Each group has a forum where active discussions can be started, commented on and viewed. A privilege of group membership is that forum discussions can be initiated. Group administrators may make discussions inactive. 

Forums provide a place where discussions can be tracked. These discussions come in the form of initiated topics. Forums can be made public or private within a group. A forum must first exist before a topic can be initiated because the topic must be placed inside a forum. Only the initiator of a forum topic and group administrators have permissions to edit the topic content. After discussions are opened in a forum they may be commented on by group members.

 Video example

To participate in a forum discussion, use the following steps:

	Step 1: Go to one of the groups you are a member of and navigate to the forum. Step 2: Click on the link of the forum name you would like to participate in. In the example it would be "General Discussion".
	Step 3: Click on a topic you would like to read and/or discuss.
	Step 4: Reply to a topic by clicking on the "Post Reply" button.
	Step 5: Type your reply in the text editor and click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page beneath the rich text editor.
	Step 6: Reply to an individual post by clicking the "Reply" or  "Quote" button beneath an individual comment.

As other items in the Portal, subscriptions can be made to forums discussions. A subscription to an active forum topic means that you will get an email notification whenever comments are made to the topic.

There are two ways in which to start a new forum topic:

	1. Start a new topic by clicking on the "New Topic" button:
	Type the title and content of your topic and click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page beneath the text editor to add it to the topic cue.
	2. You can also start a new topic from the "Collaborate" menu in the left sidebar of your group home page:
	You will be taken to the rich text editor. Type the title and content of your topic. There will be a dropdown menu which shows the different forums in the group. Select the forum where you would like your topic to post and click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page beneath the text editor to add it to the topic cue.