Wondering what an "avatar" is? Unclear on the difference between a "thread" and a "post"? Here is a great website to help you learn all the necessary lingo! (But, not to worry...there is not a lot to learn and you'll be up to speed quickly).

http://www.netlingo.com/index.cfm

You may also be confused about the terms "forum" and "forums". Here is a helpful explanation from an online friend of mine:
The WINGS Group is a "forum" - a medium (as a newspaper or online service) of open discussion or expression of ideas.

An online forum has a structure comprised of one or more "forums" - a public meeting place for open discussion.

So, you can call it the WINGS Group Forum (using the notion of a venue from the first definition) or the WINGS Group Forums (referring to the structural components referred to in the second definition).
Here are a few of the other more common terms (most copied from the above site) that you will probably see mentioned:

avatar

A digital "actor" or icon that represents who you are and where you are in the virtual world. 3-D chat rooms and VRML worlds are examples of places where you would use an avatar to navigate your surroundings and communicate with other users. The avatar can be whatever you want, including a cartoon, an animal, or any graphical element. Just be aware that this image represents you!

bump

To "bump" a thread refers to bumping it to the top of the list of threads, making it active again. For example, if you posted about a topic and never received a reply, you may want to reply to the post yourself saying that you are still looking for advice, etc. This would bump it to the top of the list of threads and hopefully draw some attention again. Bumping is something that must be done with care, as it can become annoying if over-used!

cross post
To post a message to several newsgroups simultaneously, an action usually frowned upon in Internet culture.
see also: spam

post

A noun for a message entered into a network such as a newsgroup, discussion group, or online forum. The message is called "a post" or "a posting." As a verb, it means the same as "to put up."
For example, "I posted the 'for sale' message yesterday. That's probably why we have so many e-mail messages."


profile

Information about a user. A "profile" may contain details such as the users' name, hometown, interests, pictures, etc. Profiles are commonly used on social networking Web sites to help people get to know each other.


thread

Originally it referred to a chain of postings on a single subject in a newsgroup. Most newsreaders include a command that lets you follow a thread by jumping to the next related message (rather than reviewing all the messages in order). Popular newsreaders also have a thread selector that allows you to sort articles by threads; indentation is often used to indicate a response to an article positioned above it.
In addition to threads occurring on discussion boards, forums, and BBS', threads also appear on blogs. Most recently, however, this term has morphed into a common expression to describe a series of e-mail messages. When you "reply" or "forward" an e-mail to someone else and include the original message below a new one, it creates a series of messages which become a thread. As with the newsgroups, the prior messages are often indented or tagged with brackets. This usage is commonly seen in work-related e-mail because certain parties "cc" each other and will later forward the thread to someone not on the original distribution list; the top message may say "Be sure to follow this thread to get the background info on it."