Organization of the Forum

Organization of a Typical Forum

A ProBoard forum (as this one is), has a hierarchical relationship between its parts like this:

Forum - holds everything
...Category - holds boards
......Board - holds topics or optional subboards
.........Subboard - holds topics (optional)
............Topic - holds posts
...............Original Post ("OP") - the first or original message in a topic^{Note 1}
...............Reply posts - all following messages in a topic


Organization of the Hotforwords Forum

This forum has been laid out as follows:

...Hotforwords category - for everything Marina
......Hotforwords board (see detailed descriptions of topics below)
.........The current and active HFW topic (always #1)
.........The welcome topic (always #2)
.........The video index topic (always #3)
.........All other topics (float according to usage)
...Technical category
......Forum Technical board - for operation of the forum (see detailed description of topics below)
.........LATEST FORUM NEWS topic (always #1)
.........Forum Organization topic (always #2)
.........How to start a new topics topic (always #3)
.........All other topics (float according to usage)


Detailed description of the Hotforwords board's topics

Board layout:

1. The current topic - The first topic in the HFW board index will be the where most activity occurs. The OP establishes and explains the reason for starting the topic. Any user may start one of these topics, the replies to which will be much like the comments to the blogs of the hotforwords.com. Please format the topic as shown in the format below.¹ Some types of topics might be:
............Lesson Word topic - started whenever a new lesson video is discovered.
............HFW Video topic - started whenever a Marina-published or Marina-related non-lesson video is discovered.

Once a topic has been created, it will be made sticky by admin so that it is always be at the top of the board's topic index until the next hot topic arrives. When superceded by a new lesson or video topic, the old topic will be made unsticky and it will float within the board index, but below any sticky topics, moving up only when a new post has been made.

2. Welcome, all you poor, lost sheepses topic - This topic is for making initial contact or discussing initial contact. After checking in here, users then forever move on to the other topics. This topic is sticky and is second from the top in the board's topic index.

3. Lesson Index topic (sticky & locked) - A current list of links to all HFW videos is maintained by the admin and the latest video is embedded here. Please send a private message to CampKohler for corrections and suggestions.

4. Additional, optional user topics - anyone may create their own topic. From the blue bar at the top of the board index, click the Create Thread button. Use the Subject: line field (50 characters maximum) to give an informative title. You might even include your handle if the fancy suits you, e.g. Evan Owen's Thimble Polish Recipes.


Detailed description of Forum Technical board's topics

Board layout:

1. FORUM NEWS topic (sticky, locked and always at the top of the board's topic index) - an index of the latest news about the technical aspects of the forum and where to read more. Admin will add user's technical topics to the list as they appear.

2. Organization of the Forum topic (sticky, locked and always #2 in the board index) - how a forum is organized in general, and how particularly, the HFW forum is organized.

3. How to start topics topic (sticky, locked and always #3 in the board index) - how you can start a topic and, in particular, how you can start a new lesson or video topic when a new HFW video is discovered.

4. Sandbox topic (floats) - do your testing and practice here. Old posts may be cleaned out occasionally unless marked not to by the author.

5. Optional topics on other technical subjects (floats below the sticky topics) - please feel free to contribute. Authors are encouraged to regard the OP as a permanent work that should be modified (edited) as new information about the topic is learned as opposed to putting new info in an additional post (a reply).

Notes:
1. Admin may touch up the format later if necessary for consistency.
2. There is no technical difference between the OP and it's replies except the OP's title becomes the title of the topic in the board index. The OP is merely the earliest-dated post. If posts from other topics are merged into a topic, they may merge into the topic ahead of the OP, depending on their dates. Nothing can be done about this except to delete them and re-post them at a later date, which is not contemplated.
3. Off-subject topics & posts will be moved to more suitable boards or topics in order to keep the technical board on subject. Please don't post non-technical matters in this board.

Version: 20140504 12:25 PM PDT --CampKohler
Backup: 20140504 --CampKohler

Backup file: hfw_forum-organization_YYYYMMDD.txt