Board
A board is a specific area inside a forum where related threads live, like “General”, “Bug reports” or “Introductions”.
Board
A board is the place inside a forum where threads live. Each board groups together discussions about a particular topic, audience or workflow, such as “General”, “Feature ideas”, “Support requests” or “Week 1 Q&A”.
What is a board in Forumera?
Boards are the workhorses of the forum structure. They sit one level below categories and one level above threads:
- A forum can have many categories.
- Each category can contain several boards.
- Each board contains threads, and threads contain posts.
When members create a new thread, they always choose a board. That choice controls who can see the thread (based on board permissions) and where people will discover it when browsing.
How boards appear in the UI
You will see boards in several key places:
- On the forum home page, often grouped by category.
- In the board view, which lists threads sorted by activity or custom sorting rules.
- In the thread creation flow, where members pick the board that best matches their topic.
URL patterns usually look like:
/forums/{forumSlug}/boards/{boardId}for the board index./forums/{forumSlug}/boards/{boardId}/threads/{threadId}for a thread inside that board.
Admins can manage boards in the Forum Structure settings: they can rename boards, change descriptions, move them between categories, and adjust permissions.
When to create a new board
Good reasons to add a new board include:
- A topic consistently overwhelms an existing board and deserves its own space.
- A new audience (for example “Mentors”) needs a dedicated area that most members should not see.
- A course or cohort has its own recurring discussions (for example “Week 3 projects”).
Avoid creating boards for every minor idea. Too many boards make the forum feel empty and confuse new members about where to post. It is usually better to merge related topics into a single, well‑named board.
Best practices for board names and descriptions
- Be specific. “Support – product questions and bug reports” is more helpful than just “Support”.
- Use member language. Name boards using the words your members actually say, not internal jargon.
- Explain what belongs there. A one‑sentence description under the title is cheap but powerful guidance.
- Review periodically. Once or twice a year, prune boards that never get used and merge overlapping ones.