If you want the forum to behave more like a chatroom, you can do that by changing your preferences.
Real Time
The forum is real time. If you have a page open, and someone replies, the reply will appear immediately for everyone who is looking at that page. You can also see typing indicators when people are typing their replies in public threads and private messages.
Chat Notifications
First, go to your notification settings and enable “Live Notifications”. That will show a notification on your desktop or phone whenever someone replies to you.
Choose Your Notifications
If you want to hear a sound for each new forum post, go to this settings page and add the categories you want notifications for into the “Watched” box. It will look something like the image below. Don’t forget to click “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page, after you add your categories.
Leave a Tab Open
Then, just leave a tab open. Firefox and Chrome both let you “pin” a tab open by right-clicking on it.
Installable App
This forum is also installable on mobile phones by using the “Add to Home Screen” option in some mobile browsers (Chrome, Firefox, and Opera). The forum will then send mobile notifications just like a chat app.