New Forum
The form for creating a forum: name it, describe it, decide who can see it, file it under a category.
A forum is the container topics go in, so this is not the screen most members want — New Topic is. ForumWP only lets moderators create forums on a default site, and this screen says so rather than letting somebody fill the form in to be refused at the end.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”| Plugin | ForumWP |
| Endpoint group | Forums |
| Plan | Every plan |
Add it to your app
Section titled “Add it to your app”Drag New Forum onto a navigation bar or into the side drawer.
Most apps should not. If you want moderators to be able to add a forum without leaving the app, switch on Create Forum button in Forums instead — it puts the same form behind a button beside that screen’s search box, which is where somebody looking at the forum list would expect to find it. Place this as a tab only when creating forums is a routine job in its own right.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Title, Description | Shown at the top | Empty |
| Visibility offered first | What the form opens on | Anyone |
| Restrictions | Which roles see the tab | Everyone |
Visibility is only a starting point — whoever fills the form in can still change it. Set it to Signed-in members for a community where nothing should be readable by the public, so the safe answer is the one already selected rather than the one that has to be remembered.
Because only moderators can create forums, it is worth setting Restrictions to match: a tab everybody can see and nobody can use is worse than no tab.
What your members see
Section titled “What your members see”A name, a description, a visibility dropdown, and — where your site has forum categories on — a row of category chips to tap.
| Visibility | Who sees the forum |
|---|---|
| Anyone | Everybody, signed in or not |
| Signed-in members | Anybody with an account |
| Hidden | Only people who can moderate |
After creating, the app opens the new forum’s topic list rather than returning to a list to go and find it. The form empties itself, so creating a second forum begins from a clean form rather than a copy of the first. The new forum also appears straight away in New Topic’s forum picker.
Validation
Section titled “Validation”A missing name is reported against the name field, not as a message at the top of the form. Creating the same forum twice in quick succession is caught by the site and answered with a warning; creating again straight after that goes through, because the repeat was clearly meant.
When it does not work
Section titled “When it does not work”| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| “You cannot create forums on this site” | The role lacks fmwp_create_forum | Grant it in ForumWP, or restrict the tab to moderators |
| The screen is empty | The Forums endpoint group is off | Turn it on in Memberside → REST API |
| The card is greyed out | ForumWP is inactive | Activate it |
| No category chips | Forum categories are off in ForumWP | Turn them on in ForumWP’s settings |
| The categories picked did not stick | Categories are off site-wide, so the site drops them | Turn them on in ForumWP’s settings |
| The forum is not in the list afterwards | Its visibility hides it from the account looking | Check the visibility that was chosen |