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Doteasy Tutorials - Doteasy Hosted Forums |
Doteasy Hosted Forums is a Doteasy-hosted forum application you can add to your website. It allows you to add an interactive message board without the hassle of database or scripting installation. It is free to use, and it works on all our web hosting plans, including our $0 Hosting Package!
Share. Engage. Connect. It's easy with Doteasy Hosted Forums.
Let's Get Started!
Activate Forum - Create Forum Account
Initial Setup
Customize Forum
Forum Header
Forum Title and Slogan
Forum Logo
Forum Page
Forum Tag Cloud
Forum Management
Understanding the Forum Structure
Forum Management - Forum Level
Create Discussion Board
Rearrange Discussion Boards
Reset Forum
Forum Management - Discussion Board Level
Edit Discussion Board
Remove Discussion Boards
Lock & Unlock Discussion Board
Forum Management - Topic Level
Add Topic to Discussion Board
Add A Web Poll to a Topic
Adding Sticky to a Topic
Moving a Topic to another Discussion Board
Removing a Topic from Discussion Board
Lock & Unlock Topic
Forum Management - Post Level
Reply to Post
Edit Post
Remove Post
User Management
New Member Sign-Up
Member Login
Assigning Moderators
Edit User Profile
Ban & Unban User
Login to your Member Zone at https://member.doteasy.com.
Under the Web Tools section, select Create Doteasy Hosted Forum (Free!).
Complete the Create A Forum Account form.
Once you have completed the forum, click on the Create Forum Account button. Your Forum Admin account will be created for you. You will be redirected to your forum URL. You can now begin setting up your forum.
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Once you have completed the Forum Account Creation step, you will be redirected to your new forum URL. You will be greeted by the Edit User Info page.
** Once you have completed the Forum Account Creation step, the link in your Member Zone will become Sign-in Doteasy Hosted Forum. You will not be able to reverse the forum account creation process. **
Check that all information listed on your profile is accurate. If the information shown is incorrect, please update the changes.
You can choose to use an avatar. Click on the Browse button to find the image file on your computer. Note that the image file must be in .jpg or .gif forum, and is limited to 2MB in file size.
You can add a signature to your profile. Your signature will be displayed at the end of all your posts on the forum and is limited to 500 characters.
You have now completed the initial setup of your forum account and you may proceed to customize your forum.
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You can customize the appearance of your forum header, this includes changing the color of the Forum Header, adding a Forum Logo, and changing the title and slogan. Let's change the background color of the forum header.
Click on the Forum Customization tab.
Click on the Forum Header on the left menu.
Click on the Forum Header area.
Select the background color for your Forum Header.
Click on the color box to change the color of your forum text. You can use the color wheel or you can enter in the HEX code.
Use the Preview Header button to preview your changes. When you are satisfied with your changes, click on Save and the changes will be applied to your forum immediately.
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Click on the Forum Customization tab.
Click on the Forum Header on the left menu.
Click on the Forum Title and Slogan area.
In the text fields, enter in your new Forum Title and Forum Slogan.
Use the Preview Header button to preview your changes. When you are satisfied with your changes, click on Save and the changes will be applied to your forum immediately.
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Click on the Forum Customization tab.
Click on the Forum Header on the left menu.
Click on the Forum Logo area.
By default, your forum header will not display a logo. If you wish to add a logo to your forum header, use the Browse button to find the image file you wish to add. Note that the image file must be in .jpg or .gif format, and must be no larger than 100KB in file size.
Use the Preview Header button to preview your changes. When you are satisfied with your changes, click on Save and the changes will be applied to your forum immediately.
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Click on the Forum Customization tab.
Click on the Forum Page on the left menu.
Click on the color boxes to change the color of your forum text and link. You can use the color wheel or you can enter in the HEX code.
Use the Preview button to preview your changes. When you are satisfied with your changes, click on Save and the changes will be applied to your forum immediately.
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When a post is submitted on your forum, the author can tag it with keywords. These keywords are then displayed collectively in your forum Tag Cloud. Forum users and visitors can use the Tag Cloud to search for posts.
Click on the Forum Customization tab.
Click on the Tag Cloud on the left menu.
Select the color for your tag cloud.
Use the Preview button to preview your changes. When you are satisfied with your changes, click on Save and the changes will be applied to your forum immediately.
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Using this structure chart and our Demo Forum at http://apps.oneclickforum.com/forum, an example of each level would be:
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** This function is limited to the FORUM ADMIN only **
A Discussion Board must be created before users can post any messages on your forum.
Click on the Forum link found on the forum header.
