Creating a Discussion Board

1. From the Workarea’s Content tab, navigate to the folder in which you want to place the discussion board.
2. Click New > Discussion Board. (You also can hover the cursor over the folder, right click the mouse, and select Add Discussion Board.) The Add a Discussion Board to folder screen appears.
   —Image—

   

3. Complete the properties.
   Discussion board properties

   NOTE: Some items appear only when editing a discussion board’s properties.

   • Name (Enter, Edit)—Enter the name of the discussion board. This text describes the board within the Workarea and on your website.
   • Title (Enter, Edit)—Enter the title of the board.
   • Accepted HTML (Enter, Edit)—A comma-delimited list of HTML tags allowed in the eWebEdit400 editor. When left blank, all tags are available. Site visitors posting to the forum can apply these tags to content when their forum editor is eWebEdit400 (set in the user profile). The default list is: br, hr, b, i, u, a, div, ol, ul, li, blockquote, img, span, p, em, strong, font, pre, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, address, embed

     NOTE: Add the embed tag if you want users to insert WMV files into their posts.

   • Accepted Extensions (Edit only)—A comma-delimited list of file extensions that can be uploaded. You can enter the extension with or without the period (.). Use a comma to separate each extension.
     The list appears at the bottom of the editor screen, notifying the person entering a post which file types can be attached. The default list is: bmp, conf, doc, gif, jpe, jpg, jpeg, png
     —Image—

     

   • Max File Size (Edit only)—The maximum size of a file, in bytes, that a user can upload. The default is 200000 bytes (.19 megabytes).
     
   • Topics: Require Authentication (Enter, Edit)—

     Effect of this Field on the Website

     Check this box if a site visitor must sign in to post to the discussion board. If the user cannot access a login screen, the user cannot post. If this box is unchecked, site visitors can post without signing in.

     Effect of this Field within the Workarea

     If this field is checked, only users with Add Topic or Edit Topic permissions for the discussion board can create or reply to posts. See Also: Modifying Permissions for a Discussion Board

   • Lock (Edit only)—Check this box if you want to prevent all posting to this discussion board. You can do this temporarily or permanently. If a Board is locked, only Administrator user group members can post to it, or edit or delete posts. Those users can post from the website or the Workarea. You can alternatively lock any forum underneath this Board via the forum properties screen.
     
   • CSS Theme (Enter, Edit)—Choose a style sheet to determine the appearance of the discussion board on your website. Select any theme available in the CSS Theme drop-down. The default is siteroot/Workarea/threadeddisc/themes/standard.css. Alternatively, enter a path below the site root folder to your custom CSS file in the path box. See Also: Working with Discussion Boards

     NOTE: If you edit a CSS file, you should save it under a new name. This prevents your changes from being overwritten during an upgrade.

   • Page Template(Enter, Edit)—Lets you specify a template for the forum. If you do not specify a template, the search results do not link properly to the forum. See Also: Working with Templates. To preview what the forum looks like within the selected template, click preview () to the right.
   • Taxonomy: Required category selection (Edit only)—If you want all topics in this discussion board to be assigned a taxonomya content-level categorization system that uses one-to-many relationships (such as Ronald Reagan is to Actor, Governor, and President) to create a scalable organization of content. A taxonomy lets your site visitors navigate content independent of the folder structure. category, check Required category selection. If you do, a signed-in user is prompted to select a taxonomy category when creating a topic. This checkbox has no effect when creating new topics within the Workarea. See Also: Organizing Content with Taxonomies
     
     • Taxonomy: All taxonomies appear—Select a taxonomy whose categories will be assigned to forum topics. The Taxonomies are applied on the Taxonomy tab. The discussion board’s taxonomy represents another way to organize the forum’s posts. See Also: Organizing Content with Taxonomies

       Effect of Assigning Taxonomy Categories to a Topic

       When a discussion board server control is placed on a Web page, its display includes a small taxonomy icon (circled below).

       

       When a site visitor clicks this icon, taxonomy categories are displayed. When the user selects a category, the user sees its subcategories followed by all forum posts assigned to that category. Below is an example of how a discussion board’s posts might be organized by taxonomy category.

       —Image—

       

   • Subjects Tab(Enter, Edit)—Enter as many subjects as you wish. Each subject contains one or more discussion forums. You must create at least one subject for each discussion board.

