Managing Discussion Forums

This topic discusses managing a discussion forum.

Page Name

Definition Name

Usage

Manage Forum Page

EPPDF_FORUM_MANAGE

Set the properties for a 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

Enter a policy statement for the discussion forum.

Pending Messages Page

EPPDF_PENDING_POST

Approve or reject pending posts to the discussion forum.

See Approving or Rejecting Pending Posts.

View a Post Page

EPPDF_POST_SEC

Review the post text prior to approving or rejecting the post.

See Approving or Rejecting Pending Posts.

Reject Expired Pending Forum Posts/Blog Comments Page

EPPDF_PSTRJT_RUN

Run the EPPDF_PSTRJT Application Engine program to reject pending posts that have expired.

See Approving or Rejecting Pending Posts.

Administer Discussion Forums Page

EPPDF_MYFORUMS

Delete discussion forums. Also, access the Manage Forum page for each forum.

Administer Discussion Forums - Delete Confirmation Page

EO_PE_YESNOCONFIRM

Confirm deletion of the discussion forum.

See Administer Discussion Forums Page

Use the Manage Forum page (EPPDF_FORUM_MANAGE) to view the properties for a Related Discussion service discussion forum.

Navigation:

On the Forum Privileges page, select the Manage Forum page.

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

 Manage Forum page

Use the Manage Forum page to set the properties for a 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.

Active

Clear this option to inactivate the discussion forum. The discussion forum will no longer appear for any users in the Discussion Forums pagelet or the My Discussion Forums page.

Note: To activate a discussion forum that has been inactivated, you must go to the Administer Discussion Forums page to access the forum.

Reselect this option to make an inactive forum active again. Reactivating a forum makes existing topics and replies available again.

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.

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.

Publish as Feed

Click to access the Manage Forum - Publish Feed Definition page to publish this discussion forum as a feed.

Publish as Pagelet

Click to access the Manage Forum - Publish Pagelet Wizard Definition page to publish this discussion forum as a pagelet.

Return

Click to return to the previous page.

This section also discusses how to:

  • Manage discussion forum participants and privileges.

  • Manage the discussion forum policy statement.

Managing Discussion Forum Participants and Privileges

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

Assign privileges to the participants.

Navigation:

On the Manage Forum page, select the Forum Privileges page.

See Forum Privileges Page.

Managing the Discussion Forum Policy Statement

Use the Forum Policy page (EPPDF_FORUM_POLICY) to create a policy statement for the discussion forum.

Navigation:

My Content > Create Discussion Forum > Forum Policy

See Forum Policy Page.

This section discusses how to:

  • Approve or reject posts manually.

  • Review a post.

  • Reject expired posts automatically.

Note: The approval or rejection of a post causes an email notification to be sent to the participant who posted to the forum.

Approving or Rejecting Posts Manually

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

 Pending Messages page

Use the Pending Messages page to approve or reject posts (new topics or replies) to the discussion forum.

Field or Control

Description

Select

Select one or more posts to update in bulk.

Title

Click a post title to access the View a Post page to review the posted text.

Post Status and Change Selected To

Select one of the following statuses:

  • Approved

  • Pending

  • Rejected

Select All

Click to select all listed posts.

Clear All

Click to clear the selection of all listed posts.

Return

Click to return to the previous page.

Reviewing a Post

Use the View a Post page (EPPDF_POST_SEC) to Review the post text prior to approving or rejecting the post.

Navigation:

Click the title for a post on the Pending Messages page.

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the View a Post page.

 View a Post page

Use the View a Post page to review the post text prior to approving or rejecting the post. Click Return to return to the Pending Messages page.

Rejecting Expired Posts Automatically

Access the Reject Expired Pending Forum Posts/Blog Comments page (select Portal Administration, Discussion Forums, Reject Expired Posts/Comments).

Run the EPPDF_PSTRJT Application Engine program to reject pending posts that have expired. This program searches for all pending posts and checks the authored date for each. If the difference between the current date and the authored date is equal to or greater than the number of days set on the Manage Forum page for that discussion forum, then the message status is set to rejected.

Set the process recurrence for the EPPDF_PSTRJT program to a frequency suitable for your system—for example, M-F at 5pm.

Discussion forums can be published as feeds. Once published, the link to a discussion forum's feed is available on the discussion forum homepage, the Post Details page, the Discussion Forums pagelet, and in other pages and pagelets in the PeopleSoft Interaction Hub system.

There are no special advanced options for discussion forum feeds. Therefore, the standard feed publishing process can be followed.

See Publishing PeopleSoft Interaction Hub Content as a Feed.

Use the Administer Discussion Forums page (EPPDF_MYFORUMS) to delete discussion forums and to access the Manage Forum page for each forum.

Navigation:

Portal Administration > Discussion Forums > Administer Forums

This example illustrates the fields and controls on the Administer Discussion Forums page. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

 Administer Discussion Forums page

Use the Administer Discussion Forums page to delete discussion forums and to access the Manage Forum page for each forum.

Note: When this page is accessed from the Related Discussion Forums pagelet, the page is titled Manage Related Discussions.

Field or Control

Description

Forum Name

Click the title for a forum to access its Manage Forum page.

Note: Forums that have been inactivated can be accessed through the Administer Discussion Forums page only.

Delete

Click to delete the forum.