Forum

The gist: build a web app for having online, non-instant discussions organized by threads.

a.k.a. message board

I grew up in the age of forums. You'd post and check back to see if anyone responded to what you posted. Often times people made friends this way. I thought it was a really fun way to have online interactions that were a bit slower than instant messaging and chat.

Building a forum app is great for learning because there are lots of examples of them online and

Example

Here's what a forum thread looks like:

Screenshot of the Man Without Ties - Paul Westerberg forum website with a discussion thread on PW Rarities

Specs

  • Authentication (sign up, log in, log out)
  • Create message threads with an initial post and title
  • Users can respond to the message thread
  • Users can browse posted messages

Extra Credit

  • Reply to and quote messages
  • Notify user when they're directly replied to
  • Ability to delete and edit posts

References