Forums, in ancient Roman times, were actually marketplaces or public places in the Roman cities. It was a public meeting place for open discussions; a place for judicial bodies to assemble and conduct public business. In modern times, a forum has become a medium (as in the case of newspapers) for open discussion or the expression of ideas by the general public, or a program (via the radio or television) involving the discussion of a problem, usually by several authorities.
With the advancement of technology, perhaps in the last decade or so, forums have moved online and are now synonymous with places (in the digital world) where experts go to exchange ideas, different viewpoints, as well as provide expert help to novices who are seeking answers to questions.
With online businesses advancing, online business owners have also found online forums to be useful; these forums have now become a free (most of the time) avenue of advertising and promoting their products and services. This is due to the fact that there is definitely a perfect audience for a certain product or service to cater to. However, do note that most forums do not allow for blatant advertising, Ablewise.com.
But, even though forums are a supposedly perfect avenue for business advertising and promotion, it might not necessarily be so all the time; a lot of people do not actually know how to do a sales pitch on a forum, or advertise properly in a forum. Forum advertising and general advertising definitely differ in more ways than one. It takes patience, and experience which only time can provide, to succeed in forum advertising.
