FluentCommunity Glossary

A reference for every term used across FluentCommunity. If you encounter an unfamiliar word in the documentation, find it here.

TIP

Terms marked (Pro) require the FluentCommunity Pro plan.

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A

Access Control: The privacy setting that determines who can view a Space and its content. The three levels are Public, Private, and Secret. Configured in Space Settings → Privacy. See also: Space Settings & Privacy.

Actions (Automation): Outcomes triggered by an automation rule. Examples: Add to Space, Remove from Space, Assign Badge. Used in FluentCRM's Automation Builder after a Trigger fires. See also: Connecting with FluentCRM.

Activity Feed: A chronological stream of community events — new posts, comments, reactions, and member joins. Displayed on the Global Feed and within individual Spaces.

Add-ons: Optional feature modules that extend FluentCommunity beyond its core set. Enabled or disabled individually from the Features & Modules section in the admin dashboard.

Admin Dashboard: The command center for managing your community. Accessible from FluentCommunity in the WordPress admin menu. Contains sections for Portal Settings, Modules, Courses, and analytics.

Admin (Space Admin): A member role with full control over a specific Space — managing members, editing settings, and moderating content. Distinct from the WordPress-level Site Admin. See also: Assigning User Roles.

B

Badge (Pro): A visual achievement symbol awarded to members for reaching milestones or being manually assigned by an admin. Displayed on member profiles and in the leaderboard. See also: Creating & Assigning Badges.

Badge Notification: An in-app alert sent to a member when they earn a new badge.

Blank Template: A Setup Wizard template that creates an empty community with no pre-configured Spaces. Best for experienced users who want full control from the start. See also: The Setup Wizard.

Block Member: An admin or moderator action that permanently removes a user's ability to participate in a specific Space.

BuddyPress: A WordPress plugin for community features. FluentCommunity includes a migration tool to import BuddyPress Groups, memberships, and activity posts. See also: BuddyPress Migration.

C

Classic Layout: One of two Course presentation styles. Displays lessons in a traditional sidebar-list format. Chosen in Course Settings → Layout. See also: Course Layouts & Enrollment.

Comment: A response to a Post or another Comment within a Space. Supports mentions, reactions, and nested replies.

Community Name: The public-facing name of your portal. Set during the Setup Wizard and editable in Portal Settings.

Community Slug: The URL path for your community portal (e.g., yourdomain.com/community). Set in Portal Settings → Change Community URL.

Community URL: The full web address where your community portal is accessible. Composed of your domain and the Community Slug.

Content Reporting: A system that lets members flag Posts or Comments as inappropriate. Flagged content appears in the admin moderation queue for review. See also: Content Moderation.

Core Modules: The foundational features of FluentCommunity that are always active. Distinct from Add-ons, which are optional.

Course (Pro): A structured learning container made up of Modules and Lessons. Each Course can have its own enrollment settings, layout, and access control. See also: Creating Your First Course.

Course Layout (Pro): The visual presentation style of a Course. Choose between Classic Layout (sidebar list) or Modern Layout (card-based). See also: Course Layouts & Enrollment.

Course Space: A Space type dedicated to housing a Course. When selected as the Space Type during creation, it activates course-specific settings and the course content tab.

Cover Photo: A banner image displayed at the top of a Space page. Recommended size: 1600×500px.

D

Dark Mode: A display preference that switches the community interface to a dark color scheme. Controlled by the member's profile settings.

Default Post Sort By: A Space-level setting that controls how Posts are ordered for all members when they first load the Space. It overrides the portal-wide default set in Feed Sorting, whose options are New Activity, Latest, Oldest, Popular, Likes, Alphabetical, and Unanswered.

Direct Messaging (DM) (Pro): Private one-on-one text conversations between community members. Accessed via the chat bubble icon in the navigation bar. See also: Direct Messaging (Pro).

Discussion Space: The standard Space type for community discussions, posts, and comments. The default type when creating a new Space.

Drip Content (Pro): A Course enrollment mode that releases lessons on a time-based schedule after a student enrolls, rather than all at once.

