[jacquesm]

They're not necessary but they don't hurt either.

As the coiner of the term, you may want to update the wikipedia article which, after listing the basic requirements says: "As these services have matured and grown more popular, they have added extra features such as ratings and comments on bookmarks".

So there seems to be a convergence of terms and services here.

I think the major difference between social bookmarking sites (of which I see HN as one, and you obviously don't) versus a forum is that on a forum the vast majority of the topics is not started with a link.

On HN the vast majority of the topics is started with a link.

[joshu]

Can you please provide a definition for social bookmarking that includes the uses you are but is also not overlapping with other things? (Otherwise, you wouldn't need the term as distinct from other definitions, obviously.)

The confusion stems from when Kevin Rose started calling Digg social bookmarking to help raise VC, and was adopted by people who are only understanding superficially (the front pages look kinda similar, so clearly they're the same thing!) Kevin then stopped using the term.

I think you either understand this superficially as well. There are many things that I could use to serve some obscure purpose without that being the primary purpose.

Or perhaps you are just trolling.

[jacquesm]

I think the term 'social bookmarking' has expanded from its initial, narrow definition of 'a service where you can bookmark stuff and share those bookmarks with others and potentially tag them' to the point where the general public will interpret it as to be wide enough to include sites like /., digg, reddit and HN, whereas before that time it was limited to sites like furl, diigoo and deliciou.us. Witness the title of this article. For me the key element is that the majority of the discussions use a link as the topic starter.

I understand that initially the definition was a more narrow one, but since this seems to be the way people use it nowadays I'll just go with the flow, I have no vested interest in seeing the definition being used in one way or another.

To me a 'forum' is a site where people will come to discuss a subject, occasionally using links to illustrate the point.

I think that it is not very friendly to try to label someone that is having a fairly long conversation with you a troll just because you apparently disagree with them.

[joshu]

It's more your weak use of logic and lack of supporting points makes me think you are trying to make me annoyed rather than prove your point.

I do not think that "it has links to start discussions" make it a social bookmarking site. I think it is bookmarking + public that make it a social bookmarking site.

HN is a forum and a social news site. Delicious is social bookmarking and maybe a weak social news site, but not a forum.

Slashdot, also mentioned in the article, is DEFINITELY not a social bookmarking site. Surely you agree with this?

Incidentally, I picked a random forum, and looked at a few items. They all seemed to be started around links: http://www.r8talk.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=fa7531fdc42e...