Forums and Email - VLab Showcase
Communication: Forums and Email
The example to the right is actually the Forums page of this Showcase community (embedded in an iframe portlet). However, it has not been configured to allow for creating threads via email.
What is meant by Forums and Email?
Forums are a "Message Board" type of resource where users can post messages and other users can respond with their own messages, effectively providing a conversation method combined with a searchable reference resource. Of course, Forums become much more convenient when they can be interacted with via email. (This email interaction is what is being emphasized here.) When configured properly, subscribers to Forum Topics can receive new Forum posts via email and be able to respond via email as well.
Note that If this is not set up, Forums can still send email to those users who subscribe to it, and users can still respond via email to the forum, but a user cannot use email to *start* a Forum thread.
(See the wikipedia definition of an internet forum for more context.)
What is it good for?
Forums are good for "slow burn" conversations where users may engage in the conversation sporadically through the day, on topics that are likely not overly time-sensitive. Forums allow for the inclusion of other resources, like links and images. They are more dynamic than Blogs or Wikis.
The ability to *start* a Forum thread via email will provide a "listserver-like" function which can be useful for communities that are accustomed to that sort of behavior.
How Do I Use It?
Liferay provides a Forum portlet, which can be added to any page. Since the topic of how Forums use Email is not very conducive to a clean presentation on this page, the VLab User's Guide has a Forum Email section that describes how to configure the link between email and the Forums in order to allow for the creation of Forum threads via email.