     NOTE: You can also add a subject by selecting a discussion board then selecting New > Subjects.

   • Subject Sort Order—Subjects are the highest level of the hierarchy that appears on your website. In the sample forum below, Latest Discoveries and Patient Care are Subjects.
     —Image—

     

     Subjects are sorted alphabetically unless you use the Sort Order field. The Sort Order field accepts a number and uses it to sort a discussion board's subjects. The lowest numbers appear near the top of the page.

     To access the Sort Order field:

     1. Save the discussion board.
     2. Click the discussion board in the Workarea.
     3. Click View > Properties.
     4. Click the Subjects tab.
     5. Modify the Sort Order field as needed.
   • Terms & Conditions Tab(Edit only)—Add the Terms & Conditions for using the discussion board. By entering text in this text box and saving, you activate the Terms and Conditions feature. See Also: Defining Terms and Conditions

Editing a Discussion Board

1. Click the Workarea’s Content tab.
2. From the folder structure in the left frame, navigate to the Discussion Board.
3. Click View > Properties.
4. Click Edit Properties.
5. Update the screen as needed.
6. Click Save Board Properties.

Deleting a Discussion Board

When you delete a discussion board, its subjects, forums, and posts are also deleted. When deleted, they cannot be retrieved.

1. Click the Workarea’s Content tab.
2. From the folder structure in the left frame, click the discussion board.
3. Click Delete > This folder. A confirmation message appears.
4. Click OK.

Modifying Permissions for a Discussion Board

Discussion boards have a permission table that lets you determine the functions a user can perform. (See Managing Folder and Content Permissions.) Because discussion boards have different functions than folders, the permission table is slightly different from regular folders.

In addition, each Forum has its own permission settings. By default, a forum inherits permissions from its parent discussion board, but you can break inheritance and customize permissions for a forum.

To access a discussion board’s permission table, navigate to and click the board so it appears in the Workarea. Then, click View > Permissions ().

NOTE: Only Administrators group members can access the discussion board Permission Table.

The following example shows a discussion board permission table for regular users. Membership users have fewer permissions.

When you create a discussion board, it gets it initial permissions from the parent folder but it then is disconnected from the parent folder’s permission table. Subsequent changes to the parent folder’s permissions have no effect on discussion board permissions.

The permission table has the following initial values from the parent folder (Parent Folder Permission—Discussion Board Permission):

• Read only—Read only
• Edit—Edit Topic
• Add—Add Topic
• Delete—Delete Topic
• Add Folders—Add Forum
• Edit Folders—Edit Forum
• Delete Folders—Delete Forum

  NOTE: Because there are no corresponding permissions for the discussion board’s Moderate and Post/reply permissions, their initial value is blank.

For example, if user JSmith has permission to perform all functions for a folder, and a discussion board is created in that folder, JSmith initially receives the default permissions for the discussion board. You can modify these permissions.

The following table lists all permissions that you can grant to regular users. Only some permissions can be granted to membership usera user with limited privileges, such as writing to a community forum, but not having the same privileges as a forum moderator, or an administrator who has access to the Workarea. (A community user is the same as a membership user.)s.

Permission	Allows user to	Can be assigned to membership users
Read only	View forums and posts; cannot submit a post	Yes
Edit Topic	Edit a topic’s title (Editing a Topic Title)	No
Add Topic	Add new topics (Adding a Topic to a Forum)	Yes
Delete Topic	Delete a topic (Deleting a Topic)	No
Post/Reply	Post a new topic or reply to an existing one, either from the Workarea or the site. (Adding a Topic to a Forum and Replying to a Post)	Yes
Moderate	Approve and delete posts and topics. Also, receive notifications when a post is reported using the report post feature; only applicable if the forum’s properties field Moderate Comments is checked. (Moderating from the Control Panel) NOTE: Everyone who has Moderate permission will receive notifications when a post is reported. See Also: Setting Up Post Reporting	Yes
Add Forum	Create a new forum (Creating a Forum)	No
Edit Forum	Edit a forum (Editing a Forum)	No
Delete Forum	Delete a forum (Deleting a Forum)	No

Changing Page Size for Discussion Boards

You can change the number of topics or posts shown on a page by changing the ek_PageSize value in the web.config file.

