where are you getting yours from? We would love to hear about it in the comments.

Tagged: community • discussion • forum • wisdom of crowds