If you're a table tennis player or coach you'll know how hard it is to find information on new equipment. The manufacturer's information on the back of the packaging makes it sound like each product is going to make you a world champion. Also each manufacturer uses a ratings system that often changes as they bring out new products to allow for even higher ratings. To make matter even worse, the ratings between manufacturers cannot be used to compare between products, as manufacturers use their own ratings system. All these factors make it very hard to decide what new equipment might suit your style and level.

So how can you find out more about what rubber or blade suits your game? Well there is no substitute for the advice of a coach or experienced player that knows your game and has good knowledge of equipment. But many don't have access to people like that, or prefer to do their own research, which brings us to table tennis forums. Table tennis forums are one of the greatest sources of information, because not only can you read about a wide variety of equipment and opinions, you can actually ask questions and get people's opinions on equipment and what might suit your game and best of all it's free! Although the posts in forums are only opinions, and you often don't know how knowledgeable the person is that you're chatting to, the information is usually unbiased. Most people in the forums are players just like you, who enjoy the game, and like chatting about it, and discuss different opinions on equipment. As you participate more in the forum, you get to know people and you learn whose opinions are more credible than others.

The good thing about forums is that they are anonymous! Anyone can just read the forum, and you only need to register if you wish to post your own views and ask questions. Even then you can choose any name, and it usually only requires a valid Email address, which is not visible to any other members. So there's no need to be afraid to ask questions, even if you think they may be a little silly, since no one knows who you are! Just don't be a nuisance in your posts, or the moderators will delete your posts, or worse will delete your account.

Below I've summarised some of the main table tennis forums, and what their main strengths / weaknesses are.

Denis' Table tennis world: www.tabletennis.gr/forum

This forum was started and is run by Dimosthenis E. Messinis (Denis), a player who grew up in Greece and played at the top levels of table tennis, and is also the author of a book called "Table Tennis: From A to Z". This is a well-run forum, with a member base of over 3000 from all over the world. Virtually every topic you can think has been covered at some stage. Although the forum is very big and general, after you spend a few weeks participating in the forum you'll get to know some of the regulars. This is one of my favourite general forums.

MyTableTennis.net Toronto Table Tennis Super league: www.mytabletennis.net/forum

This forum seems to be run by the Toronto table tennis club, although the specifics are unknown. This is no doubt the biggest forum in terms of membership, over 17,000 members! If you want some specific information and you need a quick answer, this forum will be your best chance of getting it, since the membership base is so huge. It can be hard to get to know people there, although after some time you'll get to know some of the regulars.

About.com: tabletennis.about.com/mpboards.htm

The table tennis forum here is a sub-section of the huge about.com website. The table tennis forum is run by Greg Letts, a well respected and high level Australian player and coach. This too is a quite a big forum, although the actual number of members is unknown. Although it has some very knowledgeable people there who are very helpful, the layout of the site and some the adds and pop-up windows does not make it a little harder to navigate. Still it's well worth visiting and has some great threads and information. Greg also runs his own forum here: www.gregsttpages.com/ttforum, but this is not that active any more especially since Greg now focuses on the about.com forum.

One of a Kind Forums: forum.oneofakindtrading.com.au

This forum was initially created as a support forum for the One of a kind Trading online shop, but over time it's developed into a specialist pimple rubber forum. It is run by the author of this article and a group of very knowledgeable friends. Although it covers all types of topics, if you need information on long pimple rubbers or other pimple rubbers, this is the place to be.

Tennis de table.com: www.tennis-de-table.com

A large and popular forum from France. This appears to be another active forum with quite a large membership base, but you'll need to be able to read French to participate.

Noppen-test.de forum: www.noppen-test.de/forum

A German forum specialising in pimples rubbers. You need to be able to understand German to participate

Tennis-Tavole.com: www.tennis-tavolo.com/forum

An Italian forum for table tennis. This appears to be another active forum with quite a large membership base, but you'll need to be able to read Italian to participate.

There are no doubt some other forums out there that have not been covered here, particularly non-English speaking ones. New forums come and go all the time, but the main ones are covered here. Many online shops also run their own forums, but these are often mainly intended to support the shops only, and references to other shops may not be appropriate. Nevertheless these can be very useful to find further information on goods that the shop sells.

In conclusion, forums are a great source of information, and freely available to anyone. If you need information on equipment or strategies to improve your game, they are well worth checking out. Check out a few of the forums mentioned above, join in as a member if you enjoy them or wish to post. No need to be shy, it's anonymous, so no-one knows who you are!