Guide to using the Java Q&A forums

Welcome to the JavaWorld Community platform, which consists of JW Blogs [1] and the Java Q&A [2] forums. This document is a guide to using the Java Q&A forums.

Forum basics
Disqus [3]
Terminology [4]
Rules of the road [5]

Starting and contributing to threads
Starting a discussion [6]
Groups, categories, and tags [7]
Replying to a post or comment [8]
Posting a thread to more than one discussion [9]
Creating a poll [10]
Rating a thread [11]
User points [12]

Reading and following threads
Subscribing to a thread or group [13]
Bookmarking a discussion [14]
Social bookmarking [15]
Getting a threaded view of a discussion [16]
Leaving a group [17]

Misc.
E-mailing another user [18]
Creating a profile [19]
Becoming a moderator [20]
Feedback [21]

Registering with Disqus
JavaWorld's comments are moderated via Disqus. The first time you seek to leave a comment, whether it be on an article, a blog, or a Q&A thread, you will be asked to register with Disqus. Once registered, as long as you stay signed in to your Disqus account, you should be able to participate freely in JavaWorld's community.

Terminology
The Java Q&A forums consist of topical groups (think Google Groups or Yahoo Groups) such as Java Beginner or Enterprise Java. Threads are discussions within groups. We'll also discuss categories and tags below.

Rules of the road: Forum conduct
The mission of the Java Q&A forums is to serve as a place where developers meet, exchange ideas, and learn from each other. Differences of opinion and variations of experience are to be expected. Courtesy and respect will ensure that this free service remains open to everyone who needs it.

Your thread or post may be removed by a moderator if it contains profanity, name-calling, or a personal attack on another forum user. Your thread or post may also be removed if it is deemed to serve a commercial interest, such as advertising a product or service. All spam will be removed. Forum users can alert moderators to such posts by using the Mark as Spam button on each thread.

Starting a discussion
The first step is to either log in or register as a member of the JavaWorld Community here [22]. When you log in, you'll be directed to your user profile page, where you'll see a list of Java Q&A groups to which you're subscribed. If you're creating a new account, you'll be asked for a user name and e-mail address. When you hit Submit, you'll get e-mail with a temporary URL for completing your registration with a password (on a profile page that will also let you add any information you want to let other users see).

Once you're logged in, go to Java Q&A [2] and select the group you want to post to. If you're already a member of the group, you'll see a Create Thread button at the top. If you're not a member, click the Join button at the top, then confirm that you want to join. Click on Create Thread. You'll get a simple form. Give the thread a title, or subject line. Optionally, select from a dropdown list of JavaWorld categories. You can also provide tags that more closely describe the contents of your post -- just be sure to separate each tag with a comma (i.e., Enterprise JavaBeans, Tomcat, Struts). The system uses categories and tags to generate topical index pages and RSS feeds.

Next, type or paste in your actual post. Separate each paragraph with a blank line. If you want to embed a code example, type or past one in, highlight it, then click on the <Code> button to format the snippet for better legibility when your post is submitted. When you're done, you can Preview your post or hit Submit to start the discussion.

Posting a thread to more than one discussion
One advantage of the new JavaWorld Community platform is that you can post a discussion to more than one group. For example, if you were posting about the security implications of mobile devices you might want to post the discussion to both the Enterprise Java and Mobile Java groups. Select one of the groups to start your post. When you're done composing it, scroll down to the Groups area. The group in which you started your thread will be checked. Check any of the other groups for which the thread is appropriate. Hit Submit and your thread will be posted in the relevant groups. (Please be considerate when cross-posting - posts that are not appropriate to a group will be removed from that group.)

Note: If you post from outside the Java Q&A forums and do not select a group your post will not appear in the forums.

The difference between groups, categories, and tags
Groups enable you to post and discuss in distinct topical areas, and they also help build community based on shared interest. For example, Java SE developers converge in the Core Java group, Java Web developers in the Enterprise Java group, and so on. Categories are broad topics based onJavaWorld's content taxonomy (see JW Site Map [23]). Use categories to give other forum users an overview of what your post is about. Tags allow you to describe the subject of your post in detail, and are the basis of the community folksonomy. Both categories, and tags are used to generate topical index pages and RSS feeds in this community.

Replying to a post or comment
If you're logged in, you'll find a Reply link at the bottom of each post. Click on it and you'll get a copy of what you're replying to along with a simple form. Type or past your reply (separate each paragraph with a blank line) and use the <Code> button to format any code examples.

