by John Jung and William Robert Stanek
No matter how big an organization becomes, it always needs to hear from its customers, whether it's through customer response forms or the total sales every month. If you're already on the Web, one useful form for getting customer feedback is a
discussion board. Discussion boards often allow users and your own employees to communicate with each other. Whether it contains a gripe session or troubleshooting help, a discussion board is useful for any organization.
In this chapter, you learn the following:
Despite its rather straightforward definition, a discussion group can take many different forms. Some groups are open ended where anybody and everybody can post to them. With another kind of group, the authorship is much more regulated, and user
accounts are explicitly given. I'll briefly cover the good and bad points for using each kind of group. Perhaps the best way to compare open-ended and restricted discussion groups is with talk radio. Some talk-radio shows air nationally, and consequently,
you hear all the other caller's opinions. With a local talk show, the topic can be more focused to a particular audience. This isn't to imply that one is necessarily better than the otherjust that they are different.
One aspect of the Internet that many people find enjoyable is Usenet. On Usenet, anybody and everybody can read and write to each other in public on almost any topic they want. This makes Usenet a great public forum where you can get, or give, help to
anybody on the Net. The only real problem with Usenet is the sheer bulk of its entirety; Usenet has well over 12,000 newsgroups. Each of these newsgroups generally has a different topic from the other groups on Usenet.
Probably one of the best aspects of Usenet is its complete openness. Because anybody can post anything they want, all opinions are heard equally. Consequently, if a point is argued or defended well, then the author will probably command respect. This
makes it possible for minority opinions to be exposed to everybody at large. In this respect, Usenet is great for allowing everyone a complete perspective on any given topic. Another benefit of an open-ended discussion group is the many different
viewpoints from the rest of the Internet. If you have a problem with something and you live far from civilization, Usenet can bring you a great deal of help. You don't necessarily need to drive many miles just to get an opinion; you can simply post your
query to Usenet. Its many inhabitants typically respond with some useful answers.
The obvious downside of an open-ended discussion forum such as Usenet is the easy abuse of it. It's far too easy for people to post topics that are unrelated to a particular newsgroup. Anybody who's read Usenet long enough knows how annoying chain
letters and advertisements can be. These messages are often posted to entirely too many newsgroups, most of which have nothing to do with the article in question. Another downside of a discussion group such as Usenet is that everybody can post. Without
someone to regulate what's posted, there is little accountability. What this means is that literally anybody can write to almost any Usenet newsgroup and disrupt the ongoing discussions.
Usenet does have some moderated newsgroups where the content is filtered. With moderated newsgroups, a small number of people are in charge of all posts that appear in a particular newsgroup. That's not to say that only a handful of people actually
write the content; rather, they are the editors. A post bound for a moderated newsgroup is routed to the moderator, who then decides whether it should be posted to the entire newsgroup. This allows a moderator to filter out all the venom and pointless
arguments. Some people dislike the concept of a moderator, claiming that the moderator is imposing his own viewpoints on a newsgroup. Although this is certainly true, a moderated newsgroup has few realistic alternatives. It is almost impossible to present
completely objective information in a newsgroup with only one moderator.
Another popular model for a discussion group is a restricted discussion forum. This model is frequently seen in BBSs (bulletin board systems) around the country. The big difference between the two models of discussion groups is how many people can
access them. Although almost anybody on the Internet can access Usenet, very few people can access BBS discussion groups. This isn't to say that BBSs are actively restrictive; it's just that each one is located in its own particular area. Consequently, the
users closest to a BBS will be able to participate in that system's discussion. The rest of the country, and indeed the world, is left out because of prohibitive long distance phone bills.
On the whole, restricted discussion groups tend to be more focused. They're usually more focused not only on content, but also on information. Because the discussion group participants have been filtered already, there are fewer voices to be heard.
This means that most mainstream opinions are heard and no extremes. If you post a query to a restricted discussion group, you may or may not get an answer. If you send that same message to a Usenet newsgroup, you'll almost always get a reply. You'll get an
answer, whether it's right or wrong. Also, depending on the criteria for restricting access to a discussion group, the content could be very helpful. The moderator of a moderated discussion group has a certain flavor, and he'll impose it over his group. If
a BBS catered to only writers, any queries about writing hints or the like garner more useful replies. On Usenet, whether people know something or not, they'll volunteer their opinions.
