An online discussion is made up of a tree of comments, either as a consecutive series or as replies to other comments, but typically a mix of both.

Discussions are usually related to parent objects (like documents or rich media files). If Webtop has a page for the parent (for example a folder or a note), the discussion is usually embedded on that page. Otherwise, the discussion has its own standalone page.

Unlike other repository items, a discussion cannot be checked out or versioned, and cannot have multiple renditions. A discussion related to a parent cannot be selected or edited, and its properties are inaccessible.

When you check in a new version of a parent object, it shares the same discussion as the immediately preceding version (branch, minor, or major). First versions have new discussions. A WDK setting can change this default behavior so that discussions are only shared for each new minor or branch version (while major versions have new discussions), or that no versions of an object share a discussion (every version has its own). An object’s versions can provide a sort of timeline for an object, along with the comments in each discussion. When a discussion is shared by versions, version markers for each check-in appear among the comments.

Access to a discussion is the same as your access to its primary parent, which is either the CURRENT or most recent version. Typically, you can edit and delete only the comments that you create.

Copying an object also copies its discussion and includes copies of all comments (and replies to comments, etc.) and their original creation date, author, and ACL.