Private Forum Guidance

[Me2Be]

I guess I'm a tad bit confused...

Currently I have 3 private forums:

Forum 1 is given access to read and post (manually) for anyone over 20 posts (sensitive content)
Forum 2 is for my moderators
Forum 3 is for my staff

Everyone in Forum 3 will have access to 1 & 2
Everyone in Forum 2 will have access to 1

So, how do I do this? (step-by-step please :))

[bira]

I'll gladly help you (since I have two forums that are exactly what you want - one only for memebers with 30+ posts and another only for the moderators) but I have one quick question first - which of those forums, if any, do you want visible on the forum homepage (meaning, everyone can see they exist although not all can access them).

[Me2Be]

Bira, THANK YOU!!!

Forum 1 should be visible
Forums 2 and 3 should be invisible (but not a requirement)

[bira]

OK, Here goes then :)

(All steps here refer to action taken in the control panel)

1. Forum 1: access to read and post for anyone over 20 posts. The steps bellow will create a forum whose title and description and link are visible on the front page of your Bulletin Board, however only those users whom you have added to the "Private Forum Member" group will be able to access it, read it and post in it.

Steps for setting Forum 1:

Create the new forum in "Forums". In its settings, choose the Display Order (where you want it to show on the BB's front page) and be sure to select "Yes" for "Forum Enabled"; "Allow posting/editing"; and "Private forum". (All the rest of the settings are entirely up to your choice). Click submit, and set the moderators of your choice.

Go to "User Groups and Permissions".


If your 20+ members already belong to a group you created, skip this. If you don't already have a usergroup for such users, then create a new group, for example call it "Private Forum Member" (ours is called Paddock Club Members - for ease of use).

Leave "User Status" empty (this, I think, refers to the title that appears under the username in posts.) Set the permissions of this usergroup - such as "can view board" (yes), "can search" (yes), "can use e-mail to friend" (yes), "can post new threads" (yes), "can reply" (yes), "can do admin edits" (no), "can edit own posts" (yes), "can delete own posts" (yes), "can open / close threads" (no), "can move threads to other forums" (no), "can accesss control panel" (no). Click "Sumbit".

(note: the options in brackets above are the options I have).


Go to "Modify forums" under "User Groups and Permissions". Here you will see a list of ALL the usergroups your BB has. Ignore the auto-generated moderators and the Administrators group (since they are allowed access). Now, for each of the usergroups that you DO NOT allow access to that new forum (registered users, users awaiting e-mail confirmation, not registered), you have to do the following: click on "add forumpermission" next to that usergroup; Choose your new private forum in the "Forum" scrolldown list; and select "No" to all the options under. Click "submit" and repeat for all other usergroups whom are not allowed in that forum.

Once you have done all that, now you need to add users to the usergroup you created (the one I call "Paddock Club Member"). You do that by going to the "Users" section, and modifying in the scroll-down list the usergroup of each and every user that you ALLOW access to this forum.



2. Forum 2: access to read and post for moderators. The steps bellow will create a forum who is invisible to everyone (will not appear on your BB's front page) and only the moderators/administrators will be able to access it (by first knowing the URL to it, and by the fact that they have the rights to access it).

Steps for setting Forum 2:

Create the new forum in "Forums". In the "Display Order" be sure to put 0 (zero) so it will not show on the front page of your BB, and in the settings bellow that, be sure to select "Yes" for "Forum Enabled"; "Allow posting/editing"; and "Private forum". (All the rest of the settings are entirely up to your choice). Click submit, and set the moderators of your choice.

Go to "Modify forums" under "User Groups and Permissions". Ignore the auto-generated moderators and the Administrators group (since they are allowed access). Now, for each of the usergroups that you DO NOT allow access to that new forum (registered users, users awaiting e-mail confirmation, not registered, Private Forum Member), you have to click on "add forumpermission" next to that usergroup; Choose your new private forum in the "Forum" scrolldown list; and select "No" to all the options under. Click "submit" and repeat for all other usergroups whom are not allowed in that forum.



Now, for your administrators and moderators to be able to access this forum, they need the direct URL, which would look like this http://www.yourdomain.com/path-to-bb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=$forumid whereby the forumid number is the number of the forum (you can find out which number it is by going to "Forums" -> "Modify" and placing the mouse on the link to "Edit" next to that sought-after forum. You will see in the link's URL that forum's ID number.) So for example, if your Moderator's Forum ID is 16, the URL will be http://www.yourdomain.com/path-to-bb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=16 -- all moderators or administrators who will go to this link in your BB, will access that private forum. All others who may accidentally try to go to that forum will get an error page telling them they don't have access to this page.


3. Forum 3: access to read and post for staff. You did not mention whether staff refers to administrators (existing usergroup) or to others who may be just registered users.

If they are of an existing usergroup (ie, Administrator) then repeat all the steps I mentioned above for Forum2, only change the "addforumpermission" next to the moderators as well (ie, that they are not allowed to access this forum). If they are not of an existing usergroup, then repeat all the steps I mentioned for Forum1, only put 0 (zero) in the "Display Order" for this forum's settings, and change the "addforumpermission" next to all the other usergroups except for that of "staff".

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I did my best to make this as clear as possible. Hopefully, I was clear and I hope this helps you. I don't know that there is an easier way to do this but I think that once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy (or at least straight forward).


Please, if you have questions then don't hesitate to ask.

Cheers,

Bira

[Edited by bira on 06-22-2000 at 01:20 PM]

[werehere]

WOW bira,

Excellent instructions! I wish we had a rating system here so I could give this thread a high rating :)

[bira]

werehere, thanks! :)

I am actually working on a very user-friendly (and instructive) vB control panel version. When I am finished, I will offer it to John so he can perhaps integrate it in his release. I am doing it because I plan to pass on ALL BB work to my admins (currently I'm doing it all, and it shouldn't be my job - I am an editor), and right now I'm afraid that one look at the Control Panel makes them faint :)

Anyways, I figure that a more instructive and userfriendly design/interface to the Control Panel will save A LOT of questions for you guys as well :)

Cheers,

Bira

[werehere]

It most certainly would save a lot of headaches if it were more intuitive :)

[Me2Be]

Bira, you are an angel!!! Thank you so much! It worked too!


Now, a twist on that - what if I want forums 2 & 3 to be viewable -- what would be different

[bira]

Me2Be, a very small twist actually - you change the "Display Order" on the forum's settings from 0 (zero) to any other number.

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By the way, there is one thing I forgot to tell you:

in "Options" -> "Change Options" -> "Forum Home Page Options", I have chosen "No" the option "hideprivateforums".

I haven't tried, and I'm not sure, but I think that if you choose "Yes" to this option, then you will have your forums visible (provided you set a Display Order higher than 0) but only to those with permissions to access them.

I didn't want this, because after all I want people to know we have an exclusive, private forum so they can aspire to join it and request to do so. Which is why I chose "No" to "Hide Private Forums".

Cheers,

Bira