It was 1975 when University of North Carolina graduate student Steve Bellovin developed a handful of short programs to facilitate communication via UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) between the University of North Carolina and Duke University. The scripts were later rewritten in the computer language "C" and extended, later becoming the basis for Usenet.
Usenet is a distributed conferencing system that provides for group discussions over the Internet, and includes thousands of "newsgroups" that cover thousands of topics. Usenet is alive and well today, and continues to enjoy wide popularity with millions of users familiar with configuring and using "news reader" software.
However, it was the ease and user-friendliness of Internet browsers and the World Wide Web that saw discussion groups and message boards really blossom into a cyberculture phenomenon. These systems use the same conceptual components as Usenet newsgroups -- discussion topics, messages and threads -- but are designed for use with a standard Web browser rather than a news reader. Popular English-language ones include Yahoo! Groups ( groups.yahoo.com ) MSN Groups ( groups.msn.com ). English-language forums specific to Japan can be found at JapanToday ( forum.japantoday.com ).