The forum is a place for community conversations, structured by topics, posts, and comments.
Have topical discussions year-round
Unlike session chats, the forum is not tied to a specific piece of content. This means it’s a great place to have conversations year-round.
In the forum, anyone can ask questions, share ideas, and tell stories about a topic. Conversations can happen slowly over time, as users contribute to a topic. Or they can happen quickly through back and forth messages.
Topics, posts, and tags
Site admins create topics using the front-end editor. Then, within a topic, users create posts and comment on others' posts. Forum tags can be added to both topics and posts.
The forum home page lists topics.
Users create posts within a topic.
Forum or feed?
The forum and social feed might seem similar, but they can serve different purposes.
We recommend using the forum for longer-term conversations that are focused on a topic. It’s great for 365 sites! The social feed works well for live updates and spontaneous conversation, making it a great tool for events.
Moderation
Attendees can edit or delete their own posts. As a site admin, you have control of all content. You can delete any post.
Increasing forum engagement
Users receive platform notifications and a weekly email about activity in the forum. Learn more about the forum digest email, including your configuration options.
To make sure attendees can easily find the forum, we recommend locating it prominently in your navigation.
You can also advertise the forum from your home page or another page. Our Popular Social Posts module lets you feature posts from the forum and/or social feed. Clicking a post sends users directly to the conversation.
Planning a forum for a multi-site platform
You can add the forum to multiple sites. But note that the content will be shared across sites. If someone posts to the forum on one site, people on the other site see it too.
The forum can be built to fit your needs! See your configuration options.