Using bboard requires an operating ACS 4.0.1 installation. If you haven't upgraded, do so first. Installing and enabling the bboard package should be relatively painless, just: go to your server's /acs-admin/apm/package-load page, enter "www.arsdigita.com/acs-repository/download/apm/bboard-4.0.2.apm" in the first text box click the button and follow the instructions If you're reading this on your own server, you've probably already done this. Once the package is installed and enabled, a subsite administrator can mount instances on their subsite. If you're the lone über-admin of your site, you can just go to your site's /admin/site-map/ page and: create a new subfolder under the "/" directory Pick a creative label for your subfolder like "bboard" or "dgroup" Select "new application" for that subfolder, and choose BBoard from the pulldown menu. It is probably best to label the application instance the same as your subfolder; do otherwise if it helps you keep your site straight. At this point you should have a BBoard instance mounted in the subfolder directory - for the rest of this document I assume that you've choosen "/bboard". Before you can start using the Bboard you have to create some forums: log in as an administrator surf to /bboard and click "Create a forum" After you've created one or more forums you can specify the settings for your instance of Bboard from the Site Map (click set parameters). Most of the setting you see require a "t" (for true) or "f" (for false). The rest should be self-explanatory. ThreadingEnabledP This enables or disables threading indentation on a single thread basis. "t" enables threading and "f" (the default) turns it off. MailFriendEnabledP This enables the option for users to mail copies of a bboard posting to a friend (or themselves). Since this functionality can be abused, consider disabling the functionality. UserPostsEditableP This grants users privileges to edit their own message. Note: toggling this parameter will not change the ability of user to edit existing messages. This parameter only effects whether users are granted rights to edit at the message's posting time. This must be enabled for attachments to work. UserPostsDeletableP This grants users privileges to delete their own message. Note: This parameter only effects whether users are granted rights to edit their message's with the UserPostsEditableP. AttachmentsEnabledP This lets users who have edit capability on a message upload file or image attachments. MaxAttachmentSize This specifies the maximum size in bytes to accept for binary attachments. The default is 1 megabyte. DisplayLastNDays This parameter controls how many days worth of recent messages are displayed on the forum overview page by default. 0 specifies that all messages should be displayed. If you want to learn how to set more advanced parameters of your Bboard instance, read .