Administration Instructions

Contents

• Introduction to administration
• Terminology
• Overview of administration
• Getting started
• Designing an effective board
• Page Manager
• Navigation
• Subtopics
• About messages
• Messages
• Page layout
• User Manager
• Deleting users
• Editing users
• "Special permissions"
• "Profile permissions"
• Adding users
• Profile Manager
• Editing your profile
• Changing your password
• Board Manager
• Topics
• Main message
• Board appearance
• Moderator Manager
• Deleting moderators
• Editing moderators
• Adding moderators
• Group Manager
• Deleting groups
• Editing groups
• Adding groups

The administration program allows board moderators to organize and control discussion on Draught Board Member Forum. Moderators are given powerful tools for organizing discussions. The "Page Manager" allows moderators to add, remove, and edit subtopics, to specify an "About message," to add, remove, and edit messages, and to specify the page layout. The "User Manager" gives moderators control over discussion with the ability to create user accounts (with non-administrative posting authority) or to set up topics as private or public.

Terminology

Several terms used throughout these administration instructions are defined here.

About message: a statement or paragraph added by a moderator to any page. About messages can be changed or added only by moderators.

Group: a collection of moderators that is established to "own" a topic. Moderators within the group can edit topic pages with the Page Manager and add users to the group with the User Manager.

Message: a note posted by a moderator or a user into a topic. Messages are stamped with the author of the post.

Moderator: an account that has administrative privileges in topics owned by groups to which the moderator belongs.

Superuser: a special moderator who has permission to add and remove moderator accounts, to add or remove moderators from groups, and to add and remove topics on the board, as well as having all privileges of an ordinary moderator.

Subtopic: an additional level of discussion created within a topic (or another subtopic) that allows further classification of the discussion. This is sometimes called a "thread" or a "conversation."

Topic: a broad area of discussion created by the superuser and listed on the top page of the discussion board. Topics are "owned" by groups; moderators in the group that owns the topic have permission to edit that topic.

User: an account that has posting privileges in topics owned by the group to which the account has been added; a user account has no administrative privileges.

Overview of administration

To access moderator functions, the moderator must be logged in via the administration program. This is accomplished by selecting "Administration" from the main menu of the board and subsequently supplying a valid username/password combination.

Simply having a moderator account does not in itself convey administrative privileges. Moderators must be added by the superuser to a group in order to have administrative privileges. Moderators may access the Page Manager or User Manager only for topics that are owned by groups to which the moderator belongs. If a moderator belongs to a group that owns a topic, that moderator has full administrative privileges within that topic.

Getting started

To set up a new topic, the moderator must have a vision of the future development of discussion within that topic. The first step is to create new subtopics from the first page within the topic. Once the initial subtopics have been created, a structure for the discussion has been established. Within each of the new subtopics, there will likely be more subtopics that need to be created to organize the discussion further. See also the discussion under "Page layout" for the suggested page layouts to use in each situation.

Because the Discus program (which powers this discussion board) is becoming widely used on the WWW, moderators can use other implementations as models for discussions. Moderators may choose to view Discus home page and subsequently select the "Sites using Discus" screen for many examples.

Designing an effective board

To set up a board requires that the superuser perform two functions. First, the superuser must use the Group Manager to add a group. Second, the superuser must use the Board Manager to add a topic. When these two actions have been completed, a topic has been added to the board.

However, neither users nor the public can post messages or create new conversations in that topic until the topic is configured using the Page Manager. The configuration of the topic using the Page Manager can be performed by the superuser or by any moderator that belongs to the group that owns the topic. Using the Page Manager, the superuser or moderator can add subtopic pages and change the layout of pages to allow messages to be posted.

To make certain topics allow public posting (posting with any username/password combination), the User Manager can be used. Public posting permissions are added by group, and when public posting is enabled in a group, all topics owned by that group are updated to give instructions for public posting on each page.

The Page Manager is the most frequently used interface once discussion begins. It gives moderators the ability to manipulate past, present, and future discussions by allowing the configuration of subtopics, about messages, and messages on the pages.

