[Digital Jedi]

I like #1, as I think it more readily represents a text based forum. I don't know if it's immediately identifiable as such. Then again, the RSS icon probably wasn't readily familiar to your average user when it first came into usage. I don't think #2 is immediately recognizable as text balloons, and that's exacerbated as it decreases in size. The last one makes me think more of a quote button for a forum, but, ironically, not in a way that makes me think of a forum, but in a way that makes me think of the action. Meaning, I just might think the button is supposed to quote or reblog the source, like a forum. But not take me to one.

Doesn't the problem here stem from the fact that forums, while similar to social media, have always relied on their own unique branding for iconification? (It's a word.) Much like Social Media has it's own unique brand icons, rather than generic, catch-all icons representing all social media. Perhaps it would make more sense to approach the idea of the icon as an application/service, like the aforementioned RSS Feed. Icons like the Embed Code symbol or the generic MP3 player and telephone symbols. That's why I like the first one the best, because it better symbolizes the general service, as opposed to the others which have more of the stylized look of a logo.