Defining Terms and Conditions

A discussion board's Terms & Conditions convey your expectations to its users. If you add Terms & Conditions, anyone posting to the board sees the following screen the first time a post or reply is sent to a forum. Users can only post after agreeing to its Terms & Conditions.

To add terms and conditions text to a discussion board:

1. Workarea Content tab > navigate to the discussion board to which you want to add terms and conditions.
2. Click View>Properties.
3. Click Edit Properties.
4. Click the Terms & Conditions tab.
5. Add the terms and conditions text.
6. Click Save Board Properties.

Creating a New Subject

1. Workarea Content tab > navigate to the discussion board to which you want to add a subject.
2. Click New > Subject.
3. Enter a subject name and sort order.
   —Image—

   

4. Click Save Board Subject.

Editing Subject Name and Sort Order

1. Workarea Content tab > navigate to the discussion board that contains the subjects.
2. Click View > Properties.
3. Click the Subjects tab.
4. Click the subject that you want to edit. The current subject name and sort order appear on a new screen. Edit as needed.
   —Image—

   

5. Click Save Board Subject.

Creating a Forum

Prerequisite

At least one subject.

1. Workarea Content tab > navigate to the discussion board to which you want to create a forum.
2. Select a discussion board.
3. Click New > Discussion Forum. The Add a Discussion Forum to Board screen appears.
   —Image—

   

4. Complete the fields.
   See field descriptions

   • Name—Enter the name of the discussion forum. The name identifies the forum in the left side of the Workarea, next to a forum icon (). This icon distinguishes it from content and blog folders. It also appears on the website.
     —Image—

     

   • Description—Enter a more detailed description of the forum. The description appears on the website, as illustrated above.
   • Moderate Comments—Checking this box causes comments to require approval before appearing on the website and a post to be reported to all moderators of the forum. See Also: Setting Up Post Reporting. Only users who are granted Moderate permission can approve comments, thereby allowing them to be published on the site.

     The Smart Desktop has a Forum Topics and Posts category. This tells you how many posts currently require your approval before they appear on the site.

   • Lock Forum—Check this box to prevent all posting to this forum. You can do this temporarily or permanently. If a forum is locked, only members of the Administrators user group can post to it, or edit or delete posts. Those users can post from the website or the Workarea.

     A discussion board can also be locked. If a board is locked, a message on this screen indicates that. In that case, no posting is allowed to this forum regardless of this setting.

   • Sort Order—Enter a number if you want to arrange the sequence of forums within the subject. If you do not, forums appear in alphabetical order within a subject.
   • Subject—Enter the subject within which this forum will appear on the website.
5. Click Add Discussion Forum.

Editing a Forum

1. Click the Workarea’s Content tab.
2. From the folder structure in the left frame, click the discussion board that contains the forum.
3. Click the forum.
4. Click View Properties ()
5. Click Edit Forum Properties.
6. Update the screen as needed. See Also: Name—Enter the name of the discussion forum. The name identifies the forum in the left side of the Workarea, next to a forum icon (). This icon distinguishes it from content and blog folders. It also appears on the website.—Image—
7. Click Save.

Deleting a Forum

You can delete any forum. When you do, its topics and posts are also deleted. Once deleted, they cannot be retrieved.

1. Workarea Content tab > navigate to the discussion board that contains the forum.
2. Click the forum.
3. Click Delete Forum (). A message asks you to confirm.
4. Click OK.

Modifying Forum Permissions

You can use the discussion board permission features with any forum. See Also: Modifying Permissions for a Discussion Board

1. Open CMS Workarea > Content.
2. Click the forum.
3. Click View Permissions (). A permission table appears.

   When you first view a forum’s permission table, you see a check box that lets you maintain inheritance or break it. A forum initially inherits (that is, copies all permissions from) its parent discussion board’s permission settings.

4. If you break inheritance by unchecking the Allow this object to inherit permissions box, the forum permission screens change from view-only to edit. At this point, you can modify the permissions.

   To later restore inheritance, check the box. When you do, the parent discussion board’s permissions overwrite any forum-specific changes. The forum then reverts to a read-only state. While inheritance is enabled, you must make permission changes at the discussion board level.

Blocking an IP Address from a Forum

If you are not using authentication for the forums and want to block a site visitor from posting to the forum, use the Restricted IP feature.

