One of the many benefits of being a Nexopia Plus user is the ability to create and run your own forum. You don’t need to purchase any specific amount of Plus to create a forum, nor do you need to “top up” your Plus when you have run out in order to keep the forum from being deleted. You may own more than one forum at a time but as a Plus user you may not create more than one.
To create your own User Forum, first click the Forums link in the top menu (found beside the Articles link).
Now look to the upper right hand side of the page. You should see two links, a Create Forum link and a Show Only Subscriptions link. Click the Create Forum link.
If you do not already own a user forum, you should be brought to the Add a Forum page. Here you can enter a name, description and category for your forum. You have several other options as well, such as determining when threads will be auto-locked, and whether or not the forum will be public. These options are explained below.
Once you have finished giving all of the information the page asks for, you can click “Create Forum.” Your forum will be created instantly, and will be found under the category you selected.
The following is an example of the Edit Forum page and a list of these tools with a detailed description of each.
Edit Forum
This link only shows up for the owner of the forum.
You can edit the name, description, category, forum rules and other things from this page.
Name
Public name of the forum.
Description
This is a public description of the topic of a forum. This helps users know what is being discussed.
Category
Whichever category the owner selects here is the default category.
The forum will show up under this category for all users who have not privately categorized it.
Owner
Your username will show up here. If you wish to make another user the forum owner, type their username here, and click Update.
If you give someone else your forum the only way to get it back is the have them make you the owner
Auto-lock time
The forum owner can choose to have inactive threads auto-locked.
For example, if you type “1” into the box, threads will be automatically locked after 1 day without new posts.
Post Editing
This is where the forum owner can allow users in his/her forum to edit their own posts.
Selecting “Yes” will allow them to edit them at all times, and “No” will disallow them from doing so at all.
The other options, “5 Minutes,” “15 Minutes,” and “1 Hour” allow users to edit their own posts for a limited amount of time after making them.
Public
Selecting “Yes” will make the forum public, or viewable, to all users.
Selecting “No” will keep the forum private, so that only users who have received an invite to it may view it.
Mute
Forum owners have the option to make their forum mute (mod-only) or not.
If you make your forum mute, only moderators of that forum will be allowed to post. These moderators can have any power (from as little as the power to post in unlocked threads to all powers on the list).
Keep in mind that you can make a public forum a mute forum. It will be viewable by everyone, but read-only for anyone who isn’t a moderator. Likewise, you can make a private forum a mute forum, where all who are invited may view it, but only those with moderator powers can post.
Rules
This is where the forum owner enters his or her own personal rules for the forum.
Administration will not interfere with these rules, unless they contradict our site or general user forum[link to static page 12] rules.
You may use any code you can use in forums or on your profile.
Once you have created rules for your forum, you will find them in the Forum Rules link, just above the forum.
Clicking the “Update Forum” button will put into effect any changes you have made.
Clicking “Delete” will delete the forum and all threads/posts associated with it.
Once you have created your forum, you should familiarize yourself with the different tools available to help you manage it. Your main forum page is now altered to provide you with different tools to help you run your forum.
Each thread has specific Actions that may be taken with the proper permissions. The owner of a forum has all permissions and may perform any action on threads.
As a User Forum owner, you will possess all moderator abilities available.
After some time you may wish to assign moderator abilities to other users. This will enable your friends to help you moderate your forum.
Our advice for assigning mods is to give them the bare minimum of what abilities they need to do the jobs that you want them to do. If you want somebody to lock threads then you can give them that ability.
It isn't advised to give somebody that you don't trust a lot of power in your forum because they might delete a lot of threads or ban people who should not be banned.
Nexopia isn't responsible for bad decisions made by moderators in user forums and all bans are purely at mod discretion.
The following is a list of the different abilities available to mods. By default the owner of a forum has all abilities.
Post in Unlocked Threads
The ability to post in unlocked threads will not change anything, unless your forum is a mute forum. Unchecking this box for moderators in a non-mute forum will not do anything either.
Essentially, you cannot create a mod and take away abilities that a normal (non-mod) user would have for that particular forum.
Post in Locked Threads
Self explanatory, this mod will be able to post in threads that have been locked.
Edit Own Posts
The mod will be able to edit his/her own posts
Delete Posts
The ability to delete any/multiple posts.
Delete Threads
The ability to delete entire threads. Deleted threads are not able to be brought back.
Lock Threads
The mod can lock any threads in the forum. Locked threads can not be posted in by users who do not have permission. Locked threads may also be unlocked. Locked threads are differentiated by this icon
Sticky Threads
Threads may be Stickied by a mod.
When a thread has been stickied it is 'stuck' to the top of the forum.
