I wrote a few days ago about mailing lists, specifically Groupstudy.com. My question was relating to the benefit of mailing lists like this. Today I wanted to extend that conversation a bit, and discuss not only mailing lists, but also web based forums.
There are a number of forums in place where one can find answers to questions related to the CCIE. In fact if you pay close attention to the homepage at groupstudy.com you'll notice a link out to CCIE.net. The forums here are web based and offer discussions for CCIE candidates. I personally don't spend a ton of time here.
A forum that some of you may be familiar with but might not have come to mind relating to certifications or the CCIE, is that of the Packetpushers.net forum. The forums here might be of interest because they not only tie you into peers who are working on certifications as well, but they also open the way to the large following of really smart people that the Packetpushers have built over the last few years. I have to admit that I neglected to pay attention to the forums here, but plan on remedying that in the coming months.
Still, the elephant in the room is that of the Cisco Learning Network. I have to say that this probably has the largest following, which is to be expected. There are a number of fellow instructors who monitor and respond and it's rare that you will find another place on the web to interact with the CCIE Program manager like Natalie Timms who is in charge of the CCIE Security. There are a ton of resources here, but with the larger number of people posting here you're bound to run into more junk. Cisco does a great job at filtering it out, but be aware that there is no criteria to post in any of the forums here (With the exception of the CCSI forums).
There are additional forums that come to mind. For example, Twitter as a CCIE Study forum is not a far stretch, but really may be more of a CCIE Peer Support forum when you think about it. I also know there are some Facebook pages as well as LinkedIN that relate here. Also, for those using GNS3 and Dynamips there are forums for that as well.
Finally, don't forget the forums provided by the training vendors (I'll let you look them up since I'm not so neutral here).
My Take
Do what you have to do, but don't get so involved in these forums that you take away from your own personal development and study time. It can be easy to get caught up in the conversations and make no progress because of them. However you can't discount the Cisco Learning Network if you're working in Cisco certifications. If anyone has forums to add feel free!