Forge Forums / Discussions Matters

[Cosmin]

I don't know if is noticed but, we admins or members, can't edit the posts form the forge!

My team is using the forum and a members wants to correct the spell from the post but he can't.

I have admin permission but I can't edit the post either, only delete it!

I'm doing something wrong, or the edit feature is not present?

Thank you,
Cosmin

[Boomzilla]

You are correct. You can't change a post --  only delete and re-enter it (if necessary).

Col

[Cosmin]

So can't be added a edit button?

In the case you have to delete a post in order to correct it, from a thread with a lot of replies, wouldn't that be wrong? I'm thinking that maybe all other posts will have to suffer, don't it?

[mcjamison]

So can't be added a edit button?

In the case you have to delete a post in order to correct it, from a thread with a lot of replies, wouldn't that be wrong? I'm thinking that maybe all other posts will have to suffer, don't it?

We spent a lot of  time debating whether to enable editing of posts, and decided against it from a usability point of view.  We decided it was best for messages to remain immutable once created.  One reason is that discussion forums can also be enabled as mailing lists.  If you look at the forum as an email list archive, it makes sense that it should remain a fair and correct record of what was actually sent out.  I've definitely wished for the "edit an email after it is sent" button, but nobody has implemented this yet.  I had hopes for the new Thunderbird...

Definitely, people do use the messaging editing capabilities of discussion forum apps, like this one, and to good effect.  In my experience, this is sometimes great (fixing one's lame typos), and sometimes very confusing (when followups were based on old content).  One use I sometimes see -- editing helpful "sticky" messages of static information -- is handy for a user community that doesn't have anything else besides the forum app to share their information.  On a SourceForge instance, though, this need could probably be better met by using one of the other applications, such as the document manager.

If you do delete a post, we do try to do The Right Thing in terms of threading - its children are reparented to the post's parent.  If people have already quoted the offending text in subsequent replies, well  then it's time for the chainsaw...

Cheers,
  -- Jamie

[Cosmin]

OK! I got it now.

I will explain it to the team....

Thank you,
Cosmin 

[gsbe]

...One reason is that discussion forums can also be enabled as mailing lists.  If you look at the forum as an email list archive, it makes sense that it should remain a fair and correct record of what was actually sent out....

Can you explain how the mailing list / email list archive works? I understand what it is supposed to do but I'm not quite sure how it works. Questions to answer might include:

• How does one subscribe the project members to the list?
• Does the list send and receive all traffic?
• Is this a bi-directional communication tool (posting and reading from both a browser and email client)?

[gsbe]

I'll answer my own unresearched questions...lol

Questions to answer might include:

• How does one subscribe the project members to the list?

Login as the project admin. Gather the usernames of all your project members together because you will need to manually search/enter them. Then browse to the correct discussion forum:

  1. Click Discussions in the project navigation bar. The Forum Summary page is displayed.
  2. Select the forum or forums that you want to begin monitoring by checking the boxes.
  3. Mouseover the Monitor down arrow, then choose Users Monitoring Selected.
  4. Click the Add button in the bottom-right corner of the popup window titled "Users Monitoring This Folder"
  5. Type each username into the Name field on the "Find a User" page and click Find
  6. Select the correct user in the "Found Users:" column and click "Add" to move them to the "Users to Add:" column
  7. Click OK when all the project members have been added

• Does the mailing list send and receive all traffic?

Yes.

• Is this a bi-directional communication tool (posting and reading from both a browser and email client)?

I'm slow. This is the same question...again...deja.....whatever.

[Jonah]

• Does the mailing list send and receive all traffic?

Yes.

actually it doesn't.  you are not emailed your own posts.  in a regular mailing list you normally are.