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Section Index

Discussion Forum Administration

The idea behind this section is to administrate both discussion groups and messages posted to those discussion groups. If you click on "Discussion Forum Administration" in "Admin Suite" you will be taken to the window shown below.

Administrate Discussion Forum Messages

The first option displays three links that allow you to specify how you want to display the messages. "Message Master List" puts all the messages in one big list where you can specify which approval status you would like to view (approved, rejected, pending, or all) from a pull-down list just below. You can also specify how many messages per page are displayed with a pull-down list at the bottom of the window.

The other two links allow you to categorize the comments. "Categorize by Category" lists all the categories that have messages in them and clicking on the "View" button to the right of the category allows you to view all the comments for this article. "Categorize by User" lists all the users that have posted messages and clicking on the "View" button to the right of the user allows you to view all the messages that have been posted by this user.

When you can see the list of messages, (by one of the three methods listed above) you can edit each message. If the checkmark is highlighted then the message is approved, if the x-mark is highlighted the message is rejected and when the question mark is highlighted the message is pending. To change between these three states, click on one of the two darkened symbols. Remember that a message must be approved for it to appear on the front end of your site.

Next click the "Edit" button to the right of a message and it will display the window shown below.

This window displays the message ID number, the poster of the message and the date submitted. You can edit the two text fields ("Subject" and "Content") which will change how the message appears on the front end of your website. If you are familiar with HTML you can select "YES" for the "Allow HTML" option. This allows you to enter HTML code in the two text fields. If you don’t want to put in HTML then select "NO" and your text will be properly formatted.

When you are finished editing this message, you can click on "Preview" and a new window will pop up displaying the message. Once you have decided you are happy with the look, close the message preview. If you are happy with it click "Update", otherwise you can make more changes, or if you want to start over you can click "Reset" and the text fields will be returned to their saved values. Don’t forget to click "Update" when you are finished!!!!

Note: when you update from this area it only changes how the message appears on the front end of the site. The original message will still be intact in the settings area.

After you have updated the message, click on "Admin Messages" in the top left of you window. Then click on the "Settings" button for the same message you selected before. This will take you to the window shown below.

This window first displays some general information about the message. "Message ID" is the ID number of the message you are viewing settings for. "Thread ID" is the ID number of the message that originated the thread that this message is a part of (note this is the same as the message ID if this message is the root of it’s thread). If you click on the link "Show me the Thread Root" a new window will pop up that contains the message with the thread ID number. "Parent Message ID" is the ID number of the message that this message replies to (this is 0 if the message is it’s thread root). "Submitter" is the name of the member who submitted the message. There is a link beside the name of the submitter; this will be covered in detail after the Settings section. The final bit of general information is "Date Submitted", which is exactly what it implies.

After the general information there are some options. The first is "Thread Category". With this option you can change the category that this message appears in. Keep in mind that if you move this message to another category, to maintain functionality, the whole thread will be moved to the new specified category. The second option is "Message Status". This is the same status that was specified in the "Admin Messages" window using the , (comma) and . (period).  The third option is "Display Before Moderation". If you want messages displayed before you have approved them click "YES", otherwise click "NO". Next is "Replace with Template". If you click "YES" here, then if you reject a message it will be replaced with a general message on the front end of the site stating that the administrator rejected it. If you do not want this option implemented click "NO" (this means the rejected message will simply disappear from the front end). If you want a specific rejection reason displayed type it into the "Rejection Reason" field (you must click "YES" on "Replace with Template" for this reason to appear).

Note: if you select "NO" when you reject a message all children of that message will also disappear.

After the dividing line is the original message section. This displays the message in its original form instead of the edited form that we discussed in the message edit section. If you wish to make changes to the message front-end appearance (as before), but to leave the original message intact, click "NO" for the "Update Original Message" option. If you want to change the original message however, select "YES". You can now edit the message freely.

When you are finished with your changes, don’t forget to click the "Update" button. If you want to return all the text fields and start over you can click on the "Reset" button.

Earlier, we mentioned the link beside the Submitter’s name. If you click on this link a new window will pop-up that is shown below containing some member information.

Here you can change a member’s posting access (the levels are detailed in another section) by using the "Change Access Level To" pull-down list. The other option "Flagged to be Banned" can be used as a way to keep tabs on a problematic user (this is explained in more detail in the above-mentioned section). Don’t forget to click "Submit" when you are finished editing!!!! Click "Close Window" after you have submitted any changes.

