About WebBoard

WebBoard is a discusion group service through which participants can read and post messages, including file attachments and embedded web URLs.  WebBoard is available for use by Kellogg classes, clubs, and conferences.  Access is restricted to Kellogg students, faculty, staff as a whole (but is not restricted by class registration lists).  A particularly popular feature is that individuals can read and reply to new postings via e-mail instead of the web, at their personal option.  For on-line help, click on the Help button within WebBoard.

Creating a WebBoard Discussion Group

Complete this form to create a discussion group on the Kellogg WebBoard (includes information on naming conventions and access restriction options.)  You may create a web link to your conference on your class or club web page. On your web page, type a name for the web link, then link it to the URL of your conference's board. For example: On your course web page, name the web link "Spring 2005 Course Discussion" and link it to the URL for the Spring Class 2005 board.

Navigating to a WebBoard Discussion Group

Only a web browser is required to utilize WebBoard.  A link to the discussion group frequently appears on the relevant course or club web page.  You may also navigate to a discussion group as follows:

Go to the Kellogg WebBoard. Select a Board (for example: Classes Fall 2000, Student Clubs)  Within the Board, select a specific Conference (for example: Opns 455-81 Chopra Fall 2000, KSA Technology).

Utilizing the Mailing List Feature

To receive postings in a discussion group via e-mail, go to any Board within WebBoard.  Select More, then Mailing Lists, and then check the specific conference(s) to which you wish to subscribe.  Then click on Save at the bottom of the page.  After subscribing, you may still use the conference web site as well.

Your return address setting in your email client must match the email address in your WebBoard profile exactly if you wish to post messages from email. If it does not, WebBoard will not accept any messages sent from your email client. To change the email address in your WebBoard profile, select More, then Edit Your Profile, and then enter the appropriate email address. Then click on Save at the bottom of the page.

The following features (which are available using the Kellogg WebBoard web site) are not available when using email to read/send messages: editing messages or viewing changes to posted messages; deleting messages; seeing that a new conference has been created; sending or receiving file attachments; subscribing or unsubscribing to conference mailing lists; searching user databases; searching message databases; editing your user profile; editing or viewing your address book; paging; and administrative, management, or moderator privileges.

Utilizing the Attachment Feature

Users may post and read a file attachment along with any message in a discussion group.  However, the file must be posted and read using the web site directly.  Users cannot send or receive file attachments using the Mailing List feature.

When you post an attachment, you should mention in the message text that it has an attachment that must be read or downloaded from the web site directly.  This is for users who are using the Mailing List feature to receive discussion messages via email.

If you attempt to send a message with an attachment from your email client to a WebBoard discussion group, the system will post the message, but will not post the attachment and will instead add a line to the bottom of the message saying "File attachment removed."

Including a Web URL Link Within a Message

Users may include an active Web URL link within the text of a message.  Simply include the full Web address, including the http:// portion, in the message text.  For example, http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu will be an active link, but www.kellogg.northwestern.edu will NOT be an active link.

Utilizing the New Messages Feature

WebBoard has a New Messages feature which works by 2 alternative methods.

The first method enables you to see all messages posted since the last time you logged off WebBoard.  To have the system automatically mark messages as read after you logoff, select More, then Edit Your Profile.  Check "Automatically Mark New Messages Read."  Then click on Save.  If you choose this method, then all messages are marked as read when you click LOGOFF on the menubar (OR are inactive on WebBoard for 30 minutes).  Note that just closing your web browser does NOT mark messages as read.

The second method enables you to see messages posted since the last time you marked messages as read in a specified conference(s).  To have the system mark messages as read in a specified conference, follow these steps.  Within the relevant Board, click on the "Mark All Read" button.  A new page will come up listing all conferences within the current Board.  To mark messages read for a single conference, click on that conference's name.  To mark messages read for all of the Board's conferences, click on "Mark All Conferences Read."

Under WebBoard's functionality, there is no means of marking a message as read automatically as a result of viewing it in your browser.