Discussion forums are an great way of allowing your community to discuss topics with each other, make announcements or present requests. This guide shows you how to create a topic-based discussion forum and perform the role of a ‘moderator'.

Editing existing Forums

Some forums will have been created when your web site was setup. To view the existing forums on your web site follow these instructions:

• If you haven’t logged into the web site already, do so now. Click the Login link at the top of the home page and enter the login name and password as supplied. 
• Once you have successfully logged in, select the Forums option located beneath the Home navigation menu option.
  
  
• You should now be viewing the Forums homepage which lists all the Forums you have access to on your web site. Note each forum is listed under the group where it's located.
• To edit the properties of an existing forum first locate the group folder, in the web office, that the forum is located within (see above to find out the group where it's located).
• Once you've located the group, select the Forums tab to display the current list of forums in this group. 
• Click the Edit details of the forumname forum task at the bottom of the work pane.

The forum details will now be displayed. Review these details and decide if you wish to modify or delete the forum. These can be achieved as follows:

• To edit the details of the forum change the title and description details appropriately. The security options allow you to select who can see the forum and who can contribute; for each group of people using the web site select whether the forum is hidden, or if the group will have read only (can view posts), or read and write (can view and contribute posts) access.
• To delete the forum from the web site (including any existing messages in the forum) select the Delete the forumname.

Creating a new forum

• If you haven’t logged into the web site already, do so now.  Click the Login link at the top of the home page and enter the login name and password as supplied.
• Once you have successfully logged in, click the web office link at the top of the home page.
  
  Every forum belongs to one of the group folders on your site; some forums are intended for use by the whole organisation (for example, “chat”, “community needs”, and “announcements”) and so they should be located in a group used by the whole organisation. Other forums are intended for use by a specific group and so they should be located in that group.  The forum itself shouldn't be a question; instead it's a broad subject area that numerous topics of discussion can then be posted within e.g.the Forum might be called "How do I?" and a topic of discussion under it might be" how do I create a forum".
• Select a  user group where you would like the forum to be located.
• Select the Forums tab to display the current list of forums in this group.
  
  Can't access the Forums tab? This will either be because you haven't selected a user group folder (the yellow folder type) or because you don't have the necessary permission. Contact your site administrator to request the Forums & Chatter permission.
• Click the  Add a forum to the groupname group task at the bottom of the work pane.
• Enter the details of the new forum as seen below:
  
  
  
• The security options allow you to select who can see the forum and who can contribute; for each group of people using the web site select whether the forum is hidden, read only, or read and write.
• Finally, click the create forum button. The list of forums above will be updated shortly afterwards to include your new forum.

The Forum Moderator

At the bottom of each forum on your web site is a list of moderators – a list made up of all those people who have the forums and chatter permission for the group where the forum is located. Although new contributions to a forum appear on the web site immediately, any message which is considered inappropriate or offensive can be  flagged by anyone who is logged into the site as “abusive”; the message will be removed and can only be re-instated after it has been reviewed by a moderator. Moderators therefore have the final “say” over which messages can (and cannot) be published in a forum.

In the web office groups which contain messages which have been flagged as abusive are marked with the   symbol in the site manager area of the navigation pane.

To review an abusive message

• Click on the  group folder in the navigation pane marked by the  symbol.
• Select the forums tab in the work pane. A list of forums will be displayed shortly afterwards.
• The thread that has been marked as abusive will appear in the moderation queue with symbol. Click the comment to display the entire contents of the message.
  • If the message requires minor changes before it can be released, clcik edit and modify the text as necessary.
  • If the message requires no change before it can be released click the approve button.
  • If the message needs to be removed entirely click the delete message button.

Tips

• Review the current forums on the web site before adding any others. See the Editing existing Forums section above for details of how to achieve this.
• Take care to create a new forum in the appropriate group and then set the security settings correctly so only the relevant people will see and be able to post into the forum.
• Post some topics of discussion in your forums either from the web site or from within the web office to get the conversation rolling. Once users are confident in posting messages then your community will contribute the topics of discussion.