Posting user-generated content is how your users interact with one another in your Higher Logic Vanilla (Vanilla) community. When creating content, users can choose from the following post types:
- Discussions, Questions, Polls, Ideas, or Events.
- Comment - any follow-up content (reply) to an existing post.
Notes
- Comments can exist only as part of a post.
- Each post can have an unlimited number of comments.
Examples
In the image below, Lila posted a discussion (Best community software?) at 4:15; at 4:18, Charlie posted a comment (note the smaller heading called Comments).
Custom nomenclature
How your user-generated content is referred to can differ from our default labels. For example, posts, threads, and topics are three very common ways of referring to this form of "conversation."
In your Vanilla community, the default labels of posts and comments can be customized without changing the underlying functionality.
If you'd like to customize these labels, contact your CSM.
Post types
There are a range of post types to ensure your community includes the type of content suitable for its needs.
To create a post, click the New Post button at the top right on any page. You'll then be able to choose what type of post to create.
The options that display are dependent on which addons are enabled in your community, and can include:
Create a discussion
This article focuses on the discussion-creation process. Refer to their associated articles above for help creating the other post types
Select New Post > New Discussion to write your discussion on the Create Post page.
- Category: If you began the creation process outside a Category, you'll need to select a Category in which to organize the discussion. Otherwise, the Category you were in will automatically be selected (though you can change it, if desired).
✔️ TIP: After being posted, a post can be moved to a different Category, as described in Move Discussions. - Discussion Title: This title is what will show at the top of the discussion once it’s been submitted. It will also identify the discussion on the category index.
- Body: The text field is where you type your post. You can use the buttons at the bottom left to insert emojis, images, and media, as well as attach files.
✔️ TIP: After being posted, discussions and comments can be edited, as described in Edit Discussions & Comments. - Tags: Click this dropdown to add one or more tags to your discussion. Applying tag keywords to a discussion helps to group similar types of content together for easier searching and findability. By default, up to five tags can be applied to a post. Several popular tags will also be listed to make application easier.
✔️ TIP: Learn how to create and manage tags in Tags. - Announce Post: Admins and Moderators can use these options to make their discussion an Announcement.
Once the post is ready, click Post to publish it.
Drafts
As you write your post, Vanilla will automatically save your work as a draft after about 5 seconds of inactivity; the most recent save time is displayed below the button (refer to the image above). You can also click the Save Draft button at any time to manually save a draft.
Your drafts are stored under the My Drafts section of your profile.
Comments
Each posted discussion includes a comments section where all users can participate and share their thoughts on the topic.
Flat vs. Nested comments
Your community's configured layout determines how comments display in a post.
- If using Legacy Post Layouts, comments display in a flat structure.
- If using Custom Post Layouts, comments can display either in a flat or nested structure by configuring the Comment Thread widget. A nested structure is shown in the image below.
Check out this article to learn more about these layouts.
Rich Editor
Rich Editor is available on all newer communities by default. It provides tools for your users when they create posts and comments.
To learn more about the Rich Editor, read:
Additional resources
Click the link below to access a video that expands on the information in this article.
