Basic terms used in the Plus discussion forum
- Topic: The collection of messages grouped together in a meaningful conversation, with a title, listed in a category, beginning with an original post, and including all replies in chronological order.
- Post: Each element of a topic is referred to as a post. Each post has its own author and can be moved to a different topic if necessary, or even become the start of a new topic.
- Original Post (or OP): The first post in any topic. This is key since it determines the focus of the topic and is what the title and tags will link to.
- Category: The primary means of organising topics.
- Tag: A marker placed on a topic to describe it.
Navigating the Plus discussion forum
- Topic lists
By default, the Plus discussion forum will show all Latest conversations, but you can filter this list in a number of ways:
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- By category: in the menu line, click the ‘all categories’ title and a list of all the categories appears.
- By tag: in the menu line, click the ‘all tags’ title and a list of all the tags are used will appear.
- By level of activity: if you click on ‘Top’ the conversation topics will be listed in order of most activity (views and replies) for a specific time period. You can choose whether this is for all time, or select a specific period such as quarter, month, week or just today.
- By what’s ‘New’ to you: by default, new topics are those created in the last 2 days that you have not opened yet to keep the list fresh and relevant. New topics show a small blue dot next to the topic title.
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- By what topics are “Unread”: by default, unread topics are those that you have previously opened and read for at least 4 minutes, and that have new posts (replies) submitted to them. Unread topics show a number in a blue circle indicating how many new posts are in the topic.
- See who is participating
There are several ways to see who is involved in topics. On the homepage you will see a selection of avatars (profile pictures) of:
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- the user who started the topic (always the first photo);
- a selection of the most active participants;
- and, who created the most recent post (usually the last photo).
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- in some cases, the first photo has a blue border or blue halo to indicate that the original poster is also the most recent poster.
The box at the bottom of the Original Post tells you; who created the post and when, gives a count of the replies and views in this topic to date, and a display of the avatars of the most frequent participants.
- Navigation tools
For The chat, Search, or your User menu, use the icon buttons at the upper right.
- Reading topics
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- Click a topic title and read down the list of replies in chronological order, following links or previewing replies and quotes as you go. Use your mouse to scroll the screen, or use the timeline scroll bar on the right which also shows you how far through the conversation you’ve read. On smaller screens, select the bottom progress bar to expand it.
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- Selecting a topic title will take you to your last read post in the topic. To enter at the top ↑ or bottom ↓ instead, click the reply count or last reply date. Topics above the light red line on a list are new or updated since your last visit. If you have read all the way to the end of a topic, the title will be light grey instead of black.
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- Topics above the light red line on a list are new or updated since your last visit. If you have read all the way to the end of a topic, the title will be light grey instead of black.
Getting back to your Plus dashboard
When you are on the Plus discussion forum, the way to get back to your Plus dashboard is to go to the top of the page where you will see a dark bar where it says Physiopedia Plus. Hover over Physiopedia Plus and it will open a drop down from where you can go to your Plus dashboard or the Plus discussion forum Help Centre.
