Locking forums for guests?

[Chruser]

I've talked to several people about this, but they said it would be impossible without alot of coding. I want to give the unregistered users a "permission denied" message once they try to read a forum.

These three things are NOT acceptable solutions:
1) The users get into the category, but it displays no threads.
2) The users can't see any categories at all on the main forum list.
3) The users can't enter the main list at all.

I'm not asking how to do it, I'm just asking if it would be possible to do it without alot of work? If not, I might not concider to buy my own forums, and I guess I'll just stick to the old ones I administrate for my friends.

[Wayne Luke]

Actually it takes one setting in the forums to disallow guests from seeing anything.

If you look in the admin control panel demo, you will see a section called "UserGroups and Permissions". Click on Guests/Not Logged In". Set the "Can View Board" permission to no and they can't see anything until they log in.

Not only that but you can apply this selectively to each individual forum if you wish so that guests can see some forums but not others.

[Chruser]

Originally posted by wluke
Actually it takes one setting in the forums to disallow guests from seeing anything.

If you look in the admin control panel demo, you will see a section called "UserGroups and Permissions". Click on Guests/Not Logged In". Set the "Can View Board" permission to no and they can't see anything until they log in.

Not only that but you can apply this selectively to each individual forum if you wish so that guests can see some forums but not others.

I already said that blocking the entire forums wouldn't be acceptable, and I think that "selective setting" would only allow me to either hide the whole "subforum". Either way, none of that would help, I already tested it on the Zel forums :(

I think that would be a way to attract more members (or atleast force them to sign up). If the main listing is empty, then the guests will think the whole forum is worthless, and if the threads are gone, they might think there's a bug on the forums, and obviously, the idea that they can sign up to view the threads won't hit them.

[JamesUS]

If I am understanding your request correctly, you simply set guests 'can read others' threads' permission to 'no', then they can only read their own threads. And seeing as they don't have any of their own threads to read they can't read any :)

It's probably best to test this out on our admin demo in case of problems - I'm not certain I exactly understand your question.

[Chruser]

In short, I want to know if it's possible to show the unregistered users a "permission denied" message for instance, that will ask them politely to log in. Hiding other's threads isn't an option either. I guess I'll have to live with it though, and get a setup of vbb anyway, but I really wish this was possible :(

I know for a fact that it is on phpbb, for instance. The main list shows up, but when you click on "off-topic" or whatever, a login screen shows up, and tells the guest that he has to sign up in order to read the forum content.

[JamesUS]

Yes that is possible. Just set the guest not to be able to read any forums, then set 'hide private forums' to 'no'. Again I'm not totally clear on your requirements but it sounds like that will work.

[ImageConstrux]

Is it also possible to give people just a taste, then make 'em register if they want to get another fix?

Like giving them a one-day pass, and when it's gone, they have to ante up their info to keep the ride going.

[Chruser]

James, I tried that on the other boards (yeah, I have the permission to do whatever I want :p), but nothing really helps :(
It just hides the forums.

[JamesUS]

Did you set the Hide Private Forums option to 'no' in the options page?

[Chruser]

I finally got that part to work now, thanks :)
I'll buy a copy right away, as soon as I figure out how to withdraw my money from paypal.

[Chruser]

Crap, I just realized that displays ALL forums, including the hidden ones. I guess there's no way to fix that though, is there?

Hmm, maybe I'll survive without the "access denied" message after all :(

[steffx]

Me too... i'm trying to find a way so they can see the forums menu... but once they click, it says that they have to register to see the threads :) but i can't find any options about it

[ManagerJosh]

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http://www.vbulletin.com/members/me...rt_priority.php (http://www.vbulletin.com/members/membersupport_priority.php)

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If you still have problems after doing this, send an email to support@vbulletin.com. Please include your user name, the email address you registered with and your customer number so we can fix the problem.

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