Creating predefined forums

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Predefined forums need to be created within a forum group before you can publish them on the website.

Creating new forums

Open the Forums application and click Edit () next to a forum group. On the Forums tab, click New forum. Enter the following details:

  • Forum display name – the name of the forum displayed on your website.
  • Description – the description of the forum displayed on your website.
  • Forum base URL – URL displayed when the user accesses the forum; e.g. ~/MyForums.aspx.
  • Forum unsubscription URL – URL of the page where users can unsubscribe from the given forum.
  • Require email addresses – indicates if the system requires email address from the post author.
  • Display email addresses – indicates if the system displays email address of the post author to other site visitors.
  • Enable WYSIWYG editor – indicates if the site visitors can use the WYSIWYG editor for entering text. For security reasons, we strongly recommend setting the value to No for public forums.
  • Use security code (CAPTCHA) – indicates if forum posting requires users to pass CAPTCHA validation. This feature can help avoid spam in the forums.
  • Forum is open – indicates if the forum is visible and can be accessed.
  • Forum is locked – if enabled, users cannot add new posts to the forum, but the forum remains accessible for viewing.
  • Forum is moderated – indicates if the posts need to be approved by a forum moderator.

The Inherit from forum group check boxes or radio button options displayed next to the properties are used to automatically load values from the settings of the parent forum group. To configure unique properties for a forum, clear the appropriate check box and enter the desired value.

Click Save to add the forum.

Configuring forums

Now that the forum is created, you can further configure it. Switch to the forum’s General tab, where you can edit properties entered upon forum creation, as well as the following additional properties:

  • Forum type – determines the type of the forum. The system offers the following types:
    • User can choose – when creating a new thread, users can choose from the following two types:
    • Discussion forum – news threads use a standard discussion format where users reply to previous posts.
    • Question-Answer forum – in forums of this type, the initial post of a thread is usually a question and the replies are attempts to answer it. The forum includes a voting feature that allows users to mark individual replies as helpful answers. Once a post receives the amount of votes specified in the Minimum votes to mark post as answer property, it is designated as a valid answer and displayed accordingly.
  • Minimum votes to mark post as answer – determines the minimum amount of votes that a post must receive before it is marked as answer in Question-Answer type forums.
  • Maximum image side size – sets the maximum side size in pixels of images inserted into forum posts. If a larger picture is included in a forum post, the system resizes it so that its larger side is equal to the entered value.
  • Attachment max. file size (kB) – sets the maximum file size of forum post attachments in kB.
  • User can edit own posts – indicates whether users are allowed to edit their own existing posts.
  • User can delete own posts – indicates whether users are allowed to delete their own existing posts.

The properties in the Editor settings section determine which BB code macros forum users can use to format the text of forum posts.

The properties in the Double opt-in section determine whether the users must confirm that the email address they’re subscribing with really exists and belongs to them.

For information about the remaining tabs, see the following pages:

Once you configure the forum, you can place the forum on a website.