People are free to post anything for which they want a reply. Recent discussions ranged from someone asking for feedback about Android phones, someone asking for a good cupcake shop/caterer, someone wanting a recommendation for a new primary care physician… you get the picture. I once even posted a quick question asking if anyone had tissue paper I could borrow (a gift emergency at work w/ a gift bag and no paper), and within a few minutes I got a response from someone who had some to share.
People who participate (more and more all the time via word of mouth) really love these forums. We encourage everyone to sign up for an alert to stay informed, and we remind people and even provide a quick link directly to that list’s alert sign-up page.
I really love the discussion list! There’s definitely a “What’s in it for me” factor, and in our case, participants are finding plenty in it for them!
]]>My company has employees all over the world and we use SharePoint Discussion Boards to collaborate on issues, questions, and announcements. Because we started using SharePoint 2007 with Office 2003 we had to find a way to integrate SP discussion boards with the Inbox within Outlook (not the SharePoint List). Not only did we develop the solution in-house, but we did so in such a way that is scalable to Office 2007 and 2010. All attachments and embedded images come through as well as a direct link to the SharePoint site and message thread.
I had hoped that Discussion Boards would gain a little bit of respect and attention from Microsoft with SharePoint 2010, but alas, twas not to be.
It’s still relegated to feeding off the scraps that fall from the Microsoft table.
In the meantime, our end users, and in turn our customers, continue to reap the benefits from the SharePoint discussion boards and our blood, sweat and tears.
]]>-Sabrina
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