Some Notes on Forum Organization/Functionality
I just started using the forum yesterday and have been trying to get the hang of how things are structured and what features exists. I was having trouble finding a detailed/comprehensive forum guide, so I just wanted to share some of my own notes/observations from trial/error over the past 24 hours.
1) Communities
The highest level of organization for the entire 7Cups Forum is that there are approximately 50 high-level "communities". The full list can be accessed by going to "Community" [from the permanent bar at the very top of nearly any 7Cups page] > Forum > --Forum Categories-- [drop-down menu]. Clicking one of the options in the drop-down menu will take you to the "Home" page for a given community.
2) Sub-forums
Within each community, the next level of organization is "sub-forums". Unlike the community drop-down list described above, there isn't a quick/easy way to see all of the sub-forums at one time. The best way to see what sub-forums exist is to go to the "Home" page for a community and then use the right/left arrows at the bottom of the page. (See
Sorry, I noticed an error/typo in my notes on forum search functionality; correcting this in a reply since I cannot edit the original post. I say that searches freeze and do not return any results, but then I contradict myself and go on to say that they take 15-20 seconds to complete. The 15-20 seconds comment is accurate and the "all searches freeze" comment is inaccurate.
@frigidstars27 Just continuing to discover/learn: if I reply to a post but delete the "@[username]" text that is automatically generated, my new post is created at the highest level of thread hierarchy/organization (same level as the original post) despite the fact that it was created by clicking the "Reply" button.
@frigidstars27 There's a searchable list of all the public forums here: Find a forum It's a static list that doesn't reflect changes until I update it, which I am happy to do on request.
Some other forums are not public. There are forums for listeners only, forums for teens (which adult teen listeners can also access), forums for therapists, and some for other special groups.
1) Communities Sometimes they are called communities, and sometimes subcommunities (with or without a hyphen). Most of the categories are (sub)communities, but some are just categories that haven't been converted yet.
2) Sub-forums I call these forums.
6) Forum search I searched for your name (with the @-sign) and it showed me two threads that account for all seven of your posts at the time. But in the past I've found the search unreliable. External searches (e.g. Google) were possible once but no longer work.
The Subscribed Threads and My Threads filters work together with keyword search, so, for example, you can search only your own threads for a word.
7) Other notes Some people have the authority to edit and delete posts. I don't know enough about it to provide all the details.
Charlie
This is really awesome!
A few things to note:
- There are more forum categories than subcommunities. Ie. ADD/ADHD support does not have a subcommunity. When you go to a forum category if it does not belong to a subcommunity 5 subforms are visible on the first page. If it belongs to a subcommunity, more than just forum information is shown, as it's the subcommunity main page.
- The sorting options can be used on the main forum page ie. https://www.7cups.com/forum/
So it''s possible to get a list of all the threads that just having an opening post and no replies using Needs Reply or all the forum posts in reverse chronological order using New.
- Searching
All the words are searched, and putting in words such as AND, OR, NOT do not seem to have a function. So if one searches Social Anxiety, it brings up all the threads with Social, Anxiety as well as both. These appear in the order of the most recent post made in each thread.
Editting/Deleting - Global Forum Mentors (listeners) and Forum Member Leaders (members) can edit and delete, and will do so at request. There is a list here for the listeners - https://www.7cups.com/BrowseListeners/?badge=108
For a subcommunity, there is a leader list and the same roles can also be seen there just for that subcommunity. Those people can edit for that subcommunity only. Offhand, I can't remember what Forum Supporters can do, I think it is only their own posts (in a specific subcommunity if not global) but there were a few changes made over time.
Are you interested in being on the forum team @frigidstars27 ?
You don't meet the requirements to join yet, but it does seem like you're interested in the forums.
The criteria for a Forum Supporter:
* 25+ forum upvotes
* 50+ forum posts
* 10+ forum posts per month
* Taken Member oath
* 5 Short Answer Questions
@AffyAvo
Thank you--that's interesting that there are forums without communities and it's pretty cool that the main forum page has sorting too. Makes sense that AND/OR/NOT do not operate and that there would be specific forum members who are able to perform moderation functions.
I'm interested in the forums, but I'm still blindly experimenting and have no idea whether I will want to be here a week from now, so I'm reluctant to commit to a role. Maybe once I meet the forum activity criteria, if I still feel engaged and like 10+ forum posts per month is going to happen, I'll reach out. I appreciate the outreach and the information.
@frigidstars27
Hey frigidstar! Great job at describing what you have found so far. I am pretty familiar with the forums, so if you ever have a question about them, you are more than welcome to pm me. I can also edit your initial post if you learn something new and want to add to it.