To access the Page Manager, click on "Page Manager" from the administration program main menu. Note that, by default, the first screen from the Page Manager is loaded into the right frame upon accessing the administration program. To begin editing a topic, click on the topic that you wish to edit from the "Page Manager" page.

Navigation

There are a number of methods by which a moderator can navigate through the Page Manager.
• To return to a "parent" page (or a page that comes before the "parent" page in the tree structure), you can use the navigation bar at the top of the page. Click on a link to return to editing any page that is listed there. This navigation bar works much the same as those in the user interface.
• To move quickly into a "parent" subtopic, a "sister" subtopic, or a "child" subtopic, click on the appropriate link from the "Quick Navigation" panel. The current location is not linked (since you are already there).
• To view all subtopics in the topic you are editing, click on "Show all subtopics" in the "Quick Navigation" tree. This brings up a list of the subtopics within the topic; the current location will be displayed in bold. To select a page, click on the link to the name of the page; alternatively, you may click on the "Cancel" button to return to your previous location.
• To move to a "child" subtopic, under the list of subtopics on the page, click on the link for the subtopic in the "Edit (Click on Link)" column.

Subtopics

Moderators have several options dealing with subtopics. Moderators can delete, move, rename, reorder, or add subtopics from the administration interface. In addition, moderators can create a "subtopic" that is actually a link to a document somewhere on the WWW but not within the discussion board; this is useful for providing static information.

Deleting a subtopic: Click on the delete icon () next to the subtopic you wish to delete. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the subtopics you wish to delete, and then click on the "Delete Marked" icon. You must click on "OK" to confirm the deletion of a subtopic. WARNING! If you delete a subtopic, the contents of the deleted page will be permanently lost; in addition, any subtopics of the deleted subtopic will be recursively deleted.

Moving a subtopic: Click on the move icon () next to the subtopic you wish to move. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the subtopics you wish to move, and then click on the "Move Marked" icon. Then you are presented with a tree of possible destinations for the subtopic page; click on the icon of the page to which you wish to move the subtopic. A subtopic cannot be moved onto a child page of that subtopic (a child cannot be its own parent). Note that all subtopics of the moved subtopic are recursively moved to preserve the subtopic structure. If that page does not already have subtopics enabled, they will be enabled by the move operation.

Renaming a subtopic: Click on the rename icon () next to the subtopic you wish to rename. You are then presented with a form prompting you for the new name of the subtopic. You may use simple formatting tags (such as bold and italics) when naming subtopics. Enter the new name into the "New Name:" text entry box and then click on "Rename this Subtopic" to make the change.

Reordering subtopics: Enter numbers corresponding to the new order for the subtopics (lower numbers will move subtopics higher in the list). You may use decimals or negative numbers for convenience. To impose your new order, click on the "Reorder All" icon ().

Adding subtopics: Enter the name for the subtopic in the "Name:" text entry box under "Add a Subtopic." Then, select the type of subtopic you wish to add using the radio selection buttons below the name.

You can add the subtopic as another discussion board page by selecting "Link within board." If you do this, you must also specify the page layout by selecting any of the three options given (see Page layout for details).

You can also add the subtopic as a link to a document somewhere else on the WWW (in which case it will not be added as a new discussion page). To do this, select "Link to URL" and then type the URL that the "subtopic" should point to. You must also specify whether the linked document will appear in the right frame or whether it will replace the board frameset by selecting the appropriate option.

To finish adding any subtopic, click on "Add this Subtopic."

About messages

Moderators can specify one "About message" on each page. This message is displayed after all subtopics but before all messages; this is a way for a moderator to have control over the "first message" on a page. About messages are useful for giving a few lines of text describing the discussion that is expected to occur.

To use an about message, you must first enable the "About Message" option in the page layout (see Page layout for details). Note that about messages are not enabled by default.

The text of an about message is specified in the text box under "About Message." In an about message, you may use any formatting tags except image uploading. To enter (or change) an about message, use the text box to enter your message. Then, click on the "Preview/Save Message" button.