E

Email Digest: A periodic email summary of community activity sent to members based on their notification preferences.

Email Notifications: Alerts delivered to a member's email address for community events such as replies, mentions, and badge awards. Managed via email template settings. See also: Customizing Email Templates (Pro).

Enrollment (Pro): The act of a student gaining access to a Course. Enrollment type options include Open (free), Paid (via Paymattic), and Manual (admin-assigned). See also: Course Layouts & Enrollment.

Enrollment Type (Pro): The rule that governs how students gain access to a Course. Set per Course in Course Settings.

F

Featured Image: A large banner image used for a Space or Post. Used as the Open Graph image when sharing links on social media. Recommended size: 1200×630px.

Featured Members: A widget on the Space sidebar that highlights selected members. Configured in Space settings.

Filter (WordPress Hook): A type of WordPress hook that intercepts and modifies data before it is used. Used by developers to customize FluentCommunity output.

FluentCommunity: A WordPress plugin for building online communities with Spaces, posts, courses, gamification, and real-time chat.

FluentCRM: A WordPress-based CRM and email marketing plugin by WPManageNinja. Integrates with FluentCommunity to trigger automations when members take actions. See also: Connecting with FluentCRM.

Fluent Ecosystem: The suite of WordPress plugins made by WPManageNinja — FluentCommunity, FluentCRM, Fluent Forms, Fluent Support, and FluentSMTP — designed to work together.

FluentSMTP: A WordPress plugin for reliable transactional email delivery. Recommended for ensuring community notification emails reach member inboxes.

Fluent Forms: A WordPress form builder by WPManageNinja. Integrates with FluentCommunity to add members to Spaces on form submission. See also: Connecting with Fluent Forms.

G

Gamification Module (Pro): The system that powers Points, Badges, Levels, and Leaderboards within FluentCommunity. Enabled as a module in the admin dashboard. See also: Configuring the Points System.

Global Feed: The main community homepage feed, showing Posts from all public Spaces a member belongs to. The first page members see after logging in. See also: Global Feed.

Group Chat (Pro): A real-time text chat room attached to a specific Space. All Space members can participate. See also: Using Group Chat (Pro).

H

Hook (WordPress): An extension point in FluentCommunity's code where developers can attach custom PHP functions. Comes in two types: Actions (run code at an event) and Filters (modify data).

I

In-App Notifications: Real-time alerts that appear inside the community interface (via the bell icon) when activity relevant to the member occurs. No email required. See also: In-App Notification Settings.

Integration: A connection between FluentCommunity and another plugin or service (e.g., FluentCRM, Paymattic, Webhooks) that enables data to flow between them.

L

Leaderboard (Pro): A ranked list of members sorted by their total Points. Displayed in the community sidebar or on a dedicated page. See also: Setting Up Leaderboards.

Left Sidebar: The primary navigation panel on the community frontend. Displays Space groups, individual Spaces, and navigation links.

Level (Pro): A membership tier earned by accumulating Points. Reaching a Level can automatically trigger role changes or badge awards via Level-Up automation.

Level-Up (Pro): An automated event that fires when a member reaches a defined Point milestone, optionally assigning a new role or badge. See also: Setting Up Leaderboards.

Link Space (Pro): A Space type that redirects members to an external URL instead of displaying community content. Useful for linking to external resources in the sidebar.

Lock Screen: The screen shown to non-members when they visit a Private or Secret Space. Can be customized with a message, image, and call-to-action button. See also: Customizing the Lockscreen.

M

Member: The default role for any user who joins a community Space. Has permission to read content and create Posts and Comments, subject to Space settings.

Member Directory: A searchable listing of all community members. Accessible from the main navigation. See also: The Member Directory.

Member Request: A pending application from a user asking to join a Private Space. Admins and Moderators approve or reject requests from the Space's Members tab.

Mention: A way to tag another community member in a Post or Comment using @username. The tagged user receives a mention notification.

Modern Layout (Pro): A card-based Course presentation style. Chosen in Course Settings → Layout. See also: Course Layouts & Enrollment.

