By default, instaling the Discussions add-on creates a new page under your "Home" page called "Forums".  As this is concrete5, "Forums" is just another page.  You can call this area of your site whatever you want just by renaming the page from its page properties.

Discussion Forum Page Structure

Just as the "Forums" page is just another page, you can create new areas to talk in by creating new pages.  Use the "Add Page" button from the concrete5 edit bar and choose the "Discussion" page type.

When you add a new 'Discussion' page, your forum will be named after the page name.  If you add a description, that will show up in the list of discussions on the parent page.  Each discussion page also has some options available in the form of custom attributes. The Anonymous posting options are fairly self explanatory.

Picking a Discussion Image will show that image in the list of discussions visitors see when at the parent page.  Discussion mode controls whether the messages will "thread" and show up with indententation as people respond to various messages or "flat" with messages displayed in cronological order.  Discussion Moderation will allow the discussions administrator to control what gets posted or not.

All these options can be changed from the Custom Attributes tab of page properties.

All of the settings changed here will actually supercede any settings assigned in the Dashboard.  

Monitoring And Moderation

Every discussion and discussion topic has a "Monitor" option.  If a user or the discussion moderator clicks this link, they will get an email whenever a new reply or topic is posted.  It is possible to monitor individual discussions or entire forums.

When Moderation is enabled, the forums administrator will recieve an email when a new post is made.  The email includes a link to the location in the dashboard where the message can be reviewed and then either approved or deleted.  Forum users are notified of the status of the message and its progression through moderation.

Closed Discussions

The Discussion Forums add-on includes a Custom Page Attribute called "Discussion is Closed." Apply the attribute to a page type to prevent new threads from being posted under a Discussion, like the Announcements forum. Or, apply it to a single thread in the Announcements forum to prevent folks from posting new replies.

Just mouse over the Edit pencil icon, click Properties from the dropdown menu and then the Custom Attribute tab. Select "Discussion is Closed" from the left menu (if it's not already applied to the page) and make sure the checkbox in the right column is checked.

Users can still "monitor" these posts (receive email notification of new messages) but they will not be able to post a new thread or reply.