Announcing CMNTY Platform 6 – Preview 3: New Forum Module
In September we will release CMNTY Platform 6. To give you an idea of what is coming, we will be publishing bi-monthly blog articles that highlight one or more features until the official release date. This is part 3 of the series.
Looking Back
In our first post we explained how CMNTY Platform 6 is the result of many client interviews and our goal to improve the platform in 3 key areas: Engagement, Insights and Ease of use/Aesthetics. We introduced CMNTY Pulse as a new way for community managers to moderate their community and understand what is going on. In our second post we took a closer look at one of our more popular modules; the Challenge module. This week we are revealing what’s going to be new in the Forum module.
New Forum Module
The Forum is the most widely used module of our platform amongst all our customers. For Platform 6, the Forum module was built from the ground up to meet today’s internet standards and ensure a fast and smooth user experience. Combined with the platform’s new top-menu (more on that in our next post), the new Forum makes optimal use of screen real-estate. Here’s an example:
Threaded Commenting
One of the most anticipated features in the forum is threading. This allows members to quickly reply to each other and have discussions within discussions. The advantage of threading allows you to group similar discussions together, making it easier to read and analyze. Threads are supported up to 3 layers deep. Here’s an example of how that can look:
Bookmarking
In our first blog post on Platform 6, we introduced CMNTY Pulse as a new way to moderate your community. The Forum has a bookmark button on every post in the front-end. Pressing the button will send the post to CMNTY Pulse for further review.
Masked Discussions
You can make any discussion masked. By masking, members can only read comments from other members after they added a comment to the initial discussion themselves. This can really help you get people’s opinions without them being influenced by others.
Post Scheduling and Drafts
Not completely satisfied yet with the content of your new topic? Just mark it as draft and continue later on. Should the topic be published on a particular date? Pick a publish date and see your topic go live at a later moment automatically.
Other Improvements
There are more features, big and small, that come with the new Forum:
- Featured image for message boards;
- Pinned and closed discussions;
- Rich-text editor with previewing and code editing;
- Liking;
- @-Mentioning
- Flagging of problematic comments.
Release Date
We are excited about the new Forum, and heard the same customers that had early access. With CMNTY Platform 6, the new Forum will become universally available.
Platform 6 will be released in September 2019. And, once we release the initial version, we will continue to release new features through regular smaller updates like you are used to from us.