How to organize group discussion?
Here you can learn how to organize a group discussion and find related guidelines.
Before a group chat starts
Invite experts and respondants to the chat
Make sure you are on the group chat channel of your choice on Ninchat.
Click the "Invite people" link at the end of the member list, type emails or copy the invitation link and send.
If you do not see "Invite people", it means you do not have the channel operator rights.
Read more in the section "How to invite people to channel?":
How to invite people to channel?Channel operator and moderator rights
Channel operators and moderators have the rights to maintain the chat channel. In addition, agents with these rights can be prominently distinguished in public group discussions.
With the channel operator rights, you can keep yourself/ your employees engaged - invite new people and give them the moderator and operator rights.
Symbol | Meaning |
Channel operator user - can manage channel settings and invite new members to the channel (different from organization operator). | |
Channel moderator user - can moderate posts and delete channel members. |
Give channel operator rights
Click the name of the person you want to grant the rights in the member list and select "Give operator rights" from the menu. Channel moderator rights are set for experts and visitors as well as those who moderate the discussion.
Give channel moderator rights
Click the name of the person you want to grant the rights in the member list and select "Give moderator rights" from the menu.
Moderator user settings
Important! It is useful to make the messages hidden by a moderator visible to that moderator, so that it can still be edited if necessary. Follow these steps:
Go to your persoanl account settings (click the arrow icon next to your username at the bottom of the Sidebar and select "Settings and profile").
In your personal settings, choose the tab "View".
Under View options, check the box that says "Show hidden messages on channel".
Save.
Open a public group chat
Make sure you are on the group chat channel of your choice on Ninchat.
Open the menu at the top left of the conversation section by clicking the channel name and selecting "Channel settings".
Make two changes:
Under "Who can read messages", select "Everybody may follow anonymously, history available since this moment".
Under "Who can write messages", select "Channel members".
Click "Save" at the bottom of the page.
Close the menu from the same place where you opened it (click the channel name settings and select "Close").
Schedule a group chat channel
The public group chat channel can be scheduled to open and close automatically. See more in Team channels > How to edit channel settings? > Channel schedule.
How visitors show up on the channel
Visitors don't show up in the channel's member list until they have participated in the conversation and written a comment and simultaneously given themselves a name/nickname. This applies when Who can read messages setting is Everybody may follow anonymously, history available since [date & time].
If you want silent participants to show up on the channel right away after they arrive, change Who can read messages setting to Channel members, history available since [date & time]. This way visitors show up nameless in the member list, and are given a name after they write a comment.
Who can read messages | |
Everybody may follow anonymously, history available since [date & time] | Visitors don't show up in the member list until they have participated in the conversation and written a comment |
Channel members, history available since [date & time] | Visitors show up on the member list after join nameless, and with name after their first comment |
Close a group chat
You can close a group chat by selecting "Close channel" in the channel menu. After that, writing new messages will be blocked and the text filed will show a Channel closed text. You can change the Channel closed text if you want. See: How to edit channel settings? > Channel closed text.
Channel settingsChannel closed message showing
For the Channel closed message to show for everybody, channel setting Who can read messages must be set to: "Everybody may follow anonymously...". Keep in mind the showing and hiding the message history, see following section.
Hide message history
To hide a discussion from new visitors after a group chat session, follow these steps: (Follow the instructions carefully.😉)
Make sure you are on the correct group chat channel, and open channel settings (click the channel name at the top left of the conversation section and select "Channel settings").
Under "Who can read messages", select "Channel members, history available since join only".
Save.
Again, under "Who can read messages", change selection back to "Everybody may follow anonymously, history available since this moment".
Save.
Close the settings.
The message history will not show to guests who visit the page after these settings.
Hide a group chat window from the web page
It is possible to hide an embedded group chat from the web page while the channel is closed. Ask more from Ninchat staff.
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