Stickies stay up, but disappear after a while if they do not get posted in. For example, selecting show threads from last 2 weeks shows stickies that have been posted in within the last two weeks.
Stickied threads are differentiated by this icon
Announce Threads
When threads are Announced they stay at the very top of the forum and never fall off the page.
Announced threads are shown by "Announcement:" in front of the thread name.
Flag Threads
Flagged threads receive a special flag beside them. This helps moderators keep track of threads that might need attention in the future.
Mute Users
Muting a user is called banning someone.
When a user is muted/banned they are unable to post in your forum.
When muting a user the mod will be able to specify the length of the ban and the reason which is sent to the user being banned in a message.
Invite Users
This allows the mod to invite users to your forum.
Invited users are automatically subscribed to the forum and they receive a message notifying them of their invite.
View Mod Log
Access to the Mod Log for the forum. The Mod Log is explained below.
Edit Mods
Mods with this ability may add new mods.
Be careful when giving another user this ability!
See below for instructions on how to add/edit moderators for your forum.
The Edit Mods link will show up for forum owners and any forum moderators who have been given this power. It allows you to add, edit or delete moderators for the forum.
Click on “Edit Mods.” To add a moderator, click the link, “Create new moderator” at the bottom.
This will take you to a page where you type in the username of the person you want to add, and choose the powers you wish to give them. Click “Update” when you are finished.
Here is an explanation of each option
To remove a moderator’s status navigate to the Edit Mods page. Scroll down the page until you find the moderator’s username, and click the beside it. This will remove all moderator powers from that user.
To edit a moderator’s powers navigate to the Edit Mods page. Scroll down the page until you find the moderator’s username, and click the icon. This will take you to the page you saw when you originally added that moderator. You can check and uncheck boxes for mod powers to your liking, and click “Update” when you are finished.
The mod log is a record of all moderating activity done in the forum. Invites, mutes, edits to moderator powers, and thread locks are examples of activity that would appear in the Mod Log. All entries are shown in reverse chronological order, with the moderator’s username, action, time, thread id (if applicable) and extra information shown.
A moderator with this power can send an official invite message to other users.
If you have been invited to a forum, that forum is shown as one of your subscribed forums. If it is a private forum, you may view it. Invites to public forums serve no purpose other than to subscribe you to it and bring it to your attention.
Receiving an invite to a mute forum does not mean that you will be able to post. Without moderator status, you will be able to view the forum but not post in it.
A moderator with the mute power can “ban” non-moderator users from the forum. Clicking on the Mute Users link will take you the following page:
You may also unban a user from this page by clicking the beside their name.
Click “Mute User” to add a user to the ban list. Type in the username, select a ban length and category, and type in a personalized reason. When you have finished this, click “Mute” and the user will be muted instantly from posting in the forum.
As a user forum mod you are able to mute a user directly from the thread where an infraction occurs. This will skip you directly to the mute user page.
An advantage of muting directly from a thread is that the user being muted is provided with a link back to the thread where they broke the rules. This helps settle disputes by providing some proof of their infraction.
This link is placed among the usual Create New Thread and Mark All As Read links, at the top right hand side of the page.
This link will show up for the forum owner and all who are subscribed to the forum.
Thinking back to earlier in this guide, you should remember that you can determine the default category in which the forum will be found in for the average user. This link will allow you to set a personal (private, only seen by you) category for your forum.
Click on the link. It will bring you to a page that will allow you to subscribe and personalize the category.
You can either select a category from the list, or type your own into the text box. Click “Subscribe to Forum” to finalize your actions.
Your forum will now be shown to YOU under whichever category you selected/created. To the average user, your forum will still appear under the default category you set earlier.
This guide is available at all times to all users. If you ever need to check up on something please refer here. It might be a good idea to bookmark this page for further reference.
The Universal Rules page lists a general guideline of what is acceptable content on Nexopia. These rules are in no way all inclusive. At the end of the day everything is subject to Administrator discretion.
This link brings you to a list of Nexopia-set site rules. They cover nudity, discrimination, and violence, among other things. If a user forum owner has created a set of rules specifically for his/her user forum, those rules will show up after these Nexopia site rules.
If you need help understanding how the new forum system works, click this link. It will take you to a guide, complete with images and detailed explanations.
Thanks for reading our User Forum Guide. If you have any corrections or suggestions to make please contact an Administrator.
beside them. This helps moderators keep track of threads that might need attention in the future.
beside it. This will remove all moderator powers from that user.
icon. This will take you to the page you saw when you originally added that moderator. You can check and uncheck boxes for mod powers to your liking, and click “Update” when you are finished.
