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Forums

Owned by Peter Hickson, created
Last updated: Oct 11, 2021
8 min read

Forums makes up one half of the Blogs and Discussion Forums add-on module. Forums allow your members to have a place to discuss different topics and have conversations within the myClubhouse platform. Comments can contain a mix of text, images, and file attachments, and can be moderated to ensure the rules are followed. Forums can be restricted to different users, including who can post, view, moderate, and create new topics.

These instructions don’t include the creation of the CMS Space. That information can be found in this guide here: CMS

Add Forum

  1. Navigate to the CMS space you want your Forum to be in.

  2. Click the green “Add Forum” button.

  3. Complete the wizard:

    1. Name: The name of the Forum.

    2. Description: A description about the Forum. This could also include any rules about what can and can’t be posted in the Forum.

    3. Icon: Choose an icon to represent the Forum.

    4. Tags: Enter as many tags as you like, these can be used to help identify the topics being discussed within the Forum.

    5. Prevent Posting: If set to yes, topics can only be created within sub forums, not in this Forum directly.

    6. OK: Once happy with the details, click “OK” to create the Forum.

 Add Sub-Forum

Sub-forums are a way to organise topics within a Forum to help users find the topics they want to engage with more easily.

  1. Click the green “Add sub-forum” button.

  2. Complete the wizard:

    1. Name: The name of the Sub-Forum.

    2. Description: A description about the Sub-Forum. This could also include any rules about what can and can’t be posted in the Sub-Forum.

    3. Icon: Choose an icon to represent the Sub-Forum.

    4. Tags: Enter as many tags as you like, these can be used to help identify the topics being discussed within the Sub-Forum.

    5. Prevent Posting: If set to yes, topics can only be created within Sub-Forums, not in this Sub-Forum directly.

    6. OK: Once happy with the details, click “OK” to create the Forum.

  3. Repeat to add more sub-forums to the forum.

Add Topic

Separating Forums out into topics allows members to only interact with things that they are interested in, rather than having to wade through lots of other messages to find the information that is important or relevant to them.

  1. Click the green “Start new topic” button.

  2. Complete the wizard:

    1. Title: The title of the Topic.

    2. What do you want to ask: A full description of the question or topic that you want to discuss. This has the same full range of editing tools as a CMS page, so this field can contain text, images, files, tables, and more, and can be written in HTML if you prefer.

      1. HTML: Click this button to enter HTML mode, where you will see the HTML for any existing content in the block/column. You can also write using HTML mark up in this mode. You can find an introduction to HTML here: HTML Tutorial

      2. Format: Click this button to change to a preset text sizes, for things like titles and subtitles, as well as bits of text you want to stand out such as quotes or code. Highlight text and select the Format type, or select the Format type and start typing.

      3. Style: Click this button to change to a preset text style. This can be used when you want something to stand out from other normal text such as for code. Subscript and superscript are also kept here. Highlight text and select the Style, or select the Style and start typing.

      4. Bold: Toggle Bold on and off.

      5. Italics: Toggle Italics on and off.

      6. Strikethrough: Toggle Strikethrough on and off. Strikethrough will be a single line through the middle of the text, like this.

      7. Lists: Choose between an ordered (numbered) list, or an unordered list (bullet points). If selecting an existing list, you can also choose to indent or outdent highlighted parts of a list from this menu.

      8. Image: Click to add an image into the block/column. Either upload a new image or select one already uploaded

      9. Video: Click to embed a video into the block/column. Enter the link to the Video Embed Code or Youtube/Vimeo Link into the box (best to use copy and paste) and click “Insert”.

      10. File: Add a file to your page with this button. Enter a name that will be shown for the file, and then click to upload the file.

      11. Table: Use this menu to insert a table, as well as access all the table-related options to edit existing tables. Read more about tables in this guide here: CMS Tables

      12. Link: Click to add, edit, or remove a link from text. You can enter the URL of where you want the link to go, change the text that is displayed for the link, and choose if the link opens in a new tab, or in the current tab.

      13. Align: Choose how to align the text: Left, Right, Centre, or Justified.

      14. Text Colour: Set the text colour. You can also highlight text here too.

      15. Size: Set the text size.

      16. Line Height: Set the line height here.

      17. Fullscreen: Click to enter full screen mode, to open the block/column into a full screen view for easier editing. Click the button again to exit full screen mode.

    3. Tags: Any tags that relate to the topic. Enter as many as you like, each one separated by a comma.

    4. OK: Once happy with the details of your new Topic, click “OK” to save the new Topic.

Reply to a Topic

Replying to topics is what Forums are all about to discuss ideas or the question on the table.

  1. Click in the “Reply to this topic…” box at the bottom of any Topic.

  2. Enter your reply. This has the same full range of editing tools as a CMS page, so this field can contain text, images, files, tables, and more, and can be written in HTML if you prefer.

  3. Click “Post Reply” when you’re happy with the reply.

Replies can be edited after they have been posted by clicking the yellow “Edit” button next to any of your own replies. A note is made when the reply was last edited at the bottom of the reply.

Moderate Replies

Replies can be moderated to ensure that all the rules are followed with regards to what is posted. This could include swearing, being rude to others, or going off topic.

  1. Click “Moderate Post” next to a reply that you want to remove.

  2. Enter a reason or leave the default “The post broke house rules”.

  3. Click “OK”.

Moderators will still be able to see removed Posts by clicking “Show” next to the removed post.

Posts can also be restored if they are deemed to not have broken the rules by clicking the green “Restore Post” button.

Posts can also be deleted once they have been moderated by clicking the red “Delete Post” button.

Move Topic

Sometimes a topic will get posted into the wrong Forum and needs moving but already has replies to it, making deleting it not possible. So there is a handy move function instead.

  1. Locate the Topic you want to move.

  2. Click “Move”.

  3. Select the Forum or Sub-Forum to move it to.

  4. Click “OK”.

Watching

Any signed-in user with “View” permissions can click the “Not watching” button for any Forum, Sub-Forum, or Topic in order to receive an email every time there is a new contribution to what they are watching. Creators of a Forum, Sub-Forum, or Topic will automatically be watching it.

To no longer watch a page, click the “Watching” button and it will revert to “Not watching”.

Pinned

Topics can be pinned so that they appear at the top of the list in their Forum. Click the “Unpinned” button to pin the Topic.

To unpin a Topic, click the “Pinned” button.

Locked

Topics can be locked to stop any new comments being added to them without having to delete the Topic and removing any of the comments in the Topic. Click the “Unlocked” button to lock the Topic.

To unlock a Topic, click the “Locked” button.

Delete Topic/Forum

Forums, Sub-Forums, and Topics can be deleted including all Sub-Forums, Topics, and Comments within it. Deletion cannot be undone or reversed.

  1. Navigate to the Topic or Forum you want to delete.

  2. Click “Delete Topic” or “Delete Forum”.

  3. Click “Yes” to confirm.

Adding a Forum to the Menu

It is often a good idea to add a link to your Forum in the menu to make it easier to find for members. Wherever you choose to put it, it will only appear for users who have permission to view the page. Follow this guide to help you add your Forum to the menu: How to Customise the Main Menu

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