SMEnetwork Forums

	Forums

This section is like a general Forum, which is meant to start discussions on a topic and within a broad topic a sub topic. The topic could be anything from Banks to New Technology and the idea is to get people to express their views on a topic and build participation. It would also help members clarify their doubts on a problem and also solve others' problems.

As we have members from diversified fields it is important to channelize their thoughts together and that is what this Forum section aims at. For e.g. Suppose VAT is the hot topic and members need to discuss on that. Now we have people from many backgrounds- someone is a manufacturer and that too in any area, some are service providers etc and all want to know the effects and share. Then all it needs is that the administrator of the portal should be mailed on the relevance of the topic and he can start the discussion.

   How to Start with Forums?
    1. Again if a person is a member he will have to sign in to his        Member Area. After signing in Click on Forums on top.
    2. Now on your screen would come various Forums.
    3. Each Forum is written in blue and what that Forum deals with is         in red. Just next to the topic is a bracket in black which would         have a number i.e. 0 or 1 or may be even 10. The number         denotes the sub topic in that Forum. Forums are broad and         topics are more specific. For e.g. Banks could be a forum and         topics could be UTI, Role of Technology in Banks, Priority         Sector Lending, Rural Banking and so on. So in Black we would         have number of topics related to the forum. Now click on any of         the Forums in Blue.
    4. Now a member would be taken to the various topics on that         particular Forum.A Table would appear like this (This is an         example)

   Banking and Finance
    All Problems Related to Banking
    Created on: (A date with time of its creation)

Forums	Posts	Last Posted On	Originator
Bank Problems	4	20/02/2002	Admin

  Explanation:
   1. "Banking and Finance" is the forum and "All Problems Related to Banking" is what this Forum is all about.        Created on is the Date and Time when this forum was created.
   2. Now come the Topics which are shown below the Forum Column. This means Banking and Finance is a        Forum Whose first topic for discussion is on Bank Problems.
   3. It shows that there are 4 posts meaning 4 me4mbers have already posted their views on the subject. Last        Posted on means the date and time when the last person posted his views. Originator means the person who        created the Forum. The Administrator of SMEnetwork would create all forums as of now.
   4. Now Click on Bank Problems and you would be taken to the postings on the Forum.
   5. The first Posting would be by the Admin (Administrator) who would take the initiative to lead the panel into the        discussion by suggesting what this topic should discuss and what are the key issues involved. Others would        then follow this.
   6. Now a person can do two things:
       i) He can Reply to the topic initiated by the Admin by clicking on Reply to this topic. Upon which a form will           open which will ask for posting one's views and then submit them. One can click on email notification, which           means if a person responds to your views you will get an email.
      ii) If there are more people who have written on the topic then a person can even respond to that person in          particular. On every person's posted topics, on right side top there are three icons:

So if you just reply to that person's viewpoint then your views will not be shown as a member clicks on Forums' section. Only when you reply to that topic started by the Admin as explained in case (i) it would show.
In case a person wants to see how many persons have responded to the views of say Mr. X there would be a link (only if people have responded to the views) below Mr. X's posting called Reply. And clicking on this would show how many have responded and then you can see each posting differently. This helps in understanding what others feel about Mr. X's view.

It is obvious that the discussions on these forums would go on for really long and so if a person wants to search for a particular Person on that Forum he can do so by Writing that Person's Name in the search box in Top Right Hand Corner. And Press Search. It would highlight all the replies by that Person in the Forums. Similarly if a person has used some Key Words for that topic it can be searched by writing those key words in the Box.