NOTE: In addition to using Restricted IPs for a specific forum, you can access the Restricted IP feature from the Workarea > Settings > Configuration > Discussion Board > Restricted IPs. If you have more than one forum, this lets you select the Discussion Boards to which the Restricted IPs are applied.

Ranking Forum Users

The User Ranking feature lets you recognize active forum contributors. You can create a ranking system that moves a contributor to the next level after submitting a specified number of posts. This is known as a ladder system, which lets forum contributors build credibility. For example:

• New User—Up to 9 posts
• Intermediate User—10-19
• Expert User—20 and up

To each rank, you can assign an image that appears below the user’s name on any post. The rank also appears on a user’s forum profile.

You can also create ranks that are independent of the ladder system. Such ranks have no relationship to a contributor's number of posts. For example, after a forum user acquires Ektron Developer Certification, the user is assigned the Ektron Developer rank.

You can move contributors from a non-ladder rank to the ladder system and vice versa. Whether or not a contributor is in a ladder system, Ektron keeps a tally of posts. So, if the user is moved into a ladder system at any time, he is assigned the correct rank.

Sending Notifications of Forum Activity

The discussion board’s Email Notification feature generates email for registered users when certain forum activities occur. For example, you register to be notified when a new forum post is created. When that event occurs, registered users receive an email with a link to the new post. After the messages are set up, you don’t need to do anything—everything happens in the background.

@appPosterDisplayName@ has created a thread you have subscribed to.

Alan Administrator has created a thread you have subscribed to.

Adding a Topic to a Forum

When you create a new topic, its first post is created from the topic message. If you add a topic but are not a forum moderator, you only see the topic in the Workarea after it is approved.

NOTE: You also can create new topics from the OnTrek user interface (Support > Support Forums).

To create a topic:

1. Workarea > Settings > Configuration > Discussion Boards > select a discussion board.
2. Select a forum.
3. Click New Topic. The Post New Topic screen appears.
   —Image—

   

   • Subject—Enter a short description of the topic. The topic subject appears on the forum page.
   • Priority—Set the topic's priority, which determines where the topic appears in the topic list on the site. The default setting is Normal.

     • Announcement—topic always appears at the top of the list. If a list has more than one announcement, they are sorted by date with most recent on the top. The Announcement icon () indicates its priority to the left of the title.

     • Sticky—topic appears near the top of the list, just below the announcements. If a list has more than one sticky topic, they are sorted by date with most recent on the top. The Sticky icon () indicates its priority to the left of the title.

     • Normal—Topics with this priority follow Announcements and Sticky topics. The Normal icon () next to the topic indicates its priority.

   • Lock—Check this box if you want to prevent posting of replies to this topic. You can do this temporarily or permanently. If a topic is locked, only Administrator user group members can post to it, or edit or delete posts. Those users can post from the website or the Workarea.
   • Message—Enter the topic text. This text appears on a new Web page after a website visitor clicks a topic’s subject line.
4. Click Save. The new topic appears in the list.
   —Image—

   

Editing a Topic Title

The only part of a topic you can edit is its title.

1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
2. Select a discussion board, then select a forum from the folder structure. The forum’s topics appear in the right frame.
3. Click the one that you want to edit.
4. Click View Properties (). The Edit Topic screen appears.
5. Modify the title as needed.
6. Click Save.

Approving a Topic in the Workarea

A topic needs approval if is created by a user without moderate permissions for the forum. An unapproved topic is surrounded by a yellow border in the Workarea, and must be approved before it appears on the website.

To approve a topic:

1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
2. Select a discussion board, then select a forum from the folder structure.
3. The forum’s topics appear in the right frame. Click the one that you want to approve. The View Topic screen appears.

   

4. Click approve.The topic is approved.

Setting a Topic Priority

In a forum, topics are sorted by priority. You can set a topic’s priority when you create it. A forum moderator can change a topic’s priority. To set a topic property:

1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
2. Select a discussion board, then a forum from the folder structure.
3. Click on a topic.
4. Click View Properties ().
5. Click Click here to Edit the Properties of this Topic. The Edit topic screen appears.
6. Choose one of the Priority options.
   • Announcement—topic always appears at the top of the list. If a list has more than one announcement, they are sorted by date with most recent on the top. The Announcement icon () indicates its priority to the left of the title.
   • Sticky—topic appears near the top of the list, just below the announcements. If a list has more than one sticky topic, they are sorted by date with most recent on the top. The Sticky icon () indicates its priority to the left of the title.
   • Normal—Topics with this priority follow Announcements and Sticky topics. The Normal icon () next to the topic indicates its priority.
7. Click Save.