Administrate Discussion Forum Categories

The idea of this window is to add and maintain discussion categories. To add a new category, fill in the text box next to the word "New". The "Name" text field is the name of your new category. The "Description" is a short one or two sentences describing what the category is about. Next is the "Active" option. Click "Yes" if you would like this category to be accessible from the front-end of your site and "No" if you don’t. Once you have filled out this row, click "Insert" to add the new category.

If you would like to edit one of the existing categories then you may do so by changing it’s associated text fields and by changing it’s front-end availability as just discussed. You can also click the "Delete" button for a category you would like to remove. When you are finished editing a category, don’t forget to click "Update".

When you are done editing and adding new categories click on "Discussion Forum" in the top left of the window to return to the main discussion forum administration window.

Administrate Discussion Forum User Access Control

This window is for controlling user access to posting messages. There are four levels of user access, which are listed and explained in this window.

Here you can also search for a user either by entering their full user name, a fragment there of or you can simply click on a letter and all user names that start with that letter will be displayed. The other way to display users is by either selecting the "View All Banned" list, which displays all the banned users, or the "View Flagged to be Banned", which displays all users that have been flagged to be banned, but are not yet banned.

Once you have a list of users displayed you can change their access level by clicking on their access level and following the same process detailed above.

When you have finished changing user access levels, click on the "Discussion Forum" link at the top left of the window.

Administrate Discussion Forum Message Filter

The idea of this window is to block messages from being posted if they contain certain obscene words or words that might suggest an advertisement (http, www, .net, .com).

Note: above there is both "ass" and "asshole", but the "ass" filter will pickup words that contain "ass" and therefore "asshole" is redundant in this case.

To add a new word to your filter, type it into the bottom text field and click "Insert". If you want to change one of the existing words, then just edit the word in its text field and click "Edit". Finally if you want to remove a word from your text filter just click the corresponding "Remove" button. When you are finished changing your message filters, click on "Discussion Forum" to return to the main discussion form administration menu.

Archive Discussion Forum Message Thread

From this window you can archive any of the discussion threads that exist in any of your categories. What we mean by archiving is that when a thread is archived it will no longer be accessible from the front-end of the site, but will still be available to you for review at a later date.

The first two options on the page are pull-down lists. The first allows you to show only message threads of a certain status (active, archived or all). The second allows you to specify the category for which you would like message threads to be displayed.

Next there is a list of all the threads that meet the requirements you have made in the two pull-down lists. "Thread" is the title of the message that originated the thread. "Submitter Name" is the user that posted the same original message and "Time Submitted" is as it would imply. The status of a thread is indicated by a highlighted checkmark if it is active and a highlighted x-mark if it is archived. To switch between the two states you can click on the darkened of the two buttons. Keep in mind that a thread must be active to appear on the front-end of your site.

At the bottom of the page is a pull-down list that allows you to jump to a particular page in the list of thread entries. When you are done archiving threads, click on "Discussion Forum" to return to the main discussion forum menu.

Administrate Pages

The idea behind this window is to make changes to the format of the message forum pages. If you need to make any changes, click on the appropriate "Edit" button, which will take you to the window shown below.

The two options (page name and title image) are for naming your page and you should choose one of them.

If you prefer to have an image for the title instead of the text for the page, you can click on the "Browse" button and choose an image from your hard drive.

Note that a title image replaces the Page Name in the page content, but not on the window title.

Next you need to type your "Meta tags".

What is a Meta Tag?

"Area Content" is the next option. This text area is displayed above the link for posting article comments. It is generally used to describe what the comments area is for.

Finally, if you are familiar with HTML you can select "YES" for the "Allow HTML" option. This allows you to enter HTML code in this page’s text fields. If you don’t want to put in HTML then select "NO" and your text will be properly formatted.

When you entered all your information, don’t forget to click "Submit"!!!!!

Once you are done changing the page setup, you can either click on "Page List" to edit the page setup of the other pages in this module or you can click on "Discussion Forum" to return to the main discussion forum administration menu.

Custom Tag Information

Here you will find a list of custom tags that pertain to this module.

What is a Custom Tag?