Lists
WiscList : Discussion Forum Interface
- Eligibility and Application
- List Security
- ListManager Interface
- Discussion Forum Interface
- Email Commands
- Advanced
The Discussion Forum Interface allows users to view mailing lists via the web. This provides a forum-like feel, and can aid in the frequency of posts in discussions. There are several features available to users within the discussion forum interface. It is recommended to give your mailing list subscribers a link to this page, so they may become more familiar with the interface.
Logging In
Overview
Messages tab
Search tab
Conference tab
My Account tab
About tab
Logging In
To log into the Discussion Forum Interface, point your browser to https://lists.wisc.edu/read/?forum=listname, where listname is your list's name. You can also visit the WiscList login page and simply type in your listname there. You will be prompted for an email address. Type in the email address that you use to receive list messages, then click "ok". If you have a password assigned, you will then be prompted for a password. If you do not know what your password is, contact your list administrator.
To log out, click on the My Account tab and click on the "log out" button, or click on "Log Out" in the upper-right corner of the interface.
Overview
The Discussion Forum Interface is a graphical web-based interface that makes it easy for you to read and post messages to your mailing list. If you have ever posted on an Internet forum, you are already familiar with most of this interface.
In the upper-right portion of the interface is your login status. This displays the login email address you are using. You may have some mailing lists going to different email addresses. In order to see the mailing list you want, you must verify that you are logged in with the email address that is receiving the list's messages.
The Discussion Forum Interface is organized by five, visualized by tabs at the top of the screen. Each section will be fully explained below.
Messages tab
The Messages table displays an archive of past messages that have been sent to the group via the discussion interface and via email. It is organized by subject heading. Clicking on a subject will display the original message and any replies. The number of headers shown depends on how long your list administrator has set the list to archive. If you do not see any messages, check with your list administrator. He or she may need to enable message archiving.
Table Attributes
For each message in the Messages table, the following attributes are
given:
Date
Date and time the message was posted to the list.Subject
Subject heading of the message. Clicking on a subject will show you the original message and the bodies of all the replies.Replies
Number of direct responses to the message. Clicking on the number of replies will show a list of subject headings of each reply. Clicking on each subject heading will open up the individual messages.Author
The name of the author will be displayed. Clicking on his or her name will give you basic stats, including their email address.
You can sort the table by any column in increasing or decreasing order by clicking on a column heading.
Creating a new message
To post a message to the list, click on the "Create New Message"
button in the upper-right hand corner of the Messages table. You will need to
provide a subject heading, message body, and an optional file attachment. You
cannot use HTML code in the message body, only plain text messages are allowed.
Out of courtesy to others, it is recommended you attach small files only.
You may also post messages (even in HTML) to the list by sending an email to listname@lists.wisc.edu, where list name is the name of the mailing list. You can find your list's name by checking the upper-right region of the Discussion Forum Interface and looking at "Current forum:".
Search tab
To search for a specific message archived in the list, click on the Search tab. You can simply type in some keywords in the Search For: box and click "Search" to find the message. However, if you are still having trouble finding the message you need, try clicking on the "advanced search" link below the text box. There are several options to choose that will narrow down possible matches:
Search For:
Keywords that you are searching for in the messages. Your search criteria.Search for words in:
Choose where you want to search for these keywords. If you are looking for a specific person, type their email address in Search For: and choose "header".Show messages with any or all of these words:
If you only want matches that contain every single word in your search criteria, select "all". Otherwise, "any" will return possible matches when only one keyword is found in a message.Exclude
If you would like to exclude any matches based off of keywords, enter them here.Exclude messages in
Similar to "Search for words in:", choose where the excluded keywords should be searched for.
After clicking "search", you will be given a list of matching messages. Each message's timestamp, subject line, and author will be shown. Clicking on a subject line will open the message's body, while clicking on an Author will display some statistics about that person.
Conference tab
A special feature of the Discussion Forum Interface is the conference, or chat room. Clicking on the Conference table will enter you into the list's conference room. You can type a message in the text box at the bottom of the interface and click send (or hit Enter) to send a message to the conference. It will appear immediately on your screen and on others' screens who are in the conference. If you'd like to send a private message, select the recipient in the drop-down menu next to the "send" button.
To refresh the display (it should be done automatically for you), click on the "refresh" button. The "history" buttons gives a history of the conference. The length of the history is determined by the list administrator.
There are various options you can set for the conference by clicking on the "options" button:
Text color
Choose the text color to be displayed in the chat window when you send a message.Refresh rate
Set how often the chat window should refresh. A smaller number will make the conference seem more chat-like, as responses will appear quicker.Messages to display
Choose how many messages are displayed on the screen before moving into the history portion of the conference.All mutli-lines
If you want to be able to send and receive messages that have multiple lines (such as paragraphs), select "yes".
My Account tab
The My Account section allows you to change some of your settings for the list. The settings are:
- Essentials tab - required information about you
- Your email address - enter an email address that you
would like to have list mail sent to. This email address is also your
username.
- Your name - enter a name for yourself. This can be
a full name or a nickname and will be displayed in various parts of the
discussion forum interface such as posts and conferences.
- Language - select your desired language for the interface.
Currently, WiscList offers only English.
- Your email address - enter an email address that you
would like to have list mail sent to. This email address is also your
username.
- Advanced tab - advanced settings for the list
- Your password - type in a password you would like to
use when logging into this list.
- Apply changes - if you would like the above password,
name, and email address to be used on all your lists on WiscList, choose
"My Account changes apply to my other subscriptions on this server".
Otherwise, choose "My Account changes apply only to this forum"
to change the settings for the currently selected list only.
- Your password - type in a password you would like to
use when logging into this list.
Logging Out
To log out of the Discussion Forum Interface, click on the "logout"
button.
About tab
The about tab gives general information and statistics for the list, including any information given by the list owner. This is generally meant for visitors to look at when they are deciding to join the list.