ChoralNet has a dozen or more announcement categories and forums which contain discussion topics. To view the forum or announcement indexes, click the word Forums or Announcements at the top.

Anyone can list the contents of Announcements or Forums. Only registered users can contribute, however, either by adding new messages or replying to an existing message. Registration is free; click the Register button at top to start the process.

Viewing a forum

On the forum index, you'll see a list of the forum names at left and the most recent publication to that forum at right. Click on one of the forum names and you'll be shown a listing of the messages in that forum. To read a message, click on its title.

Contributing to a forum

To reply to an existing message, click the Reply button located at the bottom of the message. If there are existing replies, you'll have several reply buttons to choose from. Decide whether you're replying to the original message, or to one of the replies; if the latter, choose the Reply button directly underneath the reply you're replying to. If you use the Reply button at the top or bottom of the thread, your reply will be added to the end of the discussion.

If you don't see a Reply button, check to make sure you're logged in (your name should appear in a button at the top of the page). Some forums are intended for announcements only and don't allow replies, or a moderator may have closed the discussion. If you need to contact the author of the message, click on the author's name (shown beneath the title) and use the Contact this user button on his or her user page to contact him or her directly.

To add a new message, click on the New message button at the upper right in either the forum list view or when viewing an individual message. Please be sure you're submitting your message to the right forum.

Your name will always appear as the author of a message or reply, so it is not necessary to sign your messages. Moderators have a policy of removing signatures, so do them a favor and save them the trouble by not including them in the first place, unless you're writing on behalf of an organization.

On some forums, you'll have the option to Send replies to me privately. If this box is checked, whenever someone clicks the Reply button they'll be taken to your Contact page and you'll receive their reply directly via email. Only use this when you're certain other users won't be interested in reading the replies; you'll normally receive the replies anyway as part of your subscription (see below). If your topic is too sensitive to discuss publiclly, consider the Safe room.

Announcements

Contributing announcements works much the same way, except that

• Many announcement categories require further classification information, such as geographical location or choir type
• Replies are not permitted to announcements; if you anticipate replies to your submission, find a suitable Forum topic instead.

Be sure to check the Classifieds topics to see if your message belongs there before submitting an Announcement.

Moderation

ChoralNet's team of volunteer moderators approve each message or reply before it's posted to the website. Until that time, you (only) will see it, with the notation "pending". You can check the sidebar of your user page to see when your message is approved. Usually this takes only a few hours.

The moderators will verify that your message is relevant to choral music and that it's posted to the right forum.

Reading replies to my message

If your message is a discussion topic or question, other users will submit replies. You can view these replies on the website by browsing the forum where you submitted it, or you can use a subscription to read the replies by email, by RSS, or some other method. You are automatically subscribed to "threads" generated by your own messages. For details see About subscriptions.