If your about message has formatting errors, you will be given an error message and will not have the option to save the message. If your about message is free from formatting errors, a preview of your about message will be displayed in a table. You have the option to revise the about message (by typing into the text box and then clicking on "Refresh Preview" to see your changes) or to save your about message by clicking on "Save Message." You may also choose to cancel your editing.

Messages

Messages posted by users are key to the discussions. Moderators are given tools to delete, edit, reorder, or move existing messages or to add new messages.

Deleting a message: Click on the delete icon () next to the message you wish to delete. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the messages you wish to delete, and then click on the "Delete Marked" icon. You must click on "OK" to confirm the deletion of a message. WARNING! If you delete a message, the contents of the message will be permanently removed, along with any images that were uploaded to the server contained within that message.

Moving a message: Click on the move icon () next to the message you wish to move. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the messages you wish to move, and then click on the "Move Marked" icon. Then you are presented with a tree of possible destinations for the message page; click on the icon of the page to which you wish to move the subtopic. The message will be added to the end of the message list on the page you select. If that page does not already have messages enabled, they will be enabled by the move operation.

Editing a message: Click on the edit icon () next to the message you wish to edit. You are then presented with a form to edit the message that closely resembles the message preview screen when posting a message. Edit the message as desired by changing the text in the text entry box. When you have made changes, you can preview your changes using the "Refresh Preview" button. When your changes are complete, click on "Save Message" to save the changes. WARNING! When you edit a message, a comment tag will be included on the actual message page that indicates your username and the time you edited the message. You cannot remove this comment tag using the administration program.

Reordering messages: Enter numbers corresponding to the new order for the messages (lower numbers will move messages higher in the list). You may use decimals or negative numbers for convenience. To impose your new order, click on the "Reorder All" icon ().

Adding messages: You can add a message to any discussion that has messages enabled from within the administration program, whether or not there is an "Add a Message" form on the page itself. To add a message, enter the text of your message (along with any formatting tags, if appropriate) into the text entry box under "Add a Message." Then click on "Preview/Post Message." Note that your moderator username and password is automatically used, but you can change your username and password on the preview screen if desired. Posting the message follows the same procedure as posting a message from within the user interface.

Page layout

Moderators have control over the layout of each page and can specify which "discussion elements" appear on each page. Possible "discussion elements" include a list of subtopics, a "create new conversation" button, an about message, messages, and an "Add a Message" form. Although the moderator can technically specify the arrangement in 2⁵=32 ways, some combinations do not make sense (such as an "Add a Message" form with no messages).

The page layout is specified by selecting elements to be displayed in the "Page Layout Selection" table. To include a particular element on a page, check the checkbox next to the appropriate element. When the desired elements have been selected, click on the "Change Page Layout" button to finalize the layout.

There are also three common layouts defined in the "Page Layout Selection" table. Below each of the designations "Private Index," "Public Index," and "Message Page" are given the discussion elements included with those layouts. To select that layout, click on the appropriate button for the layout you desire and observe that the check boxes for the appropriate discussion elements are selected automatically. To apply your layout change, you must click on the "Change Page Layout" button.

When you deactivate a discussion element, the discussion element is hidden on the page by being commented out. Thus, you can deactivate an element and later activate that same element and not lose any of the information that was contained in that element (you can turn the messages off, for example, and later turn the messages on, and none of the messages would have been deleted).

WARNING! Hidden elements are visible to anyone who looks at the source of the page. Therefore, you should not, for example, tell everyone to add their desired username and password in an "Add a Message" form because the messages will be hidden -- anyone looking at the source of the page can see all of the messages that were posted.

User Manager

The User Manager allows moderators to give posting privileges to non-moderators through the creation of "user accounts." Moderators are given privileges to add and remove user accounts as well as to edit the user accounts (by changing the profile or the password without knowledge of the user's current password).

To access the User Manager, click on "User Manager" from the administration program main menu. Then select a group in which you wish to add, remove, or edit users. Note that you can only add, remove, or edit users in those groups to which you belong.