Locking a Topic

Locking a topic prevents users from posting a reply to it. For example, you might create an announcement, but don’t want people to reply to it. Or, you might decide that a topic has had enough discussion and want to stop further replies. If a topic is locked, only Administrator user group members can post to it, or edit or delete posts from the website or the Workarea. To lock a topic:

1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
2. Select a discussion board, then a forum from the folder structure.
3. Click a topic.
4. Click View Properties ().
5. Click Click here to Edit the Properties of this Topic. The Edit topic screen appears.
6. Check the Lock check box. (To unlock a topic, remove the check mark.)
7. Click Save.

Deleting a Topic

When you delete a topic, its posts are deleted, too. When deleted, they cannot be retrieved.

1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
2. Select a discussion board, then select a forum from the folder structure. The forum’s topics appear in the right frame.
3. Click the one that you want to delete. The View Topic screen appears.
4. Click Delete. A confirmation message appears.
5. Click OK if you are sure you want to delete it.

Replying to a Post

• From the website:
  1. Go to the Web page that hosts the discussion board.
  2. Click the forum of interest.
  3. Click Add Reply.
  4. Enter the text of your post.
  5. Click Post. If a topic is moderated, a message appears stating that your reply is pending moderator approval.
• From the Workarea:
  1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
  2. Navigate to a discussion board, then a forum. The forum’s topics appear in the right frame.
  3. Click the topic with the post to which you want to reply. The next screen, View Topic, displays all posts to the selected topic.
  4. Find the post to which you want to reply by reading its text.
  5. Click Reply.
  6. In the Message field, enter the text of your post.
  7. Click Save.

Editing a Post

You can edit the text of a post but you cannot edit its title.

• From the website
  1. Go to the Web page that hosts the discussion board.
  2. Click the forum of interest.
  3. Find the topic you want to edit.
  4. Click Edit.
• From the workarea
  1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
  2. Select a discussion board, then a forum from the folder structure.
  3. The forum’s topics appear in the right frame. Click the one that has the post that you want to edit. The View Topic screen displays all posts to the selected topic.
  4. Find the post that you want to edit and click edit under the post icon. The Edit Reply screen appears.
  5. Update the text as needed.
  6. Click Save.

Quoting a Post

Quoting a post means that your reply begins with the original post. You can then add comments and even edit the quoted post. For example, you can include only the portion on which you are commenting. To quote a post:

1. Go to the Web page that hosts the discussion board.
2. Click the forum of interest.
3. Click a topic.
4. Find the post you want to quote.
5. Click Quote.
6. The editor appears with the quoted text at the top. You may edit the quoted post to focus on the portion on which you are commenting.

7. Add your comments below the quote.

8. Click Post. The reply is added.
   —Image—

   

Attaching Images and Files to a Post

You can add an attachment to a post. The Attached Files field lists allowed file types. The list of file extensions and maximum file upload size are defined for the discussion board.

Adding a Video to a Post

1. Click Insert Embedded Video () in a forum post. The Insert Embedded Media screen appears.
2. Add your embedded HTML code. For example:
   —Code—

   <object width="425" height="350">
     <param name="movie" 
       value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8K_NQe57C-k"></param>
     <param name="wmode" 
       value="transparent"></param>
     <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8K_NQe57C-k" 
       type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
       wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed>
   </object>

3. Click Insert. The video is embedded in the content.
   —Image—

   

Deleting a Post

• From the website
  1. Go to the Web page that hosts the discussion board.
  2. Click the forum of interest.
  3. Find the topic you want to delete.
  4. Click Delete.
• From the Workarea
  1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
  2. Select a discussion board, then a forum from the folder structure. The forum’s topics appear in the right frame.
  3. Click the one that has the post you want to delete. The View Topic screen displays all posts to the selected topic.
  4. Find the post that you want to delete and click delete under the post icon.

Moving a Topic and Its Posts to Another Forum

To move a topic and its associated posts in one forum to another, the forum to which you want to move the topic and posts must exist.

