There are four settings that affect what is displayed to students within the Discussion Forum.
- Disable Auto Emoticons
- Disable Auto Converting Links
- Disable "Last Viewed by Instructional Team on..." display
- Disable relative formatting of dates (i.e., "ten minutes ago") of recent posts (5 days or less)
These settings are turned on by default and can be disabled in the Discussion Forum Admin.
Disable Auto Emoticons
Emoticons are a representation of a facial expression. They are typically used on social sites and bulletin boards. In the Discussion Forum, emoticons are created automatically when certain characters are typed into a post in a certain order. For example, when a semi colon [ : ] and a closed parenthesis [ ) ] are placed together [ :) ] they will create a smiley face like this one: .
In some circumstances, you may want to use the characters without the smiley face automatically created.
How to Disable Auto Emoticons
- Click the Admin link at the top of the main Discussion Forum page.
- In the Editor Settings section, click the checkbox for the Disable Auto Emoticons option.
- Click Save.
Character strings will no longer turn into emoticons automatically. If you'd like to re-enable this feature, uncheck the box and click Save. Any future emoticons will be created automatically from that point on.
Disable Auto Converting Links
When using most programs, you may notice that when you type a web address that it automatically turns into a hyperlink which looks like this: http://www.jhu.edu. When you move your mouse over it the cursor changes letting you know that you can click it and something will happen. By default, the Discussion Forum is set to automatically convert text that may appear as web addresses into links. If you do not want this to occur, here's how to disable that option:
How to Disable Auto Converting Links
- Click the Admin link at the top of the Discussion Forum page.
- In the Editor Settings section, click the checkbox for the Disable Auto Converting Links option.
- Click Save.
Web addresses will no longer turn into links automatically. If you'd like to re-enable this feature, uncheck the box and click Save. Any future conversion of web addresses to links will occur automatically from that point on.
Disable "Last Viewed by Instructional Team On..." Display
The phrase "Last Viewed by Instructional Team on [date time of last view]" appears at the top of every topic where someone on the instructional team (that is, primary faculty or TAs in the course) has viewed that Discussion Forum topic. This indicates to students that someone from the instructional team has at least viewed the posts in the topic, even if they have not posted a reply. If the topic hasn't been viewed yet, students will see the following message: "The course instructional team has not viewed this topic yet." An option on the Discussion Forum Admin page allows this to be turned off.
How to Disable "Last Viewed by Instructional Team On..." Display
- Click the Admin link at the top of the Discussion Forum page.
- In the Editor Settings section, click the checkbox for the Disable "Last Viewed by Instructional Team On..." display option.
- Click Save.
The message that someone from the Instructional Team has viewed the topic will no longer be displayed. If you'd like to re-enable this feature, uncheck the box and click Save and the message will reappear once a topic has been viewed.
Disable Relative Formatting of Dates of Recent Posts
By default, the Discussion Forum uses relative formatting of dates for recent posts. However, if it is important to see the exact timestamps for posts, you can disable this formatting:
How to Disable Relative Formatting of Dates of Recent Posts
- Click the Admin link at the top of the Discussion Forum page.
- In the Editor Settings section, click the checkbox for the Disable relative formatting of dates (i.e., "ten minutes ago") of recent posts (5 days or less) option.
- Click Save.