Deleting users

To delete a user, click on the delete icon () next to the user you wish to delete. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the users you wish to delete, and then click on the "Delete Marked" icon. You must click on "OK" to confirm the deletion of a user.

Note that to remove a user completely from the discussion board system, the user must be deleted from all groups to which the user belongs. You must therefore manually remove the user from each group separately.

Editing users

As a moderator, you can set a user's full name, e-mail address, e-mail notification option, and password. You can also disallow the user from editing his or her own profile.

To edit a user, click on the edit icon () next to the user you wish to edit. To change a user's profile, edit the "E-mail Address," "Full Name," and/or "E-mail Notification" settings. To set whether the user can edit his or her own profile, select "No" or "Yes" from the "Can edit profile" option. To save the changes you made, click on "Save Changes."

To change a user's password, type the new password into the "New Password" text entry box and retype it into the "Verify" text entry box. Then click on "Save Changed Password." You cannot determine a user's password, however, because these are stored in encrypted form.

Special permissions

Moderators are permitted to set up special posting permissions which will apply to all topics in the group in which the special permissions are set. Special permissions allow the configuration of public groups, groups where all users may post (regardless of the group to which the user belongs), groups where all moderators may post (regardless of the group to which the moderator belongs), or groups where posting is disabled to everyone except moderators in the group. Note that regardless of the special permissions set, only the moderators belonging to the group will have administrative privileges - special permissions set only posting privileges.

To set up special permissions, access the "Special Permissions" portion of a group in the User Manager. To set any special permission, check the box next to the special permission you wish to set and then click on "Save this Configuration." Details of each special permission follow.

Disabled: Only moderators within the group may post messages. This special permission setting overrides all user accounts and all other special permissions. This is a way to disable posting in a group while maintenance is being performed, for example.

Moderators: Allows moderators in any group to have posting permissions to topics in the group in which you set the "Moderators" special permission. This does not give administrative privileges to those moderators; however, it allows them to post messages.

Public: Allows anyone at all to have posting permissions. This allows someone to enter anything at all for the "username" and anything (or nothing at all) for the "password" and be able to post a message. When you set this special permission, the "Add a Message" form on each page in appropriate topics is changed to give instructions for public posting. This setting is often appropriate for one or more topics on the discussion board.

Users: Allows users in any group to have posting permissions to topics in the group in which you set the "Users" special permission.

Profile permissions

Moderators are permitted to enable user profile functions by group. This allows the moderator to allow anonymous posting, e-mail notification, and full name and e-mail stamping in topics in the group for which the profile permissions are set up. By default, all of these permissions are enabled, i.e., all of these features are allowed.

To set up profile permissions, access the "Profile Permissions" portion of a group in the User Manager. To set any profile permission, check the box next to the profile permission you wish to set and then click on "Save this Configuration." Details of each profile permission follow.

Anonymous: Users and moderators may post as "Anonymous." (Even if the messages are posted anonymously, the moderators can determine who posted the message using the Page Manager.) If anonymous posting is disabled and the user or moderator posting the message selects the "Post message as 'Anonymous'" option, their identity is still displayed on their post (and they are warned of this on the preview screen).

E-mail Notification: Users and moderators receive e-mail notification of posts in topics in the group if the users and moderators have selected e-mail notification within their profile settings. By default, e-mail notification is not sent to the users or moderators unless these users or moderators have enabled e-mail notification within their profile settings. Disabling the option at this level overrides any of the settings in the user or moderator profiles.

Full Name & E-mail: The full name and e-mail address of the poster are displayed on the post (where the full name and e-mail have been set in a profile). If the full name is not the same as the username, the username is displayed in parentheses after the full name so that the profile function cannot be abused by users or moderators who specify someone else's name as their "full name." Disabling this option at this level overrides any of the settings in the user or moderator profiles.

Adding Users

There are two ways to add user accounts to this discussion board. The first is to add one user account at a time. The second is to add many user accounts at a time by pasting a tab-delimited username/password list; this is useful for adding students in a class to a list.

Adding one user: Under "Add a User" enter the new user's (future) username into the "Username" text entry box. Enter the user's (future) password into the "Password" text entry box and retype the password into the "Verify" text entry box. Click on "Add this User."

