Most chatrooms have a theme or topic, so it is possible to ‘meet’ others from all around the world with the same interest as you and exchange ideas. Often people assume different identities in chatrooms, which means they can be free from real world stereotypes, such as age, race and appearance.

For young people this can be an easy way to contact new people, or explore issues which they are too shy to talk about in person. Since many people can join in and observe a conversation at one time, chatrooms are very useful for collaborative work. Most chatroom programmes record conversations.

Message boards allow different people to add replies to discussion topics, creating chains of replies around particular topics, which may take place over several months. Some message boards are moderated – no new messages will be published publicly until the owner reviews them – but many others are monitored only by users, who are expected to report any inappropriate messages.