The downside of a restricted discussion group is a lack of information. Suppose you wanted to ask for car help on a BBS devoted to writing; chances are, you wouldn't get too much help. You might have to go to a car BBS or post the question to an
open-ended forum, such as Usenet. Another downside to a restricted discussion board is the problem of stagnation. After a while, all the "old hats" at a BBS tend to dominate the discussion boards. Because the discussion has fewer participants,
there tend to be fewer new topics. Most of the old timers have already expressed their opinions to each other, and few want to explain themselves again. Open discussion boards tend to have a constantly changing mix of new participants.
With all this talk about discussion boards, you're probably trying to figure out which one is right for you. As with anything else, it all depends on what you want to do with it. If you're the Webmaster in charge of setting up a corporate Web site, you
might want an open-ended discussion board. This allows users of your product to freely and openly talk to your employees, as well as other users. They can exchange useful information for technical support, upcoming releases, and the like. Although anybody
can post anything they want, you can easily moderate the newsgroup.
You can opt for a private discussion board if you're only the Webmaster for a particular group within your company. This allows only the customers that your group serves to participate. Although there is more work involved with creating user accounts
for everybody, the discussion remains more focused. Your customer can ask questions of your group, and replies are focused to that particular person. Any technical support is very personalized and appropriate to the customer. Another benefit of a
closed-off discussion board is the capability to disseminate proprietary information.
One of the more difficult tasks for a traditional Webmaster is creating a discussion board because of the amount of time required for setting it up and writing the CGI scripts. After you finish these tasks, you can easily export and modify the board
for anybody else who needs it. It is the initial creation that is difficult. Fortunately, FrontPage takes a great deal of the difficulty out of creating discussion boards.
Probably the easiest way to create a discussion board is to create a new web for it. From the FrontPage Explorer, simply choose File | New FrontPage Web and select the Discussion Web Wizard option. Next, specify how you want to create the web then
enter a name for the web. You can add a discussion area to the current open web by selecting the Add to the Current Web checkbox. After you log in as the Webmaster for this web, you're presented with an introductory screen (see Figure 39.1). The Discussion
Web Wizard asks you a series of questions. Based on your answers, the wizard creates a new discussion board that is tailored to your choices.
Figure 39.1. FrontPage makes creating a discussion board a simple matter of going through a wizard.
The FrontPage Discussion Web Wizard offers a great deal of power for what it does. It features a number of options that you can easily disable or enable at creation time. For example, the first choice you see when you start the wizard is what primary
options to enable (see Figure 39.2). You can let every user see a list of the current discussion by enabling the Table of Contents option. Similarly, you can allow people to search the text of messages by turning on the Search Form option.
Figure 39.2. You can enable or disable a wealth of features from this dialog box.
One of the most useful features of any newsreader is the capability to display threads. A thread is a series of messages that are each related to each other. When you follow a thread from the beginning, you can see where the topic started and where it
began to diverge. Particularly large discussions have many subthreads running through them. When people first load your discussion board, you can allow them to see the existing threads by checking the Threaded Replies option. The Confirmation Page is a
simple Web page that tells the author that his message has been posted.
After you've specified what main features you want enabled, you can type in the name of the board itself. FrontPage automatically converts your input into the name of a folder. The folder that is created holds all the data files related to this
discussion board. The name of the folder is displayed under the title you specify for the discussion forum (see Figure 39.3).
Figure 39.3. Be sure to make a note of the name of the folder that FrontPage creates.
Submitting messages to the discussion web is handled with forms. After you give the web a title, you need to select the default input fields for this form. As you can see from Figure 39.4, there are three different configurations for the input form. To
understand what fields you might need, you need to understand what these fields are generally used for.
Figure 39.4. Select appropriate fields for your discussion forum.
The four default fields are Subject, Comments, Category, and Product. The subject field is the most important field. All threads are organized and responded to by subject. The Comments field is a text box that you use to enter comments on the topic of
discussion. The Category and Product fields provide pull-down lists that can be used to sort discussion topics by category name or product type.
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If you want to use the Category and Product fields, you should edit the discussion submission form in the FrontPage Editor immediately and enter meaningful items in the pull-down list.
You next have to determine what fields each writer has to specify for the message. After this, you see Figure 39.5, which asks the very simple question of whether you want a public or private discussion board. The default is to create an open
discussion forum so that anybody can post to it. You can change this by clicking the Yes option. If you restrict access to your discussion board, FrontPage prompts you. It reminds you that the web in which the discussion board resides must be restricted.
