Forum Control

Add New	Remove Forums	Edit Forum	Re-Order Forums
Recount Forum		Edit/Add Forum Rules

Add New
Ok, so you've likely gotten the worst part of your board set up by the time you get here. You'll probably have a category or two set up, so now we need to get forums added (figure a) for members to post in. So first we've gotta decide where the forum goes, if it's an open forum or a read-only forum, it's name and a basic description, if you want one to be visible.

Figure a

Adding a Forum
Insert into which category? - This will show a drop down containing the full list of all categories you have created. Simply hit the arrow, then highlight the one you wish the forum to go into.
Turn this Forum... - Now decide if the forum is "On", which allows posts in it, or if it's "off", meaning that it is a read-only forum.

Forum Name
Forum Name - Pick a name, any name.
Forum Description - It's up to you how and if you want the forum to be described. It's a good idea to at least give an idea of what types of topics you wish posted in each forum.

We get alot of questions about this feature, so I'll try to explain it where it's fairly easy to understand. When creating a category, you give a general rule of who can see that category and have some type of action in it, be it reading, replying, or posting new topics. Inside each forum, you have each specific option of what permissions to set for all available user groups that you have active on your forum, including default groups (figure b). This is entirely customizable. You can allow, for example, to select all member groups to allow anyone to read, post, or reply, or you can be specific, say allowing anyone to read the topics, but only super admins can start them and only moderators to reply, for example. If you use category defaults, then whatever choice you've selected for the category you put the forum in will determine who has permission to have any type of activity for that forum. A handy option to this is to allow some categories and forums to be hidden from various groups. You can say that only super admins can view the forum, and they will also be the only ones able to post and reply in it, as no one else can even see it. How you set it up is fully up to you and can be adjusted at any time later on with the Edit Category function.

Figure b

Forum Mask
Read Topics: - Highlight the member group(s) you wish to be able to read the forum. You can select one or several, depending on your needs for each forum.
Start Topics: - Highlight the member group(s) you wish to be able to start topics in the forum. You can select one or several, depending on your needs for each forum.
Reply to Topics: - Highlight the member group(s) you wish to be able to reply to topics in the forum. You can select one or several, depending on your needs for each forum.

This area allows you to further customize what can and cannot be done in each particular forum. You can decide to password protect it, whether to allow html or iB code in it, how the topics inside should be sorted, even the default skin for each forum, should you wish to select one (figure c).

Figure c

Protect Forum with Password?
Enter Password, or leave blank of you do not wish to protect this forum - If you wish only those who have a password to enter the forum and observe and/or participate with what is going on, then you may type in a password here. Each person you wish to be able to access that forum will be required to use the same password.

Forum Permissions
Allow HTML to be posted? - If you wish members to be able to use html commands in their posts, then you must enable this here. This does not effect signatures, only the actual posts themselves.
Allow iB CODE to be posted? - Decide if you wish your members to be able to use iB code within their posts in each forum. The iB help cards are visible under each text box, regardless of if iB code is actually turned on or off.
Allow members to attach files to posts? - If you wish members to be able to upload images into their posts, then you will need to enable this feature here. If you do not wish them to upload images, leave this set to no.
Moderator Queue? (Require moderator to validate topics/posts before they are displayed) - Turning this feature on, means that anytime anyone posts to the forum, a moderator listed for that forum must approve the message before it is available for everyone else who has reading permissions in that forum to see it. If you wish them to just be able to post without having posts reviewed, then set this option to no.

Base Sorting Options
Default cut off date for topic display - This will set a time limit to how long posts will be VISIBLE to those browsing the topics list. After the number of days is set here, then the topic will no longer show up, though it will not be deleted from the database.
Default sort key - This is where you choose the initial method topics are sorted first. This will be overridden by the member's choice, this will simply set the default sort key for that forum.
Default sort order - This determines the ORDER the topics will be displayed in. Once they have been sorted by the key, then they will further be sorted in the order of your choice.