1. Access a page on your website that has a login button.
2. Sign in as a member of the Administrators group or as a Moderator of the board.
3. Navigate to a page with discussion board and select a forum.
4. Navigate to a topic page.
5. Click the Move to... drop-down list.
6. Select the topic to which you want to move.
7. Confirm that you want to move all posts.

Replacing Words in a Post

You can configure Ektron to replace unwanted words in a post, such as obscene or indecent words that should not appear on your site. You also can fix commonly misspelled words. For example, the can replace teh.

The Replace Words feature works with exact matches but does not append words. For example, if you replace car with auto, the sentence I bought the car from the cartel becomes I bought the auto from the cartel. Note that cartel did not change to autotel even though the word car appears in cartel.

Adding Emoticons to a Post

IMPORTANT: This topic applies to the eWebEdit400 editor only.

An emoticonan icon that is used to express an emotion in text communication. is an icon used to express emotion in a forum post. In the post editor, click the emoticon () symbol.

You can also enter a few characters that resemble the image. For example, to insert , enter O:\). While working in a post, the user only sees the text. But when the post is saved, Ektron converts the text to the corresponding emoticon. In all subsequent work with the post, users see only the emoticon. You can add new emoticons at Settings > Configuration > Discussion Boards > Emoticons.

You also can place emoticon images in the following folder: webroot\Workarea\threadeddisc\emoticons. Administrators reference these files when editing or creating new emoticons.

Moderating from the Control Panel

Users with forum moderate permissions can do so from the Control Panel by clicking the Moderate link.

1. Log in to the site and navigate to the forum.
2. Click Control Panel.
3. Click the Moderate link. The forum’s control panel appears with a list of items requiring approval.
   —Image—

   

4. Click the item you want to approve. From this screen, you can edit, approve, or delete a post.

Approving a Post

Prerequisite

Only users who are assigned the Moderate permission may approve a post.

When defining a forum, you can check the Moderate Comments field. If you do, forum posts must be approved before they appear on the website. There are 2 ways to approve a post in the Workarea.

• From the website:
  1. Log into the site and navigate to the forum.
  2. Click Control Panel. The Control Panel appears.
  3. Click the Moderate link.
  4. Click the topic. The topic appears.
  5. Click Approve. A message notifies you that the post was approved.
• From the Workarea's discussion board:
  1. In the Workarea, click the Content tab.
  2. Select a discussion board, then a forum.
  3. The forum’s topics appear in the right frame. Click the one that has the post that you want to reply to. (Unapproved posts have an Approval Needed icon in the left column ().
  4. The next screen, View Topic, displays all posts to the selected topic.
  5. Find the post you want to reply to. Unapproved posts have a yellow border.
  6. Click approve under the post icon.

Setting Up Post Reporting

You can let site visitors report inappropriate posts, such as spam or offensive posts.

When you set up forum post reporting, you add a Report Post button to the bottom of each post to let site visitors report posts. When a site visitor clicks Report Post, an email notification is sent to all forum moderators. Any moderator can review the post and decide to edit, delete, or leave it alone.

NOTE: Your Ektron Web server must be set up to send emails. See Installing Ektron.

1. From the Workarea, choose Content.
2. In the left panel, select a discussion board from the folder structure.
3. Select a forum.
4. Click Properties ().
5. Click EditForum Properties.
6. Check the Moderate Comments box.
7. Click Save.

To edit the report post message, go to the Workarea and choose Settings > Configuration > Discussion Boards > Messages and select ReportForumPost.

Using the Control Panel

The Control Panel lets logged in users view your profile, read, reply to, and delete private messages. It also lets users with moderate permissions moderate the forum. The Control Panel button is located at the forum level.

The Inbox view appears by default. From it, you can...

• read a message by clicking on it. A read message's icon changes from unread () to read ().
• view information about the message sender by clicking the name.
• delete the message by clicking the corresponding check box then the Delete button.
• switch to a different view.
• check your subscriptions.
• reply to a message by clicking Reply ().

IMPORTANT: When replying to a private message, you add your response to the existing message. Only one message is created.

Approving a Topic on Your Website

A topic needs to be approved when a user who does not have moderate permission for the forum adds a topic. When you view topics on the site, those that need approval have a different background color.

