
.. _Explore Posts:

#########################
Explore Posts
#########################

Finding out whether someone else has already asked the same question or
initiated a conversation about the subject that interests you, and then
reading and contributing to that exchange instead of starting a new one, helps
make the time that everyone spends with the course discussions more productive.
You can search for something specific, or you can browse through the posts in a
single discussion topic.

.. _Search Discussions:

******************************
Search the Discussions
******************************

To search for text, click **All Discussions** and enter a phrase, a word, or part of
a word in the **Search all posts** field above the list of posts. When you
press Enter, the search tries to find:

* A match or close match to your text in any post, response, or comment. The
  display updates to show a list of the posts that have a match at any level of
  interaction.

* A similar value in any post, response, or comment (if no exact matches are
  found). A "No results found for {text}. Showing results for {similar}"
  message appears above the posts that have similar text at any interaction
  level.

* Any usernames that are an exact match to your text. A "Show posts by
  {username}" option appears above any posts that have an exact text match at
  any interaction level. Click the username in the message to read that user's
  posts, responses, and comments. For more information about viewing
  contributions from a specific user, see :ref:`View from Participant`.

.. _Discussion Topics:

*********************************************
View Discussions about a Specific Topic
*********************************************

Every post in the course discussions has an associated topic. When a participant
creates a post, the participant selects a topic from a list of topics that the
course team has provided. You can look through topics in the discussions to find
one that you're interested in.

Discussion topics for edX courses can be *course-wide* or *content-specific*.

* *Course-wide* discussion topics cover matters that affect the entire course,
  and may include topics such as "Frequently Asked Questions" and
  "Troubleshooting".

* *Content-specific* discussion topics cover specific video lectures, reading
  assignments, homework problems, or other course content. 

=======================================
View Topics on the Discussion Page
=======================================

On the **Discussion** page, you can view both course-wide and content-specific
discussions. Click **All Discussions** in the upper left corner of the left pane
to see all discussion topics in the course. To see all the discussions in an
individual topic, click the topic name.

Note that course-wide topics do not have other topics indented below them, while
content-specific topics are indented under a category name. For content-specific
topics, you can click either the category name to see all the posts in that
category, or you can click an individual topic name.

  .. image:: /Images/Disc_TopicList.png
     :width: 400
     :alt: Discussion topic list expanded, showing all course discussion topics

=======================================
View Topics in a Course Unit
=======================================

Content-specific topics are located in specific units in the course. They typically appear below the content they apply to. 

You can access a content-specific topic by viewing the unit that
contains the topic. To see the discussion, click **Show Discussion**.

.. image:: /Images/Discussion_content_specific.png
   :width: 500
   :alt: A discussion topic that appears below text inside the course, identified
       by a "Show Discussion" link

You can also use the **Discussion** page to access a discussion in the unit
where that topic is located. 

#. In the list of topics, click the topic that you want.
#. Click the name of a post to open the post in the right pane.
#. In the right pane, click the name of the discussion topic below the text of
   the post to go to the discussion inside the unit.

.. image:: /Images/Disc_LinkToCourse.png
    :width: 800
    :alt: Post on the Discussion page with a link back to the course unit

*****************************************
View Only Unread or Unanswered Posts
*****************************************

To limit the posts shown on the **Discussion** page, you can select one of the
filter options. Above the list of posts, the **Show all** filter is selected by
default.

* To list only the discussions and questions that you have not yet viewed,
  select **Unread**.

* To list only question posts that do not yet have any responses marked as
  answers, select **Unanswered**.

.. image:: /Images/Disc_Unread.png
 :width: 300
 :alt: List of unread topics with the "Unread" filter circled

*****************************************
View Pinned Posts
*****************************************

Pinned posts appear at the top of the list of posts when you view all
discussions. Pinned posts can contain important information about the course or
any part of the course, such as a particular video or problem. The pinned post
may originate from anyone in the course, including students and staff, but only
members of course staff can pin posts.

.. image:: /Images/Disc_Pinned.png
 :width: 300
 :alt: Short list of posts with the "pinned" identifier circled

.. _View from Participant:

*************************************************
View Contributions from a Specific Participant
*************************************************

You can review all the posts, responses, and comments that a specific
participant has made, both for students and for course staff. To do this, click
the username that appears at the top of any of the participant's contributions. A page
opens that shows the following information about the participant. 

* The participant's username.

* The participant's role (for example, student or community TA).

* The number of posts the participant has created (listed in the upper-left corner
  as the number of discussions started).

* The total number of responses and comments the participant has added to other
  posts (listed in the upper-left corner as the number of comments).

* A list of all the posts that contain a contribution from the participant,
  whether the participant created the original post or contributed a response or
  comment to a different post. The list of posts includes the title of the post
  and the username of the participant who created the post. To see the comments
  or responses on any post, click **View Discussion** below the post to open the
  discussion on the **Discussion** page.

.. image:: /Images/Disc_UserContributions.png
 :width: 800
 :alt: Page that lists the posts that a user has added or contributed to



