The PoppyDog ForumBoard Builder is a tool that you can use to create and manage forum boards (sometimes known as community or discussion boards). The forum boards are packed with all the features you would expect of a professional forum board service. As with all our tools, your forum boards are hosted on our servers. All you have to do is create some forum boards and then insert a link somewhere on your web site to the forum boards that you've created.

Getting started

If you have just signed up for the ForumBoard builder tool, there are three things you will want to do first:

Create some forum boards
Set the color scheme for your forum boards (see: Guide: Setting the color scheme for your tools)
Design the web page that wraps around your forum boards (see: Guide: Creating a web page template for your tools)
Create a link in your web site to your forum boards (see: Guide: How to insert PoppyDog tools into your web site)

Creating a forum

Go to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' | 'Create forum' page and enter the details of the new forum that you are creating. You can change all the details later if you wish, so don't worry if you are not sure about which options you want. In fact, you can choose to just provide a title for the forum board and ignore all the other options, in which case they will be set to their default values.

Tips for starting off a new forum

When you create a forum board, its usually a good idea to post some messages to it to encourage other people to use it. When you first create some forum boards, you can immediately log on to them as administrator (using your PoppyDog username and password). Any messages you post using your admin username will be posted under the nickname of Admin. It may be a good idea to create some more personal user profiles to post some initial messages. To do this, simply click on the 'Register' link which appears at the top of your forum boards. When you click on this link, you can create a new registration account and personal profile with which to post messages.

Moderators

A moderator is someone who has the power to delete and modify messages in a forum board i.e. to moderate its content. A moderator also has the power to screen for new messages. If you have a popular forum board and no time to monitor its content, then you can assign one or more of your registered members to take charge of the forum board content. This is known as assigning a moderator to the forum board.

Assigning moderators to a forum board

Make a note of the username of the member you want to make a moderator. Go to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' page and select the forum you wish to assign a moderator to. Click the 'Add Moderators' button. In the box provided enter the username of the person you want to make a moderator and click the 'Add Moderator' button. The next time that person logs on, they will now be able to moderate the forum board.

Administrator

There is only one administrator for the forum boards. The administrator is the person who signed up for the ForumBoard Builder tool and has an account with PoppyDog. The administrator has complete control over all aspects of the forum boards e.g. appearance, behaviour, security etc.

Logging on as Administrator

To carry out administrative duties, you need to log on at PoppyDog (www.poppydog.com). You cannot carry out administrative duties from the forum boards that are displayed in your web site. When you log on at PoppyDog you will be taken to the Members Area. In the members area, you have access to all the administration control panels for your forum boards (most relevant are ForumBoard Builder and Registration System).

Using your admin username to log on to your forum boards

The forum boards come with a registration system so that your visitors can log on and create a profile. When viewing a forum board on your web site, you can log on to them using the same username and password that you use to log on to PoppyDog. When you log on to your forum boards in this way, you are granted administrative rights and have the following special permissions:

Post messages under the name of 'Admin'
Moderate your forum boards.
View and post messages without any of the restrictions that you might have enforced on your web site visitors e.g. new messages will appear instantly in the forum board even if you've set a delay and you will be able to post messages even if the forum board is read only etc

Deleting and modifying messages in a forum (Moderate)

Deleting and modifying messages in a forum is known as moderating a forum. There are two places where you can moderate a forum board:

ForumBoard Builder control panel: Go to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' page and select the forum you wish moderate. Click on the 'Moderate' button. The forum board will then be displayed in Moderating mode.
From your web site: When viewing a forum board on your web site, log on using the administrator or a moderator username/password. Once you have logged on, you will see a link at the top of the forum board which says 'Moderate'. Click on this link. The forum board will then be displayed in Moderating mode.

The Board Map

This is a web page that lists your forum boards. It is the web page that your visitors are taken to when they first visit your forums. The list includes summary details for each of your forum boards, such as how many posts there are in a forum and the time and date the last messages were posted etc.

Grouping forums into categories

Sometimes in the board map, it is quite nice to group your forum boards into categories. To arrange you forums into categories go to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' | 'Arrange Forums' page. On this page you can create, delete and rename the categories under which your forum boards are listed.

Changing the order in which categories and forums appear in the board map

To change the order in which your forums and categories appear in the board map go to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' | 'Arrange Forums' page.

I don't want a particular forum board to appear in the board map

If you want a forum board to remain private and hidden from public view, then you will not want it listed in your board map. To remove it from the board map, go to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' page and select the forum that you wish to be remove from the board map. Then go the 'Configure' page and under the 'Board Map Visibility' section select the option: 'This board does not appear in the board map'.

Restricting access to a forum to club members only

You can think of a club as being a special group of registered members. If you have created a club, you can restrict access to a forum to club members only.

