The first page of discussion forum gives you an overview of what forums is available:
Title
The name of forum.
Topic
The number of topics under a particular forum.
Reply
The number of messages under a particular forum.
New Messages Since Last Visit
The number of new messages under a particular forum since your last visit.
To View Forum Messages:
Click the title to view the Topics under it.
Click the Topic you want to view.
Under each topic, you can view and post messages. You can also use the search function to find the messages by keywords.
Click the message you want to view. You can also reply the messages
There are two viewing formats, Subject and Message or Subject in the dropdown box at the top right-hand corner. Select a format to proceed.
If you are assigned as the forum moderator, you can also remove the topic / message if necessary.
Click Close when finish viewing the messages.