The Forums application allows you to add a full discussion forum or message board to your site. The application offers a full three tier forum with features like replies, signatures, and rich text posts. To get started:
- Click Pages at the top of your account
- Click the Apps tab at the very bottom of "My Pages" to access the App Store.
- Click Webs Apps to locate the forums app.
- Click Learn More, then Install App from the pop-over.
Click here for more on installing and managing applications.
When you first install your forum, you will be directed to the main forum page as it appears in the Builder. The look of your forum is determined by your Theme. The default name "Forums" is added to your navigation menu, but you can change this at any time.
Your default category is "General Discussion" under the default heading "Welcome." As with most applications, you have a Settings button. You also have an Add New Category button and a Start Discussion button.
Click through the following topics for more on Forum settings and discussions.
- Forum Settings
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From the Settings page, add your description, set your default view and the number of flags before a post is hidden.
The Description will appear in the top section of the main page of the forum. You can add images, text, videos and custom HTML code to the forum description.
Your forum visitors can flag posts that are inappropriate. If you select to have a post hidden after a certain number of reports, the post will be removed from public view. As a site manager, you will be alerted of flagged posts at the top of the forum. Click the alert to manage the flagged posts where you will have the option to un-flag or delete the post.
- Add New Category
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Categories allow you to organize your forum topics into groups. You can choose or create a Heading Group and create a new Category under that group. It is also possible to set the category view permissions to Anyone, Moderators, or Members.
Once you have a number of categories (you can have no less than one) you will have the ability to delete categories and heading groups. You can also re-order your categories by using the up and down arrows.
- Create New Topic (Start Discussion)
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The Start Discussion button appears on the main page of the forum. Click Start Discussion to create your new topic.
When starting a new topic, members have the options adding light HTML and other formatting to posts. As a site owner you have the additional privilege of posting video. Members also have the option of including their signature on topics and posts. Signatures are created when a member edits their profile.
Site owners and moderators can edit and delete posts and topics. Site members can also edit and delete their posts within 10 minutes of posting. This is to prevent members from editing an old post that has already been replied to multiple times. There is no time limit on the moderator and site owner privileges.
You also have the option of locking a topic. This prevents further replies.
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