How to Add a Forum to a Space in BuddyNext

How to add a forum to a space in BuddyNext, step by step. The forum is called a discussion and comes from the free Jetonomy plugin. The space owner turns it on under the space's Settings, then Integrations, then Discussion, and members get a Discussions tab. The discussion follows the privacy of the space, and switching it off hides the tab without deleting anything.

Transcript

In this tutorial you will add a forum to a space in BuddyNext. On screen it is called a discussion, and members reach it from a Discussions tab. You need BuddyNext, the free plugin, and Jetonomy, the free forum plugin, both active. You also need a space you own. It takes about three minutes. There are five steps. Check Jetonomy is connected. Open the Integrations tab. Turn on the discussion. Choose what reaches the main feed. Then check it as a member. Step one. Check Jetonomy is connected. The forum comes from the Jetonomy plugin. In your WordPress admin, open BuddyNext, then Integration Settings, and scroll to the Jetonomy card. The card is only here while Jetonomy is active. If it carries a Newer partner badge, that only means Jetonomy is newer than the version this integration was last tested with. The integration still works. Keep Show in navigation switched on. It is on by default, and switching it off hides the Discussions tab in every space. Step two. Open the Integrations tab. On your site, open a space you own, and click Settings. Then click Integrations in the tab row. Only the space owner can change what is on this tab. A moderator sees it, but cannot switch anything. Step three. Turn on the discussion. The first row is Discussion. Turn the switch on, and a discussion is created for this space automatically. If you already run a forum for this group in Jetonomy, search for it in this box and link it. Otherwise leave the box empty. Link a forum to an open space, and its members are brought into the space once. The discussion follows the privacy of the space. This space is Private, so only its members can read the discussion. With the switch on, click Save changes in the bar at the bottom. Switching it off later hides the tab, and keeps the discussion and everything in it. Step four. Choose what reaches the main feed. The next row is Share activity to the main feed. It is on for a new space. When on, new posts and discussion topics from this space also appear in the main activity feed. When off, they stay inside this space. A discussion topic only reaches the main feed from an Open space. Step five. Check it as a member. Sign in as a member and open a space with its discussion turned on. The space has a new tab, Discussions. Click it. Each topic has a title, its author, and a count of replies and votes, so a question asked last week is still easy to find. To start a topic or reply, members click Open in Community, which opens the full forum for this space. While a discussion has no topics yet, the button reads Start a discussion. That is all five. Jetonomy checked, the Integrations tab opened, the discussion turned on, the main feed choice made, and the result checked as a member. Your space now has a forum of its own, beside its feed. Next in this series: Give a space a media gallery.