Adding a comment to an existing e-group discussion

You can contribute to an existing topic by clicking on the title of the topic and typing your comment in the available box.  You can use the formatting toolbar to make minor formatting changes to your comment such as bold and bullet lists. You can also create links to websites or attach a file. Clicking the Comment button will post your contribution to the group and an email notification will be sent to members of that e-group to alert them.

Image: Adding a comment to an existing topic

Creating a new topic

Please start a new topic rather than changing the subject of an existing discussion thread.

To create a new topic for discussion, go to the Topics tab within the group and click the Create Topic button. 

Image: Creating a new topic in an e-group

Complete the title of the topic and write a brief description. You can also add an attachment to the topic at this stage. Finally, choose if you want the topic comments to be open or closed. The default option is open. If you choose to close the topic to comments other users will not be able to post in that discussion topic.

Click Save to post your topic.

Image: Posting a new topic

If you aren’t ready to publish the topic but would like to keep it as a draft, you can click ‘Publish status’ and untick the Published option.

Image: Keeping your topic as a draft by unmarking it as Published

If you chose not to publish the topic just yet, you will see it has an ‘unpublished’ notice. To publish it later, click the pencil icon to edit, click on Publish status, and tick the Published option. Click Save to publish the topic.

Image: How to publish an unpublished topic

Creating a new e-group

Only Group Admins (selected CCAMLR Secretariat staff) can create new e-groups. If you would like a new e-group created, please contact the Secretariat at ccamlr@ccamlr.org.

When creating an e-group please use acronyms rather than spelling out the full title. For example, use SISO Review Group instead of Scheme of International Scientific Observation Review Group. This is because the e-group’s title is referred to throughout reports and papers, therefore, long titles are not desirable.

Click on Groups to open the list of groups and click the Add group button.

Image: Adding a new group

Choose if the group is Open, Moderated or Closed.

• Open groups: Users may join without approval and content added in this group will be visible for non-members who can also contribute. 
• Moderated groups: Users may join with approval and all content added in this group will be visible for non-members as well.
• Closed groups: Users can only join by invitation and all content added in this group will be hidden for non-members.

Complete the Title and Description of the group. Click Save.

You will see the group’s About page and can choose to add a description for the group if you haven't done so. Click on Topics to add discussion topics or Manage members to add members to the group. You can use the pencil icon to edit the group settings.

Image: The new group’s activity feed, where you can add members or edit settings

Adding users to the group

Go to the Manage members tab and click the Add member button. Start typing their name in the ‘Select a member’ field. A drop-down box will give you a list of matches. Be aware that users with the same name are identified further with a user number.

You can also opt to make a user a Group Manager at this stage.

Click Save to add the user to the group.

Image: Adding a member to the group

Removing users from the group

Go to the Manage members tab and click the small arrow next to Edit. You can then click on Remove. The next screen with ask for confirmation and you can click the Remove button to finish.

Image: Removing a member from the group

Making an existing user a Group Manager

Go to the Manage members tab and click the Edit button for the user.

You can now tick the Group Manager option and click Save.

The user’s role has now changed.

User types

There are three user types: Member, Group Manager and Group Admin.

• Members can join open groups, join closed groups if they receive an invitation, create topics and add comments.
• Group Managers can add and remove users to the group. They can also edit existing topics.
• Group Admins can create, edit and delete groups. They can also edit comments.

Who can add/manage members of a group if there is no Group Manager?

If it's an open group, then anybody who's logged in can add themselves to the group. Otherwise Group Admins (selected CCAMLR Secretariat staff) can add members to a group and manage group memberships.

Email notifications

Users will automatically receive email notifications for any new topics/comments from their groups. To stop receiving notifications, you can simply leave the group. Open groups can still be viewed without being a member.

Image: Email notification