Do you tend to use the words interchangeably? Do you think they are different?
I don’t see the term “message board” being used much anymore. I do remember many years ago being on message boards; they didn’t call themselves a forum. Of course, I was also on ones that did use the word forum. I didn’t notice a difference.
I've always seen sites like Reddit as message boards, but any site that uses a traditional forum software such as Xenforo as a forum. There is a free host that allows you to pick between a forum or a message board for your website. (I believe it's Bravenet that allows you to do so...) I once tried the message board option and it was set up like Reddit.
I call anything that you can post topics, that have submitted categories, basically I call them forums no matter what site I'm talking about. Back in 2007, when I started using forums, most people, myself included, we're calling them message boards. As the years went by, however, I started calling almost any place where you can post topics and have specific sections as a forum. I think the word message board is kind of dying out really.
I don't say message board when I want to talk about forums, however, I prefer to call discussion board instead of forums. For me the word forum does not give any idea related to the nature of the website but the discussion board does.
I have always called them forums regardless of what others have said. I know that some people do call them message boards as that is what they prefer and I am happy for them to use that if that is what they are used to but, I am so used to using the term forums and that is what I use without even thinking now.
