When you view the thread page, all posts and the forum description appear on one page. Forum descriptions are often used as prompts for discussion and are visible where you are posting. Large images of course members help you easily identify authors.

To help make replying easy, the content editor appears immediately below the message to which you are replying. You are not taken to a new page to post a reply, allowing you to refer to any post on the page.

1. Use Expand All and Collapse All to manage the visibility of posts on the page.
2. Functions appear when you point to the page. Move your mouse pointer anywhere on the page and action bar functions appear at the top, such as Search and Refresh.
3. Click the number of unread posts to view a page containing only the unread posts in a thread.
4. When viewing threads, a badge appears next to a forum manager or moderator's name. Point to the badge to see the user’s course role and forum role.
5. The dates for posts appear as relative dates such as "7 days ago." When you point to the relative date, you can view the absolute date of creation or editing, and the number of views.
6. New Mark as Read indicator: Blue icon = unread. White icon = read. Posts are marked as read as you scroll down the page, after a slight delay. Only expanded posts that you view onscreen are marked as read. Posts are not automatically marked read by quickly scrolling down the page. Click the icon to manually change the status of a message. You can also flag posts you want to review again later or indicate as important.
7. When you point to a post, Reply, Quote, Expand/Collapse, and other available functions appear. Click Collapse to fold up a post. This increases the vertical screen space available for viewing posts.
8. If your instructor has enabled the rate posts feature in a forum's settings, Overall Rating should show the average rating for a post. When you point to the rating area, it changes to show Your Rating.

How to Create Threads in a Forum

Forum settings control who can post, and what other types of actions you can take, such as editing your own threads, posting anonymously, or rating posts. Depending on which forum settings your instructor has selected, you may be allowed to create a new thread.

1. Access a discussion forum and click Create Thread on the action bar.
2. On the Create Thread page, you can view the forum description to refer as you write your response. Type a Subject and Message. You can use the content editor functions to format the text and add files, images, web links, multimedia, and mashups.
3. Alternatively, in the Attachments section, attach a file using one of the following two options:
   • To upload a file from your computer, click Browse My Computer.
   • If your institution licenses content management, click Browse Content Collection.
4. Click Save Draft to store a draft of the post or click Submit to publish your reply.

   If your instructor has associated a rubric with the discussion forum or thread, and made it available to students, you can view grading criteria before beginning your work. Click Grading Information to access the forum or thread's Grade page. Click View Rubric.

Save a Post as a Draft to Submit Later

The Save Draft function is available if you need to return to your post at a later time. This function saves your comments and files on the page.

To access your post later, return to the forum page and point to Display to access the drop-down list. Select Drafts Only to view the saved post. While viewing your post, point to it to view the functions for Edit and Delete. When you click Edit, the content editor opens.

You can make edits, add or delete files, and use the functions in the content editor. Click Submit to publish the post.

Source: https://help.blackboard.com/en-us/Learn/9.1_SP_14/Student/090_Tools/Discussion_Board/020_Threads