A shoutbox or tagboard is a Internet chat-like feature of some websites that allow people to quickly send messages to each other without requiring a post to a standard Internet forum or the use of a separate medium such as IRC.

In their simplest form, they are simply a list of short messages, and possibly information about their author. The page is automatically refreshed after a certain interval in order to keep new messages visible. Older posts may be deleted after a certain number of messages have been written in order to preserve space on the server.

Shoutboxes are usually maintained in a manner similar to that of more complex boards, with moderators that can delete posts and ban usernames or IP addresses.

Occasionally, features such as impostor identification, flood control, and profanity filters may be included.

==Private messaging==

On some websites with existing bulletin boards, shoutboxes are occasionally called private messages or PMs.

These usually use the same system as the bulletin board, and usually the same interface, though they are between 2 users (and not public).

They are often called boxes or sometimes CHAT boxes on some sites. Many names, for one thing

==Examples of Boxes==