Creating a poll
Use polls to gauge how other JavaWorld Community users feel about a particular topic. When in a group, click on Create Poll at the top of the page. Use categories and tags to describe the poll. In the Question box, type in the subject of the poll. You can then fill in up to five possible answers (If you need more, check the "Need more choices" box, then hit the Preview button and you'll get more blank options). Select other groups if appropriate, then hit Submit or Preview. Once the poll is created, you and other users can participate in the poll.

Rating a thread
How useful or interesting did you find a particular discussion? Use the star-rating box to rate the value of discussions in your groups. Eventually, we'll use the rating system to highlight popular discussions.

User points
Every time you start a thread or contribute to one, you get points. When you start a thread, the system gives you 1 point. When you add to a thread, the system gives you 2 points. (Adding to a thread gets you more points because answering questions takes more time than asking them!)

You can also use points to reward other users for their contributions, such as a really good answer to your question about Java. If you want to give points to another user, either click on the Give Author Points link at the bottom of the post, or go directly to that person's user page (click on the user name at the top of a post, then scroll down to "Give xxx points"). Consider your contributions carefully, however, because the points you give to another user will be subtracted from your points account.

You can see how many points you have at the bottom of your profile page. Furthermore, the User Points [24] page lists all system users by points.

Subscribing to a thread or group
You can get notifications of new threads and replies in e-mail and new threads in RSS. To subscribe to a particular discussion via e-mail, select Subscribe Thread at the bottom of the initial post in the thread. You'll then get e-mail every time somebody posts a reply in the discussion. You can manage your subscriptions from your Profile page. Click on My Account at the top of any page, then on Subscriptions, where you'll see what you're subscribed to. Uncheck the box next to any thread you no longer want to be notified about.

If you like lots of e-mail, you can subscribe to an entire group. Go into the group you're interested in and, if you're a member, select My Membership at the top. Click the radio button next to Enabled under E-mail notification to get a message every time something new is posted to the group. If you're already subscribed to a group and want to unsubscribe, follow the same path, but select Disable under E-mail Notification.

Each group has its own RSS feed, which is updated with the latest threads in that group: Java Beginner [25] | Core Java [26] | Enterprise Java [27] | Mobile Java [28] | Tools & Methods [29]. Or, if your browser/aggregator is set up for it, you can subscribe by clicking on the RSS icon in the browser location box.

Bookmarking a discussion
You can create a list of favorite discussions, which will be stored for you. Use "Click to Bookmark" underneath the first message in a thread and it will be saved to your JavaWorld bookmark list. You can access the list by selecting My Bookmarks at the top of any page.

Social bookmarking
Look for the relevant icon at the bottom of the first post in a thread, then click. Social bookmarking helps you build a reputation in the Java developer community. It also helps us spread the word about valuable discussions on JavaWorld.

Leaving a group
Go into the group you want to leave, then click on My Membership. Select Leave This Group and then confirm your decision. Should you change your mind later, go back to the group, select My Membership again, then Join this Group.

Getting a threaded view of a discussion
Community discussions are threaded. However, if you want to get a better view of that threading, go to the bottom of the discussion, where you'll find "Comment Viewing Options" that let you change your thread preferences. To see just the subject lines in a tree-like view, change "Threaded List - Expanded" to "Threaded List - Collapsed."

E-mailing another user
We don't expose the e-mail addresses of forum users, both to protect your privacy and to prevent spam. To contact another user click their name and then the Contact tab. This will bring up a form you can use to send the user a message.

Creating a profile
Your user-profile page is both a place to track your contributions to the JavaWorld Q&A forums and to tell other users more about yourself. At a minimum, your page (click on My Account on any JavaWorld Q&A page) will show your recent contributions to the forums. (Click Track for a list of all the discussions you've participated in.) Use Edit to change your password. Use About Me to add additional information about yourself so that other users can to learn more about you.

Becoming a moderator
The Java Q&A forums are moderated by JavaWorld editors and respected members of the Java Q&A community. If you're interested in having a greater role in the future of the forums, please consider becoming a moderator. Contact us for more information: jwedit@javaworld.com [30].

Feedback about the forums
Please let JavaWorld's editors know what you think of the new forums. We're listening!
jwedit@javaworld.com [30].