Adding many users: In a spreadsheet (such as Microsoft Excel), select the range of cells that contains the usernames and passwords. (If the usernames are in cells A1:A20 and the passwords are in cells D1:D20, select the range A1:A20 with the mouse, hold down the Control key, and then select the range D1:D20 with the mouse.) Note that the usernames can be posted in as full names (in which case the last name will be selected and used as the username). Use the spreadsheet's copy command to copy this information to the clipboard. Click in the text entry box under "Add a User List" and use your browser's paste command to paste in the list. (The list may look strange when it is pasted in; do not worry about this.) Click on "Add these Users."

In the following preview screen, ensure that the usernames and passwords were extracted correctly into the proper columns. Then click on "Add these Users." If all goes well, you will be returned to the User Manager screen and the new users will have been added. If there was a problem with any of the users, you will be brought to an error screen which will give the details and instructions to correct the problem.

The profile manager allows moderators to specify their e-mail address, full name, e-mail notification preference, and password. The superuser has the right to disallow any moderator from editing his or her profile using the profile manager.

To access the profile manager, click on "Profile Manager" from the administration program main menu.

Editing your profile

To change your e-mail address or full name, enter the new setting into the appropriate text entry box in the "Profile Editor" table. To change your e-mail notification setting, check (or uncheck) the appropriate check boxes in the "E-mail Notification" row. ("Own Posts" sends you a copy of any messages you post, and "Within My Groups" sends you a copy of any messages (except your own) posted to any topic for which you are a moderator.) To save your changes, click on "Save Changes."

Changing your password

To change your password, enter your new password in the "New Password" text entry box and retype the new password in the "Verify" text entry box. Then click on "Save Changed Password." The program will instruct you to log in again when your password has been successfully changed.

The Board Manager allows the superuser to add, remove, and configure topics as well as to change the "main message" (the message displayed on the bottom of the top page) and to set the board colors, font, and background image. The Board Manager is restricted to the superuser -- ordinary moderators cannot access the Board Manager. To access the Board Manager, click on "Board Manager" from the administration program main menu.

Topics

The superuser has several options dealing with topics. The superuser can delete, rename, reorder, change the group of, or add subtopics from the administration interface.

Deleting a topic: Click on the delete icon () next to the topic you wish to delete. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the topics you wish to delete, and then click on the "Delete Marked" icon. You must click on "OK" to confirm the deletion of a topic. WARNING! If you delete a topic, the contents of the deleted page will be permanently lost; in addition, any subtopics of the deleted topic will also be recursively deleted.

Renaming a topic: Click on the rename icon () next to the topic you wish to rename. You are then presented with a form prompting you for the new name of the topic. You may use simple formatting tags (such as bold and italics) when naming topics. Enter the new name into the "New Name:" text entry box and then click on "Rename this Topic" to make the change.

Changing the group of topics: Click on the group icon () next to the topic for which you wish to change the group. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the topics you wish to change the group of, and then click on the "Group Marked" icon. You are then presented with a form prompting you for the new group of the topic. Select the new group for the topic from the dropdown menu box and then click on "Change Topic Group" to make the change.

Reordering topics: Enter numbers corresponding to the new order for the topics (lower numbers will move topics higher in the list). You may use decimals or negative numbers for convenience. To impose your new order, click on the "Reorder All" icon ().

Adding topics: Enter the name for the topic in the "Topic Name:" text entry box under "Add a Topic." Then, select the group for the topic from the dropdown menu box. To finish adding the topic, click on "Add this Topic."

Main Message

The "main message" allows a message to be placed on the top screen of the board. This is usually some sort of welcome message or very basic instructions for new users, but can also be used for important system announcements.

To change the main message, enter the desired message in the text entry box under "Main Message." You may use all formatting tags except image upload in your message. Then click on "Preview/Save Message." If you wish to change your entry, modify the contents of the text entry box and then click on "Refresh Preview." When your message is correct, click on "Save Message."