Module: A self-contained feature component that can be enabled or disabled independently in the admin dashboard. Examples: Gamification, Courses, File Library, Group Chat.

Moderator: A member role with permissions to edit and delete Posts and Comments within a specific Space. Cannot change Space settings or manage other Moderators. See also: Assigning User Roles.

N

Notification Badge: The red count indicator on the bell icon showing the number of unread in-app notifications.

Notification Center: The panel that opens when clicking the bell icon. Lists all unread and recent in-app notifications.

O

Open Graph Image: The image shown when a Space or Post URL is shared on social media. Uses the Featured Image if set. Recommended size: 1200×630px.

P

Paymattic: A WordPress payment plugin by WPManageNinja. Integrates with FluentCommunity to gate Space or Course access behind a payment. See also: Connecting with Paymattic.

Point Milestone (Pro): A defined Points threshold that triggers a Level-Up event when a member reaches it.

Points System (Pro): A configurable system that awards numerical Points to members for actions like posting, commenting, and completing courses. Foundation for Levels and Leaderboards. See also: Configuring the Points System.

Portal: The community frontend — the pages and interface that members interact with. Configured via Portal Settings in the admin dashboard.

Portal Settings: The admin section for configuring community-wide settings: branding, URL, notification behavior, email templates, and analytics.

Post: The primary content unit within a Space. Members create Posts to start discussions, share updates, or ask questions. Supports rich text, images, and file attachments.

Private (Space): An access level where the Space appears in the directory but only members can see its content. Non-members see the Lock Screen. See also: Space Settings & Privacy.

Public (Space): An access level where any site visitor can see the Space and its content without joining.

Q

Quiz Module (Pro): An assessment tool that lets instructors add multiple-choice or open-ended questions to Course Lessons. See also: Using the Quiz Module.

R

Right Sidebar: The secondary sidebar on the community frontend. Displays discovery widgets such as Leaderboards, Featured Members, and Recent Activity.

Role: A permission level assigned to a community member. The three built-in roles are Member, Moderator, and Admin. Roles are per-Space, not site-wide. See also: Assigning User Roles.

S

Secret (Space): The strictest access level. The Space does not appear in the directory and is accessible only via a direct link or invitation.

Self-Paced (Pro): A Course enrollment mode where students progress through lessons at their own speed with no time restrictions.

Setup Wizard: A guided onboarding flow that configures your community name, template, and initial settings during the first install. See also: The Setup Wizard.

Site Admin: A WordPress Administrator with full access to all FluentCommunity settings and every Space. Equivalent to the WordPress admin role.

Space: The core organizational unit of FluentCommunity — a dedicated area for a specific topic, group, or course. Similar to a forum category, Facebook Group, or Slack channel. See also: Creating a New Space.

Space Group: A labeled folder in the left sidebar used to organize related Spaces. Mainly navigational, but a group's Show Spaces Even if the User is not a Member of any Space setting affects whether its Spaces are visible to non-members. See Space Groups.

Space Slug: The URL-friendly version of a Space's title, used in its web address (e.g., /community/general-discussion).

Space Type: The functional classification of a Space. Options: Discussion Space, Course Space (Pro), Link Space (Pro).

T

Trigger (Automation): An event in FluentCommunity that starts an automation workflow in FluentCRM. Examples: User Joins a Space, User Completes a Course, User Levels Up. See also: Connecting with FluentCRM.

Thumbnail: A smaller preview image for a Space or Post. Used in directory listings and feed previews.

U

Unpublish: A moderation action that hides a Post or Comment from public view without permanently deleting it.

W

Webhook: An HTTP endpoint used to pass data between systems. FluentCommunity's Incoming Webhook gives you a URL that external services can send data to, automatically adding users to Spaces or Courses. See also: Incoming Webhook.

Welcome Banner: A banner shown on the global feed to logged-in and/or logged-out visitors, with image or video media, a title, description, and call-to-action buttons. Optionally dismissible. See Welcome Banner.

WordPress Administrator: The highest WordPress user role. Has unrestricted access to all FluentCommunity admin settings, Spaces, and member data.

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