From this screen, you can click Approve next to the topic’s title. You could also click the topic’s title to view it and click Approve on that screen.

Sorting Topics

1. Go to the Web page that hosts the discussion board.
2. Click the forum of interest.
3. Click any column title to sort by alpha or numerical order.

   On the first click, items are sorted first by numeric (1-10) values, then by alpha values (A to Z). Click a column title a second time to sort the items in reverse. When first viewed, the list is sorted by Last Post date and time.

   —Image—

   

Deleting a Topic

Prerequisite

Topics can be deleted from a forum by the users who created them or by users with the Moderate permission. This includes Membership users.

WARNING! When you delete a topic, its replies and posts are also deleted.

1. Go to the Web page that hosts the discussion board and click the forum of interest.
2. Click the topic you wish to delete.
3. Click Delete Topic. A dialog asks you to confirm.
4. Click OK.

Suppressing User Information from the Forum Profile Display

Anyone browsing a discussion forum can view contributor information by clicking the user name. However, if the forum server control’s HideUserProfile property is true, non-administrator users cannot see the profile, even if the Private Profile setting is set to Public. Administrators can see the profile, regardless of how the HideUserProfile property is set. The profile contains the following user information.

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email—email address
• Joined—date the user joined
• Last Visit—date the user last visited the site
• Number of Posts—the number of posts a user has contributed
• Post History—a list of posts the user has contributed

Users can determine if their profile is viewable via the Private Profile drop-down box on the Membership Registration screen and the Edit Profile screen. The Membership Registration screen appears wherever your developer inserts the Membership Server Control. If Private Profile is set to Private, profile information is suppressed. If it is set to Colleagues, only a user’s colleagues can see the person's profile. When set to public, everyone can see a user’s profile information.

If you want to suppress the display of user names as an administrator:

1. If the user is a regular user, go to Settings > Users and select the user whose information you want to suppress.

   If the user is a membership user, go to Settings > Community Management > Memberships > Users and select the user whose information you want to suppress.

2. In the User Properties area of the screen, check the Private Profile checkbox.

   NOTE: If the forum server control’s HideUserProfile property is set to true, non-administrator forum visitors cannot see the profile, even if the Private Profile check box is unchecked.

Outputting a Forum as an RSS Feed

You can output a forum as an RSS feed by clicking the RSS feed button (). Each level of the forum has an RSS feed button. This lets you output a specific topic as an RSS feed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
- <rss version="2.0">
<!-- Generated by Ektron -->
- <channel>
  <title>Ektron Medical Center Forum</title>
  <link>http://test/webform.aspx</link>
  <description>Ektron Medical</description>
  - <item>
<title>Research</title>
<link>http://test/webform.aspx?g=topics&f=108</link>
  - <description>
<![CDATA[ Latest medical research ]]>
</description>
<pubdate>Mon, 7 Feb 2012 09:56:00 GMT</pubdate>
  </item>

</channel>
</rss>

Subscribing to a Discussion Board

1. After logging into a discussion board, you can subscribe to a forum post and replies by clicking the Subscribe button (). The button appears at each discussion board level, so that a user can subscribe to forums and topics of interest.
   —Image—

   

   After clicking the button, the following screen appears.

   

2. Select a notification type, listed below.
   • All Posts—notifies you when any post or reply is added
   • Replies to Me—notifies you when someone replies to your post
3. Click Add Subscription.

Reviewing Subscriptions

To review forum subscriptions, go to the Control Panel and click Notifications in the lower left corner. A screen indicates each discussion board level to which you have subscribed.

Deleting a Subscription

To delete a subscription, check the corresponding box and click Delete.

Sending a Private Message to a Forum Member

Logged-in users can send a private message to the person who created a post or reply. Only the sender and receiver can view private messages. This requires both users to be either an Ektron user or a Membership user.

1. Navigate to a post and click the user’s name.
2. When the User Profile appears, click Message. The Message screen appears.
3. The To: field is filled automatically. You cannot add additional members.
4. Enter a subject.
5. Enter a message.
6. Click Post.

Determining which File Types may be Uploaded to a Community Group

To view and update the file types that may be uploaded to a Community Group:

1. Navigate to the group page as the group administrator.
2. Click Edit.
   —Image—

   

3. Edit the Accepted Extensions: field.
   —Image—