Example

Lets say that you wanted to have a forum that only the administrator and moderators could access e.g. one in which the administrator and moderators could post messages to each other but no-one else could see or use. To implement this, you need to take the following steps

In the 'Registration System', create a club called e.g. Moderators Forum
In the 'Registration System', add the usernames of the moderators to the club
Go to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' page, select the forum you wish to restrict access to and go the 'Configure' page. Under the section 'Access Restrictions' select the option: Access granted only to club members (and select the name of the club in the drop down list).
If you want the forum to be listed in the Board Map ONLY when club members are viewing it, then go to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' page and select the forum. Then go the 'Configure' page and under the 'Board Map Visibility' section select the option:'This board only appears in the board map to club members' (and select the name of the club in the drop down list) Note: club members must be logged on in order to view the forum.

Bulk deleting old messages (Pruning topics)

Pruning topics is the process of bulk deleting topics which haven't been posted to for a certain amount of time. It is a quick way of deleting old topics and messages. You can choose to prune topics manually or automatically (in the background, on a regular basis).

Manually prune topics

Go to the page 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' page and select the forum that you wish to prune topics from. Then go to 'Prune Topics'. On the Prune Topics page you simply need to specify the date to delete from and hit the 'Do Delete' button.

Automatically prune topics (Auto Prune)

This is particularly useful if your forum board is very popular and quickly fills up with messages. Go to the page 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' page and select the forum that you wish to prune topics from. Then go to 'Auto Prune Topics'. On this page you just need to choose at what age you want unused topics get deleted automatically.

Deleting topics by mistake

You have at least four days to recover topics you may have deleted by mistake during pruning. Simply go to the 'Prune Topic' page and hit the emergency recovery button. When you do this, all the topics that you have deleted through pruning will be undeleted.

General Configuration Options (Configure)

Each of the options below can be set on the 'Configure' page for each forum board respectively.

Chat control

This enables you to prevent visitors from using your forum board as a chat service. It works by delaying the appearance of newly posted messages in the forum by a couple of hours. This delay wont bother most visitors and in fact they will probably expect it. However it will prevent chatting from occurring which requires instant messages and replies to appear in the forum.

Attack/spam control

These are options which help to minimize malicious attacks. See also securing your forum boards.

Screening

Screening is the process by which all messages posted to a forum have to be approved first by the administrator or moderators. The person screening the messages can choose to delete or approve each new message. A moderator or administrator can screen for new messages by clicking on the 'Moderate' link at the top of the forum boards (they have to be logged on to see the link). On the Moderating page that appears there is a button which says 'Go to screening'. When they click on this button they will see any new messages that have been posted and require approval or rejection. The administrator can also screen for new messages by going to the 'Members Area' | 'ForumBoard Builder' page, selecting the forum and then going to the 'Screen' page.

Access restrictions

You can decide whether to grant access to a forum to all visitors or only to club members only (see )

Level of access

You can choose between 3 levels of access:

Visitors can view and post message (this is the normal way a forum board works)
visitors can only post messages (useful if using a forum board for receiving feedback that only you want to be able to read etc)
visitors can only view messages

The administrator and moderators can always view and post messages, regardless of which option you choose above.

Board Map visibility

(See Board Map).

Registration requirements

Its a good idea to ask your visitors to register before they post a message. This is so that you know who is posting messages to your forum boards ad hence gives you greater security control. However you do not have make your users register. In this section of the 'Configure' page, you can check which registration requirements you require (if any). Simply tick the boxes that you want to apply. You can choose from three options

Users must register before being allowed to post messages.
Users must register before being allowed to view the forum.
Users must register before being allowed to view profiles.

We recommend that you at least select option 1

Style/Display Options

Each of the options below can be set on the 'Style/Display' page for each forum board respectively.

Forum title and description

Here you can edit the title and description of the forum board.

Posting options (emoticons, topicons, links, images)

When a visitor posts a message, you can allow them to add emoticons, topicons, images and links to their messages. You can also allow them to post messages in HTML format. Under the posting options section, you can determine exactly which of the above a visitor can do e.g. you can disallow users from including images in their messages. Note: if a web page has lots of images on it, it can take a relatively long time to display. Therefore if your visitors are including lots of images in their messages, you can always prevent them from doing this.

Inserting text at the top of the new message form

Sometimes you might want to insert some text at the top of the 'New Topic' or 'Reply' form e.g. instructions on posting. You can enter and edit such text in this section.

The Registration System and Members Directory

Here at PoppyDog we offer the Registration System that goes with the forum boards as a separate standalone tool. This means that as well as having a registration system with your forum boards, you can also integrate the registration system into your web site as separate feature (creating a Members Only Area). For guide on all features of the registration system please read: Registration System User Guide

Changing the color scheme of my forums

Read: Setting the color scheme for your tools

Changing the web page that wraps around my forums

Read: Creating a web page template for your tools

How to secure a forum board and prevent attack

In order to minimize the risk malicious and abusive users from using your forum boards you should ensure that your visitors register with your forums before being able to post messages. This will enable you to do two things:

Control access to your forum boards
Identify any nuisance posters and delete their registration details so that they cannot log on and post messages again

When you 'Moderate' a forum, details of who posted the messages is given and you are presented with options to 'Delete Membership' or 'Block Membership'. Deleting a membership permanently deletes their registration details so that they cannot log on again. Blocking a membership puts a temporary block on a visitors registration account so that they cannot log on until you 'un-block' the membership.