Participating in Discussions in Discussion Groups

General discussions are structured online collections of posts with the associated replies in rooms. The discussions are structured using a hierarchy containing the following objects:

• Discussion group

  A discussion group groups related discussions. It can be divided into further discussion groups. As a participant, you cannot create discussion groups yourself. Only the room member who has administration permission for the room can do this.

• Discussion

  Discussions are subordinate to a discussion group or can be created individually. To participate in a discussion, you must enter it. As a participant, you have permission to create discussions but not to delete them.

• Post

  When you create a discussion, you enter an initial post as well. In the course of the discussion, a structure of replies to this post is created.

• Reply

  As a participant in a discussion, you can enter replies to the initial post of a discussion or to existing replies.

To be able to participate in discussion, you must be a room member and have the corresponding permission. You can obtain permission to participate in discussions from your power user or the system administrator.

Creating Discussions

You can create discussion within discussion groups or as separate discussions. You can create discussions in the following places:

• In the header of the Discussion Groups iViewOn the first structure level, you use this to create a separate discussion. Within a discussion group, you use this to create an associated discussion.
• In the context menu for the discussion groupYou use this to create a discussion within the discussion group.

When you create a discussion, you enter the discussion name and the text of your initial discussion post. If you are only a participant, you cannot delete discussions.

Participating In Discussions

To participate in a discussion, you click the discussion name. You then reach the discussion structure. The following functions are available here:

• Limiting the replies displayed according to their age (for example, since your last visit, since yesterday, in the last week, and so on) - see the Select Post menu item in the header of the discussion structure.
• Creating a replyIn the header area for the text in question, you choose Reply and enter the following information:
  • SubjectThe subject appears in the discussion structure. It contains the title of the initial post as a default value. In addition, Re: is entered before the subject (for each structure level).If you want to enter another subject, overwrite the entry.
    Note

    If you configure the iView accordingly, the subject can be empty. In this case, the system automatically adopts the start of the reply as the subject.

  • DescriptionEnter your reply in the text editor.
• Call up the text of the initial post or of a replyTo call up the text of post or a reply, you click the corresponding structure node in the discussion structure. This results in the text appearing in the work area on the right of the structure with an orange background. The display comprises the following information:
  • Header areaSubjectUser name of the posterDate and time enteredMenu item ReplyMenu item More → Edit or Delete (only for replies to the post)
  • Text areaText of the initial post or reply
• Editing a replyIn the header area of the text, choose More → Edit and change the subject and the text.
• Deleting the initial post or a replyAs a participant, you can delete only your own replies that have not been replied to.In the header area of the text in question, choose More → Delete and confirm the confirmation prompt.
• Subscribing to a discussion In the discussion header, choose More → Subscribe.You can manage your subscriptions in the 'Subscription' iView.
• Adding the discussion to your FavoritesIn the discussion header, choose More → Add to Portal Favorites.

Adding a Discussion To Your Favorites

You can add discussion groups or individual discussions to your favorites list (on the portal homepage).

To do this, you use the menu item Add to Portal Favorites, which is provided in the following places:

• In the header of the Discussions iViewThis allows you to add all discussion groups and discussions in the room to your favorites list.
• In the context menu for the discussion group or discussionThis allows you to add a single discussion group or discussion to your favorites list.

Sending a Discussion To Other Portal Users

You can send discussion groups or individual discussions as a link to other portal users. To do this, you use the menu item Send to, which is provided in the following places:

• In the header of the Discussions iView

  You can use this to send all discussion groups and discussions in the room as a link.

• In the context menu for a discussion group or discussion

  You can use this to send an individual discussion group or discussion to other users.

Feedback

You can enter feedback on individual discussions or posts. To do this, in the context menu for the discussion or post in question, choose Give Feedback.