If you've made the discussion board a separate web, this won't be a problem.
Figure 39.5. You can specify whether the discussion board should be private.
The next two questions the wizard presents to you relate to the Table of Contents (see Figure 39.6 and Figure 39.7). You can specify how the messages are listed, as well as whether the discussion board is the home page for the web. The second option
allows you to easily create a discussion board in an existing web. If you do not want to overwrite the existing home page, select No. Otherwise, the Discussion Web Wizard overwrites your existing home page.
Figure 39.6. Select the method of sorting for the discussion list.
Figure 39.7. If you want your message board to be a private area of the current Web, select No.
FrontPage also enables you to easily control the look and feel of the discussion board with the next three questions the wizard asks you. If you've enabled message searching on this discussion board, the wizard asks you how search
results should be displayed (see Figure 39.8).
Figure 39.8. When people search your discussion board, you can control how the results are shown.
The next question is probably the most important look-and-feel issue you have to deal with (see Figure 39.9). You're given the ability to specify the general display of all the Web pages in the discussion board. You can control the background color or
image for the pages and various link colors. Although this might not sound impressive, it makes all your messages appear consistently. For sites that are run by an organization, it's imperative for the Web pages to have a consistent look; this option from
FrontPage achieves this consistency.
Figure 39.9. You can control how all the Web pages in the discussion board will look.
After you indicate your color preference for the discussion board, you see Figure 39.10. This dialog box enables you to control how each message in the discussion board is displayednot the general color and look and feel, but the general layout.
You can have FrontPage use general Web pages so that all browsers can view your board. If you want to target users who have Netscape-enhanced browsers, you can specify frames-specific layouts. If you choose to use frames, you can indicate the size and
shape of each frame (see Chapter 14, "Using Frames and the Frame Wizard").
Figure 39.10. You can choose to use frames or generic Web pages for the layout of each message.
On the last wizard page shown in Figure 39.11, the Discussion Web Wizard shows the titles of the main pages of your web. These main pages should match the configuration settings you've chosen in the Web creation process. To create the web, click the
Finish button.
Figure 39.11. Note the main pages for your Web and then click the Finish button.
After you've answered all the Discussion Web Wizard's questions, your discussion board is created. People can access your discussion forum and post whatever they want. Typically, you'll want to post some sort of welcome message before everybody else
posts. This acts as a springboard to spur other people to write in your discussion board.
Your new discussion board is updated every time somebody, anybody, posts to it. When someone accesses your Web page, she sees a display similar to Figure 39.12. Any messages are displayed under the first horizontal rule. You can post a new message to
the discussion board by clicking the Post button. You see a new window where you simply enter the information in the form fields (see Figure 39.13). After you're done, you click the Post Message button at the bottom of the Web page. If you're currently
viewing a message, you can also reply to it. This opens a window similar to Figure 39.13. The main difference is that the Subject field has already been filled in for you. You can simply type your message as if you were posting a new message.
Figure 39.12. This newly created discussion board is waiting for someone to contribute something.
Figure 39.13. When you post a new message, you have to enter the subject, your name, and the message.
NOTE
If the discussion board you're creating is password-protected, users won't have to fill in their usernames. These fields are filled in automatically by FrontPage for each poster.
When you first create the discussion board, you can enable FrontPage's threading ability. If used, threads allow users to more easily follow flows of discussions as they evolve. Each reply message is placed at the end of the thread in relation to the
original message. As more and more people reply to the different articles in the thread, subthreads develop. FrontPage displays all threads by indenting each article in a particular subthread (see Figure 39.14). Those articles in the same thread are points
in which the thread separated into another tangent. It's very likely that subthreads will develop subthreads of their own. When you reply to any message, it adds to the thread or subthread.
Figure 39.14. Threads can easily show how a discussion on a certain topic has evolved.
FrontPage keeps track of all the files for a discussion group in one central location. During the creation process for a discussion board, you're asked to name the board. When you enter a name, the name is modified and used as the folder name (refer to
Figure 39.3). All the data files associated with a discussion board are stored in that folder. Generally speaking, the files are stored in \FrontPage Webs\Content\webname\discussion board name. If you create a web called Sales with a discussion group called Customer Support, the directory is \FrontPage Webs\Content\Sales\_cussup\. Table
39.1 has a list of all the critical files that each discussion board depends on and where they're located.
