Creating Discussion Forums

This topic discusses steps to create a discussion forum and its policy statement. It also discusses hoe to assign privileges to the participants of discussion forum.

Note: Portal system administrators can create standalone discussion forums and then assign a moderator to manage each forum.

Page Name

Definition Name

Usage

Create Forum Page

EPPDF_FORUM_NEW

Set the properties for a new discussion forum.

Forum Privileges Page

EPPDF_FORUM_PRIV

Assign discussion forum participants by user or role. Assign privileges to the participants.

Forum Policy Page

EPPDF_FORUM_POLICY

Create a policy statement for the discussion forum.

Use the Create Forum page (EPPDF_FORUM_NEW) to set the properties for a new discussion forum.

Navigation:

  • My Content > Create Discussion Forum > Forum Privileges

  • Click the Create Forum link on the Discussion Forums pagelet.

Use the Forum Privileges page (EPPDF_FORUM_PRIV) to assign discussion forum participants by user or role.

Assign privileges to the participants.

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Create Forum page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

 Create Forum page

Use the Create Forum page to set the properties for a new discussion forum.

Field or Control

Description

Title

Enter a title for the discussion forum. This text appears on the Discussion Forums pagelet as the link to access the discussion forum.

Description

Enter a description of the goal of the discussion forum. This text appears on the Discussion Forums pagelet as hover text for the link used to access the discussion forum.

Show by Default For All Users

Select to display this discussion forum in the Discussion Forums pagelet by default for all users who are included in the users and roles assigned on the Forum Privileges page.

Default View Options

Select the default view for this discussion forum:

  • Threaded View — Displays the posts for a discussion topic in a hierarchical manner.

  • Flat View — Displays all posts for a discussion topic and the details of each post.

Forum participants can switch between the threaded view and flat view on the Post Details page.

See Participating in Discussion Forums.

Portal administrators can set the system-level default for this option on the Installation Options page.

See Defining Installation Options.

Forum Moderation

Note: Forum moderation applies to all post types—that is, new topics and replies.

Select the moderation option for this forum:

  • Unmoderated — Posts to this forum are not moderated.

  • Moderated — All posts to this forum are moderated.

    The forum moderator must review and approve or reject each post to this forum.

  • First Post — First posts to this forum by each participant are moderated.

    Only the first post for each participant is submitted to the moderator for approval.

Email Notification For Pending Messages

Select this option to send an email notification to the forum moderator for each post that requires approval.

Number of days to retain Pending Messages

Set the number of days to retain a pending post.

After the set number of days has passed, a pending post will be rejected. Set this field to 0 to retain pending posts indefinitely.

The following example illustrates the Forum Privileges page. Access the Forum Privileges page (My Content, Create Discussion Forum, Forum Privileges) as shown below.

 Forum Privileges page

Field or Control

Description

Member Type

Select the type of participant you want to add to the discussion forum:

Role — Select to add forum participants by role.

See the product documentation for PeopleTools: Security Administration, “Setting Up Roles.”

User — Select to add forum participants by user ID.

See the product documentation for PeopleTools: Security Administration, “Administering User Profiles.”

Member Name

Select the role or user ID.

Privilege Set ID

Select the privilege level you want to assign to the member:

Moderator

Contributor

Viewer

Note: At a minimum, every discussion forum requires a moderator.

See Understanding Discussion Forum Privileges.

Use the Forum Policy page (My Content, Create Discussion Forum, Forum Policy) to enter policies applicable to the forum.

The following example illustrates the policy on a discussion forum.

 Forum Policy page

Use the rich text editor to enter any policies that apply to the discussion forum.