what are differences between a Forum & Getsatisfaction?

Great question, don. Thor, our CEO, has previously pointed out some of the differences between Get Satisfaction and traditional forums here: http://getsatisfaction.com/getsatisfa...

I'll see if he can weigh in here, too, because he's more eloquent than I am, but I wanted to quickly point out one difference in my mind: We're really interested in creating a space where the focus is on getting productive answers, rather than just a spot for free-form talk. By adding lightweight voting and emotion/mood and metrics, we aim to provide something that is more rich than a forum. This extends to collecting ideas from customers, too. If customers can vote on ideas, and be encouraged to offer up their own, I think it can be eminently more valuable than a knowledgebase or forum.

One other key difference: Get Satisfaction is designed to be a Switzerland of sorts, where companies and customers are encouraged to interact in a transparent way. Customers are encouraged to focus on getting solutions rather than just voicing complaints, and companies are encouraged to use our community management tools to help shape the conversation and give great answers, and hopefully have some fun while doing it. (More about those tools here, if you're curious about admin tools: http://getsatisfaction.com/premium).

Okay, that's it for me tonight, but I hope that helps!