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How to Create a Discussion Thread in Maddie's Pet Forum

  • 1.  How to Create a Discussion Thread in Maddie's Pet Forum

    Posted 11-23-2022 01:32 PM
      |   view attached
    Once you've created an account and have been added to the Animal Welfare Professionals community, you can start creating your first discussion thread! Please note that you will be automatically added to the community an hour after you create an account. To get started sooner, navigate to the Animal Welfare Professionals community and click on the teal "Join Community/Group" button. 

    To create a discussion, select the teal "Create" button next to your avatar at the top right corner of your screen or go to this page: https://forum.maddiesfund.org/participate/postmessage


    You'll see you have options to create a discussion thread, a Q&A thread or a library entry. The discussion thread option will be used the most often, especially when you are creating an open-ended discussion that doesn't have just one specific answer.

    Include Discussion Thread, Q&A Thread and Library Entry

    From the first drop-down, select the name of the community or group that you would like to post to. The main community is called "Animal Welfare Professionals".

    Select Animal Welfare Professionals from the dropdown


    After selecting the Animal Welfare Professionals community, you'll notice a second drop down now appears called "Topics". You must select at least one topic that most closely relates to the content of your post. Please refrain from selecting more than 3 topics when creating a discussion.

    Choose up to 3 topics that most closely relate to your post


    Then in the discussion subject, you'll enter the subject or title of your post. We've learned that subjects that include a question or a direct call to action get more engagement from our community members so try to be as specific as possible.



    In the body of your post, you have several options in the toolbar to format your post, insert images, embed videos and more!


    How to Hyperlink Text

    If you'd like to hyperlink some piece of text, you can do so by highlighting the text and selecting this link icon. You'll get a pop-up where you can enter the URL and your text will be linked. 

    Will prompt a pop up to enter the URL you'd like the text to hyperlink to

    How to Insert Images In Your Post

    If you'd like to insert an image, use this photo icon and select "Upload Image"

    Use the insert/edit image to include an image in your post
    From the "Insert Image" dialogue box, click on the "Upload Image" icon to find the image on your device. 
    Click on the Upload Image icon to find the image you want to upload

    You can click on the document icon to find the image on your device or you can drag & drop it to the window below:

    Once your image has been selected, you can crop or rotate the image. Once it's placed properly, select the "Upload" button. 

    You can then choose how you want that image to display by adjusting the width. You can also add alt text in the Image title and Image description fields to help those who are using screen readers or if they have any issues loading the image.
    Plus image title & description options

    How to Embed Videos from YouTube or Vimeo

    You can also embed videos from YouTube or Vimeo in your post. To do so, start by opening the video on YouTube or Vimeo, we'll just YouTube as an example. From YouTube, click on the "Share" button then select "Embed".

    Select the Share button


    You'll select "Copy" to copy that embed code.


    Then head back over to Maddie's Pet Forum and click on the video icon.

    Use this to embed the YouTube video


    From this window, you'll simply paste the code you copied from YouTube and select "Embed Video". 

    By pasting the embed code from YouTube

    Your video will then be embedded in your post for easy viewing.


    When you're done composing your thread, you have a few options down here at the bottom. You can choose to "Schedule" your post by specifying a date and time to publish your discussion.

    Specify a date and time to publish your discussion


    You can also choose to Save your post as a draft by selecting "Save as Draft" if you'd like to come back to it at a later time. Posts that are saved as drafts are available on your contributions list. Use the dropdown to select "View draft items" and "edit draft" to continue composing your thread.



    Otherwise, select the "Post" button to make your thread live!



    Please note that if this is your first contribution in Maddie's Pet Forum, you'll quickly see a message at the top saying the post must be reviewed by an admin. This is just our way of ensuring no spammers disrupt the conversation. After an admin has had a chance to review and approve your post, it will be live on the community.


    Happy sharing!



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    Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
    Maddie's Fund
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