Click on the Create Discussion Board link.
Enter a name and description for your new discussion board.
Click Submit to add the new discussion board to your forum.
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** This function is limited to the FORUM ADMIN only **
Use this function to re-arrange the order of the discussion boards on your forum.
Click on the Forum link found on the forum header.
Click on the Re-arrange Discussion Boards link.
On the Re-arrange Discussion Boards pop-up window click on the discussion board you wish to re-arrange. Use the Up and Down buttons on the right to move the discussion board up/down the list.
Click Submit to submit the changes.
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** This function is limited to the FORUM ADMIN only **
Use this function to remove all existing discussion boards, topics and posts on your forum. Note that this action is irreversible and all content on your forum will be removed. A default General Discussion board will be created for you. Once your forum has been reset, you will can repopulate it with new discussion boards, topics and posts.
Click on the Forum link found on the forum header.
Click on the Reset Forum link.
A Reset Forum window will pop up. Click on Submit to confirm your selection.
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** This function is limited to the FORUM ADMIN only **
Use this function to edit the name and/or description of your discussion board.
Click on the Edit link on the Discussion Board you wish to edit.
Enter the new name or description needed.
Click Submit to submit the changes.
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** This function is limited to the FORUM ADMIN only **
Use this function to remove a discussion board completely. Note that once a discussion board is removed, all contents contained within that discussion board (including topics, posts, and all material posted) will be removed permanently. This action is irreversible and removed material cannot be restored.
Click on the Remove link on the Discussion Board you wish to remove.
A Remove Discussion Board window will pop up. Click on Submit to confirm your selection.
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** This function is limited to the FORUM ADMIN only **
Use this function to lock and/or unlock a discussion board. Once a discussion board is locked, no further topics or posts can be added to the board. The entire discussion board will be view-only.
Locking Discussion Board
Click on the Lock link on the Discussion Board you wish to lock.
Click on Yes to confirm the lock request.
You will need to provide a reason for locking the discussion board.
Once you have submitted the lock request, the lock status and reason will be displayed on your forum.
Unlocking Discussion Board
Click on the Unlock link on the Discussion Board you wish to unlock.
Click on Yes to confirm the unlock request.
You will need to provide a reason for unlocking the discussion board.
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** This function is available to all forum members. **
Use this function to add a topic within a discussion board.
Click on the Discussion Board to which you wish to add the topic.
Click on Add Topic.
(If you have not yet logged into your Forum Account, you will be prompted to do so.)
a) Fill out the Add Topic form. You must provide a Subject and Message.
b) You can add keywords to the Tags field. These keywords will be added to your Forum Tag Cloud.
c) If you wish to include an image file with your post, the image file is no more than 500KB in size and must be in .jpg or .gif format.
d) You can also choose to create a web poll for the topic.
Click Submit to complete the process.
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** This function is available to all forum members. **
Use this function to add a web poll to a discussion topic. Each topic is limited to one web poll. Once a web poll has been created for a topic, no further web polls can be added for that topic.
Click on the Create Web Poll on the Add Topic form
Enter your web poll question in the Question: field. Enter the web poll answer options in the Answer: field. Click on Add To List to build your answer option list.
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** This function is limited to the Forum Admin and the assigned Forum Moderator **
Use this function to move a topic closer to the top of the topic list on a discussion board.
Click on the Discussion Board on which the Topic is nested.
Click on the Sticky link on the topic you wish to add a sticky 
Once a has been added to the topic, the topic will be pushed upwards on the topic list.
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** This function is limited to the Forum Admin and the assigned Forum Moderator **
Use this function to move a topic from one discussion board to another discussion board.
Click on the Move link on the Topic you wish to move.
Select the Discussion Board to which you wish to move the topic. Click on Submit to complete the move request.
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** This function is limited to the Forum Admin and the assigned Forum Moderator **
Use this function to remove a topic from a discussion board. Note that once a topic is removed, all contents contained in that topic (including all posts, web polls and other posted material) will be removed permanently. This action is irreversible and removed content cannot be restored.
Click on the Remove link on the Topic you wish to remove.
Click on Submit to complete the remove request.
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** This function is limited to the Forum Admin and the assigned Forum Moderator **
Use this function to lock and/or unlock a topic. Once a discussion board is locked, no further posts can be added to the board. The topic will become view-only.
Click on the Lock link on the Topic you wish to lock.
Click on Yes.
You must provide a reason for locking the topic.
Similarly, use the Unlock link to unlock the topic.
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Users have two options to reply to a post on the forum. They can use the Reply to this Post link or the Post Reply button.