Board Appearance

The color scheme, font, and background image of each page on the discussion board can be modified using the "Board Appearance" option. Changes are made on the top page and all subtopic pages. Settings can be changed at any time.

The board colors (for background, text, link, visited link, and active link) are set in traditional HTML hex codes. The font face can be a comma delimited list of fonts (such as "Arial,Helvetica,Times") and the browser will choose the first available font on the system to display. The font size is a number between 1 (small) and 7 (large) -- "12 point" fonts correspond to size 3 and are generally the most readable. The background image is a URL (such as "http://your.server.com/images/background.jpg") and must be a valid URL to an existing image.

To change the board appearance, enter or modify any of the settings using the text entry boxes provided. Click on "Preview/Save Appearance" for a preview of your settings. To revise your settings, change any of the text entry boxes on the preview screen and then click on "Refresh Preview" to preview again your settings. To save your settings, click on "Save Appearance." The program will apply your new settings to all pages on the board recursively.

WARNING! The program performs no error checking of your colors, fonts, or background URLs. The program will not warn you if the colors will not go well together or if you have entered invalid fonts. It is strongly recommended that you consider carefully the colors, fonts, and background image for maximum readability by your users.

The moderator manager allows the superuser to add, remove, and edit moderators. The moderator manager is restricted to the superuser -- ordinary moderators cannot access the moderator manager. To access the moderator manager, click on "Moderator Manager" from the administration program main menu.

Deleting moderators

To delete a moderator, click on the delete icon () next to the moderator you wish to delete. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the moderators you wish to delete, and then click on the "Delete Marked". You must click on "OK" to confirm the deletion of a moderator.

A moderator is completely removed from the discussion board system upon removing the moderator from the moderator manager (unless the moderator also has one or more user accounts). A moderator will have no administrative privileges when the moderator account is removed. Note that you cannot delete the superuser (you can't delete yourself).

Editing moderators

The superuser can set a moderators's full name, e-mail address, e-mail notification option, and password. The moderator can also be disallowed from editing his or her own profile.

To edit a moderator, click on the edit icon () next to the moderator you wish to edit. To change a moderator's profile, edit the "E-mail Address," "Full Name," and/or "E-mail Notification" settings. To set whether the moderator can edit his or her own profile, select "No" or "Yes" from the "Can edit profile" option. To save the changes you made, click on "Save Changes."

To change a moderator's password, type the new password into the "New Password" text entry box and retype it into the "Verify" text entry box. Then click on "Save Changed Password." The superuser cannot determine a moderator's password, however, as passwords are stored in an encrypted form.

Adding moderators

To add a moderator, under "Add a Moderator" enter the new moderator's (future) username into the "Username" text entry box. Enter the moderator's (future) password into the "Password" text entry box and retype the password into the "Verify" text entry box. Then click on "Add this Moderator."

The Group Manager allows the superuser to add, remove, and edit groups. The Group Manager is restricted to the superuser -- ordinary moderators cannot access the Group Manager. To access the Group Manager, click on "Group Manager" from the administration program main menu.

Deleting groups

To delete a group, click on the delete icon () next to the group you wish to delete. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the groups you wish to delete, and then click on the "Delete Marked" icon. You must click on "OK" to confirm the deletion of a group.

Editing groups

The superuser can add and remove moderators from existing groups. Deleting a moderator from a group does not remove the moderator account or remove the moderator from other groups. Only currently existing moderators can be added to groups. To edit a group, click on the edit icon () next to the group you wish to edit.

Deleting a moderator from a group: To delete a moderator from a group, click on the delete icon () next to the moderator you wish to delete. You may also use the check boxes in the "Mark" column to select the moderators you wish to delete from to group, and then click on the "Delete Marked" icon. You must click on "OK" to confirm the deletion of a moderator from a group.

Adding a moderator to a group: To add a moderator to a group, select the moderator from the dropdown menu box. Then click on "Add this Moderator."

Adding groups

To add a group, under "Add a Group" enter the new group's name into the "Group" text entry box. Then click on "Add this Group." Group names may be from 2-20 characters long and may contain alphanumeric characters and dashes (-).