Update: Discussion Board Plus is now available from the Bamboo Solutions storefront.

You're in love with SharePoint, so it's the first item on your collaboration and community platform checklist when your boss asks you to build out forums for the company. But your friend, the LAMP guy, tells you that SharePoint's out-of-the-box Discussion Board List isn't the best choice for forums as a key component of a robust community platform. Don't worry! It's time to "confirm" your choice and show your friend that he's wrong… all you need is the assist of a free add-on.

And if you're also in the market for enhancements to your Team Site Discussion List because team members are being overly active and posting too many discussion threads and replies? Hey! This is a great time to look into an alternative that enhances the team Discussion list.

Bamboo Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint is the solution to your problem. The latest FREE Beta product from Bamboo Labs provides enhancements for the SharePoint Discussion Board List, along with a suite of Internet forum features that greatly improves the out-of-the-box SharePoint Discussion Board List.

Beta 1.0 of Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint  has just been released to Bamboo Labs with the following features:

(Note: Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint is available for SharePoint 2010 only):

Key Feature	Description
Act as the Internet style forum, fully integrated into SharePoint site	– Built on standard SharePoint Discussion Board List – Supports the status icon, resources, Ribbon menu, and more
Supports the new Forum View	This view provides the familiar Internet social community/forum
Supports three built-in views of Discussion Thread	– Flat view – Thread view – Append view
Lock the Discussion Thread	The admin can lock a thread and turn it into a read-only thread
Manage the Sticky Discussion Thread	Use this option to raise the profile of an important thread by moving it  to the top as a sticky thread
Suggest as Answer posts	Allow users the option to mark the post as an answer for the discussion thread
Support Verified the Answer posts	Allow users the option to mark the post as a suggestion for answer
View Counts	Counts the number of views of a thread, including views from anonymous users
Add Discussion Board Plus settings to the SharePoint Ribbon	Discussion Board Plus' settings and thread moderation option are available through the SharePoint Ribbon
Cross-browser support	IE and Firefox are supported, and the expectation is that it will work on Chrome and Safari as well
Support migration from the OOTB SharePoint Discussion Board to Discussion Board Plus	Provides the user a tool to migrate the existing threads/posts from the OOTB SharePoint Discussion Board to Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint
Integrate fully with Bamboo Rating	Easy to use our released Bamboo Rating custom column for SharePoint as a rating feature for Discussion Board Plus
Integrate fully with Bamboo List Search Simple Web Part	Enhance functionality with Bamboo List Search Simple Web Part
Support for SharePoint Foundation 2010/SharePoint Server 2010	Works with both Foundation and Server

 

Screenshot overview:

– The Forum view of Discussion Board Plus:

 

– Actions such as Lock Topic or Mark as Sticky are available via the Ribbon and Context menu:

 

– The Flat View:

 

– The Thread view:

 

– Integrated with Bamboo Rating custom column for ratings:

 

How to get the Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint to work in your SharePoint Site

Visit Bamboo Labs and download the latest package of Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint for your installation.

Follow our installation and configuration steps to get the Discussion Board Plus up and running in your SharePoint site.

Optionally, to migrate data from your existing out-of-the-box Discussion Board, follow the instructions for the (included) Discussion Board Plus Migration Tool.

 

System Requirements

– Operating System: Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2

– SharePoint 2010: Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

– Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 or higher

We welcome your feedback and invite you to visit the  Discussion Board Plus for SharePoint forum for product support.