Choose a skin option for this forum
Installed Skins - If you have a skin specifically that you want to show up on this forum, then here is where you will set it. The skins drop down will display all installed skins.

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Remove Forums
At some point or another, you're likely to have to make some changes to your forums. Included in this, will be deleting forums that you no longer have use for, or simply don't want. This area allows you to select as many forums as you choose, listed under the category they belong to by checking the box, then hitting the "Delete Selected Forums" button (figure a).

Figure a

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Edit Forum
Let's say you wanna change a forum name. Maybe you'd like to add or remove member groups from those allowed to view the forum, or post or reply in it. Maybe you'd like to change the password, remove it or add a password to the forum. Turn the forum off, adjust the description, change the sort order, remove or allow the use of HTML or iB code. You might even want to revert it back to the default board skin or perhaps you'd like to change the skin assigned to that specific forum. You can even change which category the forum belongs to. First, you have to select which forum you wish to edit, doing only one at a time, by marking the radio button next to the forum's name (figure a).

Figure a

After you've selected the forum you need to edit and pressed the "Edit Selected Forum" button, then you'll recognize the same options you had when creating the forum. Now you can go through and start making the edits you need to (figure b).

Figure b

Forum Details
Turn this Forum... - You can turn the forum off, if you wish, or on if it had been turned off previously.
Board Category for this forum? - You can adjust here which category you wish the forum to be in.

Forum Name
Forum Name - You can change here the name of the forum, if you wish, or leaving it unaltered will leave it as it was before editing.
Forum Description - Change the description if you like. If you do not alter it, then it will remain the same as it was prior to editing.

Here you can edit the forum mask, which are the permission settings for each member group in what they are able to "do" in terms of reading, posting, and replying in each particular forum (figure c).

Figure c

Forum Mask
Read Topics: - Highlight the member group(s) you wish to be able to read the forum. You can select one or several, depending on your needs for each forum. If you leave this unchanged, then the permissions will be the same as they were prior to being edited.
Start Topics: - Highlight the member group(s) you wish to be able to start topics in the forum. You can select one or several, depending on your needs for each forum. If you leave this unchanged, then the permissions will be the same as they were prior to being edited.
Reply to Topics: - Highlight the member group(s) you wish to be able to reply to topics in the forum. You can select one or several, depending on your needs for each forum. If you leave this unchanged, then the permissions will be the same as they were prior to being edited.

Figure d

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Re-Order Forums
This works identically as the re-order category feature, only with the forums themselves instead of the categories (figure a). Multiple forums in the same category will show up in the order you place here within the category they are listed under. This is helpful when you've added new forums and need to re-arrange things a bit.

Figure a

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Recount Forum
If your forum counts aren't showing up correctly, especially after removing topics from a particular forum, then you would use this feature to "force" an update on the forum counts. This allows you to tell the script to re-count all posts and topics within a forum and should update the counted statistics for that particular forum (figure a).

Figure a

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Edit/Add Forum Rules
We've gotten a lot of questions with members asking, "How do I do the text that you have at the top of the forums?" Well here is your answer. Edit/Add forum rules is what makes it possible to add specific rules, guidelines, etc for each forum you have or each you wish to create specific rules for. First, all you have to do is pick a forum (figure a).

Figure a

Once you've selected the forum you wish to add rules to, then you'll need to decide 1) how the rules are displayed and 2) what the rules will actually be, by filling in the areas necessary for your set-up (figure b).

Figure b

Forum Rules
Show Link to Forum Rules? - This will display a link to the rules file created by ikonboard when writing up the rules for that forum. It is useful, especially, when the rules list is somewhat long and you don't want them to scroll half a page of rules before being able to get to the topics to post.

Forum Rules Title
Rules Title - Give your rules their own unique title. This can be changed later, if you change your mind in the future.

Forum Rules Text
Rules Text - This is where you actually write up the rules you wish to establish for the selected forum. You can even use some basic commands to format the rules to fit the visual appearance you wish to give it.

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Written 7/10/02 by Snow Wolf for Ikonboard
Jarvis Network