<s>
Phorum	B-Protocol
is	O
an	O
open	B-License
source	I-License
message	B-Application
board	I-Application
system	O
written	O
in	O
PHP	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
came	O
from	O
combining	O
"	O
PHP	B-Application
"	O
and	O
"	O
forum	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
released	O
under	O
the	O
GPL	O
,	O
though	O
it	O
would	O
later	O
be	O
changed	O
to	O
the	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
license	O
,	O
a	O
BSD	O
style	O
license	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Moon	O
had	O
already	O
begun	O
writing	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
2.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
upon	O
a	O
review	O
of	O
the	O
code	O
,	O
2.0	O
was	O
clearly	O
not	O
able	O
to	O
scale	B-Architecture
to	O
Dealmac	O
's	O
needs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Dealmac	O
hiring	O
Moon	O
to	O
create	O
what	O
would	O
become	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
3.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
site	O
owners	O
were	O
very	O
open	O
to	O
open	B-License
source	I-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
Initially	O
,	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
3	O
was	O
developed	O
primarily	O
by	O
Moon	O
with	O
some	O
help	O
from	O
Jason	O
Birch	O
of	O
Bar-None	O
Drinks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Moon	O
announced	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
3.0	O
on	O
28	O
July	O
1999	O
using	O
version	O
3	O
of	O
PHP	B-Application
and	O
supporting	O
both	O
a	O
MySQL	O
and	O
PostgresSQL	O
backend	O
databases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2000	O
,	O
Dan	O
Langille	O
joined	O
the	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
team	O
and	O
has	O
concentrated	O
on	O
maintaining	O
the	O
PostgreSQL	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2001	O
,	O
Thomas	O
Seifert	O
of	O
MySnip.de	O
came	O
on	O
board	O
,	O
contributing	O
an	O
internal	O
user	O
system	O
in	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Previously	O
,	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
had	O
relied	O
on	O
external	O
user	O
systems	O
for	O
user	O
management	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
September	O
2005	O
,	O
Maurice	O
Makaay	O
of	O
Gitaar.net	O
joined	O
the	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
team	O
,	O
contributing	O
an	O
easier	O
to	O
use	O
message	O
posting	O
system	O
and	O
code	O
for	O
improving	O
the	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
module	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
module	O
system	O
provides	O
a	O
very	O
flexible	O
solution	O
for	O
implementing	O
extra	O
features	O
and	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
new	O
features	O
have	O
been	O
implemented	O
as	O
easy	O
to	O
install	O
and	O
use	O
modules	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
production	O
release	O
of	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
5	O
,	O
version	O
5.0.9	O
,	O
was	O
made	O
in	O
September	O
2004	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Phorum	B-Protocol
5.2	O
was	O
announced	O
as	O
stable	O
in	O
January	O
2008	O
after	O
two	O
years	O
of	O
development	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Key	O
enhancements	O
introduced	O
with	O
5.2	O
included	O
a	O
new	O
template	O
which	O
is	O
totally	O
based	O
on	O
XHTML	B-Language
and	O
the	O
addition	O
of	O
a	O
publicly	O
documented	O
API	B-General_Concept
for	O
allowing	O
other	O
applications	O
to	O
integrate	O
with	O
Phorum	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
Phorum	B-Protocol
at	O
one	O
point	O
in	O
the	O
2000s	O
was	O
used	O
to	O
provide	O
such	O
websites	O
MySQL	O
forums	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sheffield	O
Hallam	O
university	O
School	O
of	O
Mathematics	O
attempted	O
to	O
use	O
a	O
web-based	O
discussion	B-Application
forum	I-Application
for	O
student	O
communication	O
but	O
utilization	O
proved	O
poor	O
in	O
practice	O
and	O
e-mail	O
based	O
lists	O
were	O
found	O
to	O
be	O
more	O
productive	O
.	O
</s>
