How to use the forums

Tue, 2007-05-22 12:19 by admin · Forum/category:

How to use this web site

The forums are our main information space besides the blogs and some pages. To look at them, click on Forums.

Please add new questions or comments on the use of forums here.

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Topic 'weights'

Thu, 2007-06-14 13:18 by hcroze

I've tried to give weights (/Edit/Menu Settings/Weight) to forum topics (see the one on Hyrdology, for example). The weights assigned are supposed to determine the order in which a topic appears in the list of a forum's topics. I cannot get it to work. It either resets back to '0' or, if it apparently stays, it makes no difference to the position of the topices. Clicking on the arrow on top of the topic list appears to sort them alphabetically. In Hydrology, I was trying to make the order more logical: Invitation, Introduction, Overview, Water Table. Any ideas? Thx.
HC

Does not work in forums

Fri, 2007-06-15 10:29 by admin

In forums the latest entry always goes to the top, normally. To be precise, an existing forum topic jumps to the top when either of the following happens:

The forum topic is edited.
A new comment or reply is added.

It does not go to the top when a comment or reply is edited. In Drupal version 5 comment or reply editing are unnoticeable, apart from the fact that the text has changed.

A similar rule holds for the sequence of comments, except that those are fixed in inverse sequence of their creation. One can use cascaded replies to force a sequence, but other replies can still squeeze in.

If you want a fixed sequence of texts, put everything into one forum topic, rather than into several or into comments or replies. You can use bold headers inside the forum topic text to mark chapters or sections.

A few simple forum rules

Mon, 2007-06-11 13:34 by admin

Registered users can write messages into forums.

(Registration is free and instantly automatically processed by the web server. Click on Create new account to register. This works only when you're not already logged on.)

Forum content consists of forum topic articles, each of which can have comments, and each comment can have replies. Forum topics can have images and file attachments. These are always connected to the forum topic, the article at the top. You cannot add pictures or other files to comments or replies.

A few simple rules:

Use an appropriate forum for the topic. (If really none is appropriate, ask admin to add another forum or to expand the name of an existing one.)
Before you write a new topic, check whether there is already one that fits. If so, write a comment or a reply there.
If you're replying to some article, click on reply underneath that article, rather than adding a new comment (or even a new topic). Your reply will appear indented underneath the article you're replying to, which is nice to read and follow.

Forum structure

Thu, 2007-05-24 22:22 by admin

The forum hierarchy is:

Forum group containers (currently none present for web visitors)
- Forums
  - Topics (threads), created with and headed by an always-on-top forum topic message
    - Comments for each topic, which are arranged underneath the topic message, newest first
      - Replies to comments and replies to replies (underneath, hierarchically indented)

Comment vs. reply

Thu, 2007-05-24 22:04 by admin

Please note the distinction between a new comment and a reply to an existing comment, or a reply to a reply.

A new comment is inserted near the top and begins at the left margin. It is suitable for a new subtopic (a new thread, a new discussion).

In contrast, a reply is always underneath the message it replies to and is indented. It is suitable for an ongoing discussion. Replies can branch out from earlier replies, and the threading is recognizable from the indentation.

The same holds outside the forums as well, wherever comments are allowed.

ATE

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