A discussion page can be used to find out the opinions of your members on a range of topics.  You can be alerted to responses to forums to keep in touch with what people are saying.

People have to be registered users of essexinfo.net in order to participate.  If you only wish your members to participate, then set Permissions to be available only to your members.  To find out more about altering the Permissions in Applications please see Help Sheet 22 Users & Permissions.

Adding a discussion forum

  • From the Home page click Edit This Page
  • Choose the Applications tab
  • Beside Discussions click Enable
  • Type a new name for this Application into the text box if you wish - default is discussions
  • Click OK
  • You are now back in the Applications page
  • You have the options to Rename your discussion, alter the Permissions or develop Discussions

To find out more about managing Applications generally please see Help Sheet 3 - Adding Applications

Accessing Discussions 

Once logged in you can access the forum admin pages from either the public or from the administration side and all these routes take you to Discussions Administration page where you can start developing your forum

Public side

  • Follow the link Discussions in the side navigation menu
  • Click Manage Discussions on Discussions page  

Administration side

  • From the Home page click Edit This Page
  • In Content Management tab choose Applications
  • Beside Discussions follow the Manage this Application link OR
  • From the Home page click Edit This Page
  • In the Content Management tab, and click Discussions in the Site Map

Creating a forum

  • Click Create a New Discussion to reach the form
  • Enter the Name (required) and Purpose of your discussion
  • Select the type of Presentation: Flat only allows replies at the end of the forum - Threaded allows your visitors to reply to any post, and discussions are nested when viewed
  • Choose a Posting Policy  Open allows any user with Edit permissions to post, and posts appear immediately, Moderated allows any user with Edit permissions to post, though posts must be approved by a moderator before others can see them and Closed means only administrators may post - e.g., if you want to use it only for announcements
  • Choose whether users can create new discussions. If you choose No, users will not be able to create new discussions but only reply to existing ones
  • Click OK - you will then be taken back to the discussion page where you will see your discussion forum displayed.

Moderating a discussion

If you have chosen to Moderate your discussion you will need to regularly check for any changes and you can automatically receive alerts when new posts have been made.  Click request email notification in the appropriate discussion or message thread to activate this.  You can choose from the drop down how often you wish to be notified.  If you no longer wish to be notified click unsubscribe.

  • Select the discussion you wish to moderate
  • Click Moderate this Discussion at the top of the page
  • You will see a list of any messages that are pending moderation - these are waiting for you to check them
  • Choose a message that needs moderating using the following actions

Edit - modify the subject/message
Delete - permanently deletes the message
Approve - makes the message visible to all
Reject - message will remain invisible, but can be approved later if desired

Moving Messages

Administrators and moderators can move a message from one discussion to another, or to another thread in the same discussion. This helps to keep the discussions structured and relevant, should someone have posted something in an inappropriate place.   Your options are:

  • Move thread to other discussion - moves the entire thread (the message and any replies) to another discussion forum

Move thread to other thread - moves the entire thread to be part of another existing thread
Move to other thread - moves the message to another existing thread

  • Click the appropriate button depending on where you want to move the message or thread
  • Select the destination and confirm

Note:  You should ensure the threads or discussions you intend to move the items to have been approved first or they will not be visible.

Editing a Discussion Forum

  • Choose the discussion you wish to edit
  • You can change the Subject or the main part of the message in the Body text box
  • Click OK to update the message

Deleting a discussion

  • Find your discussion
  • Click Delete
  • Confirm by choosing Yes

This will delete the discussion plus all its replies and threads so be very sure this is what you want to do

You can reach the Help Desk at support@essexinfo.net