AlumDeck
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Connect · Community forums

A room for every class, already open.

Each class year gets a private discussion room the moment its first member is approved. Nothing to set up, nothing to join, and nobody from another year can read it.

Sign in to the demo as a memberAll 20 features
  • 1room per class year, made for you
  • 0rooms to set up or join
  • 160characters in a thread title
  • 5,000characters in a post or reply

How it works

Your class, among themselves.

The rooms appear on their own. The committee only steps in when something needs a hand.

Rooms

Made by the member list, not by an admin

Every approved member has one class room: their own year. They can read and post there, and in the community room every member shares; opening another year's room is refused. The class representative, a flag the committee sets, is named at the top.

  • A private room per class year
  • Other years are refused, not just hidden
  • Threads by members who have left are hidden
Sign in as a member

Threads

Simple formatting, and an email when someone answers

A thread is a title and a post; replies go underneath. Posts take simple formatting (bold, italic, links, lists and quotes) and nothing more, so nobody can paste in a script. The author follows their own thread and is emailed when someone replies, and any member can follow it too.

  • Titles up to 160 characters
  • Posts and replies up to 5,000 characters
  • Rate limits stop a flood: 15 threads, 30 replies an hour

Moderation

Moderation sits with the committee

Staff with the community area can pin a thread to the top, lock it so no more replies arrive, hide it, or edit it. Single replies can be hidden without touching the rest of the thread.

  • Pin, lock, hide and edit threads
  • Hide one reply at a time
  • Give the community area to your class reps' coordinator only

Who can do what

Members talk, the committee tidies.

Who can do what in the forums
ActionMembersCommittee (community area)
Read and post in their own class roomYesSees every room in the admin
Read another year's roomNoYes, in the admin
Edit or delete their own postFor 30 minutes, unless you change itCan edit or hide it
Pin or lock a threadNoYes
Hide one replyNoYes
Report a postYesHides the post or dismisses the report
React to a thread or a reply, and mention a classmate with @nameYes. Only someone who can read that room can be mentionedNothing to approve
Hear about a reply or a mention in the bellYes, in the notification centre, for the kinds of notice each member choosesCan switch the bell off for the whole site

Beyond the class room

A feed for everyone, and messages in private.

Both are switches of their own in Settings, under Modules, and both are on when you install.

Activity feed

A feed of what the association is doing

On from the first sign-in. The feed gathers what is new, such as members joining, news, events, jobs and group updates, and members add short posts of their own: up to 2,000 characters and up to 4 photos (fewer if you set a lower limit), addressed to all members, to their own class year or to one group they belong to. Others react and comment, and can mention a classmate by name.

  • Five reactions, comments, and @name mentions
  • An author can edit a post for 60 minutes and post 20 times a day, unless you change either
  • Switch on approval and every post waits for a volunteer (off at first)
  • Filter by posts, your class, groups, events, or news and jobs

Messages

Private messages, with limits you set

On from the first sign-in. A member writes to one person, or starts a group conversation of up to 12 people unless you change the size. Who may start a conversation is your choice: on a new install, members who have accepted a contact request from each other, or who share a group. Each member can narrow that to their connections, or to nobody. Only the people in a conversation can open it, and any of them can report a message to the committee.

  • 200 messages and 20 new conversations a day per member, unless you change the limits
  • One email about messages left unread for half an hour: it names who wrote, never what they wrote
  • A member can mute or leave a group conversation, and block another member
  • Kept until deleted, or removed after a number of days you set

Not yet

What the forums do not do yet.

A tag means a fix is planned. No tag means it is not.

  • File attachments in posts: a post can carry one photo once you allow it in Settings, and nothing else
  • Editing or deleting your own post after the edit window closes (30 minutes unless you change it)
  • Members starting a room or a group themselves: the committee creates groups, and members join
Everything AlumDeck does not doThe public roadmap

FAQ

Questions committees ask

Do we have to create a room for each class?

No. A room exists for every class year that has a member. When the first member from 1987 is approved, the 1987 room is there; nobody sets it up and nobody has to join it.

Can members from different years talk to each other?

Yes. A class room stays private to its year, and other years cannot read it. Next to it there is one community room that every member can read and post in.

Groups and chapters, for a region, an interest or a club, have a room each, and members join or ask to join. Members who are connected, or who share a group, can also message each other.

Can a member delete something they posted?

Yes, for a while. A member can edit or delete their own post for 30 minutes after posting, a window the committee can lengthen, shorten or switch off in Settings. Once others have replied, deleting a thread keeps its title and their replies.

Members can also report a post. The report lands with the committee, who can hide the post, dismiss the report, warn the member or pause their posting.

Who is told about new replies?

Everyone who follows the thread. The person who started it follows it from the start, and any other member can follow it too. Each gets an email per reply while their community emails are set to arrive at once; on a weekly or monthly digest the replies wait for that.

Can we switch the forums off?

Yes. Switch Community off in Settings, under Modules, and the forum screens leave the admin, the class rooms return Not Found for members, and contact requests between members go with them. Nothing is deleted: switch it back on and every thread is where you left it.

Read a class room in the demo.

Sign in as a member of the Class of 2014 and see what their room looks like.

Open the live demoPricing - $49 a year

Sign-in details on the demo pageResets every night

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