Mailing lists and discussion forums were combined into one feature in CollabNet Enterprise Edition 5.0. This article only applies to prior versions of CEE.
OpenCollabNet utilizes two kinds of discussion tools: mailing lists and discussion forums. Mailing lists provide email posting and notification, plus a web interface to access the message archive. Discussion forums support web posting and limited email notification, plus web access to the message archive. We are combining these two tools in our new Discussion Services to be introduced soon, but for now here's a brief overview on how to use each.
Discussion Forums
The web interface for discussion forums such as the discussion-service project's feedback forum opens showing a list of the message threads that have been posted. Using dropdown boxes at the top, you can show an overview of all threads, a summary of all messages, and a list of all messages with their body text. These can be sorted using the Sort by: dropdown by Thread/Subject, From, and Date. There are links at the top of the page allowing you to Post a new message and Subscribe to the forum.
Clicking on the Post button will open a page allowing you to enter a Subject and a Message body, along with optional attachments that you may want to include.
Clicking on the Subscribe button will open a page allowing you to confirm that you want to receive email notifications when other users post messages to the forum. Unlike mailing lists, forum notifications do not contain the posted message but offer a link to it so you can read it after logging back into the website.
If you are already a subscriber, you will see an Unsubscribe button instead. Pressing this button will allow you to disable email notifications.
Mailing Lists
You can easily tell from the web interface when you arrive at a mailing list such as the discussion-services project's beta mailing list. The top navigation bar is titled "Mailing list details" and you can see the List address field with a mailto: link to the list. Messages in the archive may be viewed by date, author, subject, and thread. Clicking on any of these tabs will give you an appropriate view and you can read messages that have been posted.
To post to a mailing list, use your email client to create a message addressed to: <list name>@<project>.<domain> (for example announce@discussion-services.open.collab.net). Add your subject, body information, and any attachments you wish to include and send it. In a few minutes, the message will appear in the archive and all subscribers to the list will receive an email with your posting. Note: most of the mailing lists on open.collab.net are moderated. Moderated lists require moderator approval of each posting before it will be accepted into the archive and notifications sent. Don't be surprised if there is a significant delay between your posting and receiving the notification.
To subscribe to a mailing list, use your email client to create a message addressed to: <list name>-subscribe@<project>.<domain> (for example announce-subscribe@discussion-services.open.collab.net). Add the subject "Subscribe" and send the email. In a few minutes you should receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription request. If you reply to that email, you will be added to the mailing list and will begin receiving notification emails with the information that you and other users post to the list.
To unsubscribe from a mailing list, use your email client to create a message addressed to: <list name>-unsubscribe@<project>.<domain> (for example announce-unsubscribe@discussion-services.open.collab.net). Add the subject "Unsubscribe" and send the email. You should stop receiving any more notifications from the list.