Reply to this Post
Click on the Reply to this Post link on the post to which you wish to reply.
Note that the Subject is already filled for you, and the original post is included in [quote] tags in the Message field. With this option, you are replying to a specific post within the topic.
Click on Submit once you have completed composing your reply.
Post Reply
Click on the Post Reply button.
Note that the Subject and the Message field are empty. With this option, you are replying to the topic in general. Fill in the fields and click Submit to post your reply to the topic.
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** This function is limited to the Forum Admin, the assigned Forum Moderator, and the author of the post to be edited. **
Use this function to edit a post, including the Subject, Message, Tags, and File Attachments.
Click on the Edit link on the post you need to edit.
Make the necessary changes. Click Submit to complete the changes.
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** This function is limited to the Forum Admin and the assigned Forum Moderator. **
Use this function to remove a post. Note that this action is irreversible. Once a post has been removed, it cannot be recovered.
Click on the Remove link on the post you need to edit.
Click Submit to complete the removal of the post.
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Before visitors can post on your forum, they must first register for a forum account.
Visitors can signup for a forum account via the Sign-Up link at your forum URL.
Visitors will be asked to provide the following information to complete their registration.
Once they have provided all required information, they will be redirected to a Sign Up Summary page.
Upon submitting their signup form, a confirmation request will be sent to their email address.
Here is an example of the confirmation email:
They will need to follow the link provided on the confirmation email to complete the forum account activation. The user will have to complete this process within 24 hours of their signup. If not, the signup request will be voided and the user will have to re-signup again.
The user can use the Resend Confirmation Email to have the confirmation email resent. Note that the confirmation email will only be sent if the forum account has not been activated yet.
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Once a user has registered and activated their forum account, they can use the Member Login link on your forum URL to login to their account.
Login Retrieval
In case your user has forgotten their login password, there is a Forget Password function available.
** This function is only available to users who have already activated their forum account. If the user has not yet completed the account activation process, they will need to use the Resent Confirmation Email link to complete the activation first.
The user must provide their login email address. This is the email address with which they registered their forum account.
Our system will retrieve the account's security question. The user must provide the correct answer to the security question.
Upon the correct answer, our system will send the user's forum account login information to the login email address.
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Forum Moderators hold permissions to control the discussion board(s) they are assigned to. Once assigned to a discussion board, the Forum Moderator can moderate all activities within the discussion board, including all posts, topics and web polls.
** Only the Forum Admin can assign Forum Moderators. **
Forum Admin, login to your Forum Admin account. You can do so via the Member Login link on your forum URL, or you can use the Sign-In Doteasy Hosted Forum link in your Member Zone
Once you're logged into your Forum Admin account, click on the Manage Account link on the top of the page.
Click on the Moderators tab.
Click on the Search for Member button to locate the forum user you wish to assign as a forum moderator.
Enter the member alias or the user email address to begin the search.
Once you have located the user, click on the Edit button.
On the Edit User Info page, select the forum(s) you wish to assign to your new forum moderator. Click on Save to save the settings.
Once you have saved the settings, your new forum moderator will be listed under the Moderators tab.
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All forum members can edit/modify their own user profile via the User Info tab in their Manage Account function.
The Forum Admin has permissions to edit the user profile of all forum users.
Forum Admin, login to your Forum Admin account. You can do so via the Member Login link on your forum URL, or you can use the Sign-In Doteasy Hosted Forum link in your Member Zone
Once you're logged into your Forum Admin account, click on the Manage Account link on the top of the page.
Click on the Members tab.
Click on the Search button to locate the forum user profile you wish to modify
Once you have located the user, click on the Edit button.
On the Edit User Info page, select the forum(s) you wish to assign to your new forum moderator. Click on Save to save the settings.
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** Only the Forum Admin has permissions to ban or unban a forum user. **
Login to your Forum Admin account. You can do so via the Member Login link on your forum URL, or you can use the Sign-In Doteasy Hosted Forum link in your Member Zone
Once you're logged into your Forum Admin account, click on the Manage Account link on the top of the page.
Click on the Members tab.
Click on the Search button to locate the forum user profile you wish to ban
Once you have located the user, click on the Edit button.
On the bottom of Edit User Info page, click on the Ban User button.
Now, the user will not be able to login to their account and will not be able to post any messages on the forum or vote on any web poll(s). They will see this error page upon login attempt:
Once the user has been banned, the Ban User button on the User Profile page will become Unban user. The Forum Admin will need to use this Unban User button to remove the ban on the user. The login error message will be removed once the user has been unbanned by the Forum Admin. User permissions will then be restored.
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