Discus Features
Hierarchical organization; all messages on a single page
Formatting, symbols, tables, images, links, uploads without HTML
Posting and viewing may be restricted; anonymous posting available
Email notification and reply-by-email
Compatible with all browsers; installs on unix, NT, Win 95 and 98 webservers
Notes:
The hierarchical organization keeps discussion very organized and makes navigation easy. Having all of the messages about a single subtopic on a single page makes it very easy to follow and understand a conversation. The “Add a Message” box at the bottom invites user participation. We found that Discus generally requires no training to use.
In addition to bold, underlining, and italics, symbols and super- and subscripts are supported, tables can be copied and pasted from Excel, graphics images can be uploaded to appear within messages, and hyperlinks to other resources can be included in posts, all without knowledge of HTML.
Posting can be public, limited to a group of users such as your students, or even anonymous. Reading can also be restricted.
Registered users can receive notification of new posts by email, so you don’t have to continuously check the board to look for new activity.
The discussion board is accessible from any browser, at any time, from anyplace. It installs on a wide variety of server platforms.
And best of all, it’s free.