Deleting Messages

As the teacher, you'll find an additional control at the bottom of each message in the discussion groups that allows you to permanently delete the message (this is also discussed in Deleting Messages):

There's two important things to note:

• Deleting a message permanently removes it from everyone's topic listing. You are not just cleaning up old messages from your view of the discussion. Instead you are permanently removing the message from the system.

• Deleting a TOPIC permanently deletes all messages posted as follow-ups to that topic.

Think before you delete! Keep in mind:

• If you allow users to hide/unhide topics when you enable the module (see Hiding and Unhiding Topics) users can control which topics are listed in the topic index. Why delete old messages?

• As the teacher, you can use the "topic manager" (see Topic Manager) to mark any topic as teacher-hidden, so your students can't see it. That way, you still have access to the topic and its associated messages, and can unhide it at a later date if you want your students to see it again.

Good reasons to delete discussion group messages include:

• Someone has posted an inappropriate message that you want to censor.

• You just posted a message that contains an error, or you forgot to attach one or more files. (This ability to retract messages by deleting them is a teacher privilege!)