File Location (Relative to \FrontPage Webs\Content\Web Name) | Purpose |
\Group Name | The name you gave the discussion board under the Web name web. |
\cusscfrm.htm | After a user posts an article, this Web page indicates that the post was received. This file is not created if you disable the option during the creation of the discussion board. |
\cusspost.htm | This is the Web page that users use when they want to post an article to your discussion group. |
\cusssrch.htm | This is the Web page that users use when they want to search the discussion board. This file is only created if you want to let people search your discussion board. |
\index.htm | The table of contents for the discussion board. |
\_private\cussahdr.htm | This file holds the header that appears at the top of posted articles. This file has links to Next, Previous, Reply, and Up. |
\_private\cussaftr.htm | This file holds the footer that appears at the bottom of posted articles. By default, this page is blank. |
\_private\cusshead.htm | The generic header for all messages. By default, it contains everything up to, and including, the first horizontal rule. |
\_private\cussfoot.htm | The generic footer for all messages. By default, it contains everything after, and including, the last horizontal rule. |
\_private\cussstyl.htm | The sample Web page that has the color configuration for all messages. |
\Group Name\########.htm | The actual body for the message of the corresponding article number. |
\Group Name\_vti_cnf\########.htm | This file holds various information about the corresponding article, including relational links, creation date, and related information. |
\Group Name\_vti_shm\########.htm | The file contains the page that's presented when somebody wants to reply to an article. |
Another daunting task in managing a discussion group is maintaining it. You have to be able to check the content of the messages and change them if necessary. You might also want to purge old articles because of disk space considerations or simply
because they're old. Whatever the case might be, you'll sometimes need to perform some form of maintenance on the board. Although FrontPage doesn't give you direct capabilities to manage your discussion board, it does simplify the task.
Traditionally, most Web-based message board systems had a small set of functions accessible to the moderator. He could easily delete messages or entire threads from a discussion board. Occasionally, he had the power to directly modify the content of
each message. This typically wasn't necessary because the moderator often had direct access to the Web pages that made up the articles. In fact, in many cases, the role of a moderator was held by the Web administrator.
One of your jobs as moderator of the discussion board is removing messages. Sometimes, somebody will post something offensive or inappropriate that must be removed. Other times, you might want to remove a message because it's too old to be relevant.
Regardless of the need, FrontPage provides an easy mechanism for removing any unwanted message.
Simply get a Folder View of the entire discussion board and then change to the private directory containing the discussion messages. This directory is named after the title of the web. For example, if the title of the web is Customer Support, the
directory name is _cussup. All messages posted by users are named ########.htm with the # characters representing digits (see Figure 39.15). To find the article you
don't want, you can expand the Title section so you read the full subject of each message. Highlight the message you want to delete, click the right mouse button, and select the Delete option. The message is removed and all links are updated accordingly.
That means that if the article was in the middle of a thread, the Next and Previous links are fixed.
Figure 39.15. Deleting unwanted threads is easy.
CAUTION
After a message is deleted, there is no method for retrieving it. If you need to keep a backup of the message, such as for archiving purposes, save the message first.
Another job of a moderator is modifying an existing message. For whatever reasonthe author used too many profanities, wrote a rambling message, or whateveryou'll have to change it. This task is also intuitive using FrontPage's Explorer.
Because each article in the discussion board is a Web page, simply get a Folder View of the discussion forum. Next, select the article number that you want to change and highlight it. Click the right mouse button and select the Open option, which loads the
article into the FrontPage Editor. Alternately, you can simply double-click the article. Now edit and save the article as you would any other Web page.
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If you modify an article, be sure to let people know that you've changed it. It's generally considered good form to do this so that the author doesn't get blindsided. He might have written one thing, but someone could argue with him over an edit that you made. Be sure to include some text in the edited text that indicates that you modified the original and why.
Discussion boards can be very useful tools for any organization, large or small. It allows both employees and users to talk about whatever interests them. Because you'll be creating the discussion board, you can control the direction of the discussion.
FrontPage provides a very easy-to-use wizard mechanism for creating many types of discussion forums. You can control everything from the general look and feel to what features to enable.
In addition to providing various aesthetic controls, FrontPage also gives you tools to work with your discussion group. You can decide whether the discussion board is open to everybody or restricted in its access. FrontPage also gives you full
editorial control over the content of the discussion board. You can delete existing articles or simply edit them. You accomplish all of this without any special interface from FrontPage. FrontPage is flexible enough to handle all your modifications and
adjust all affected files.