Extending forum permissions

Extending forum permissions

  • I realise this may have been answered before, in which case a pointer to the answer would be appreciated, otherwise...

    I've created open and closed forums via changing the permissions on who can post and reply to them, but if a user isn't allowed to post then he gets a terse message telling him he can't.

    I need to add the ability for a user to be able to request permission to join a forum. Has this been done before?

  • There isn't anything built into Community Server that does this.  You can write a FAQ that tells users to send you or some one else a request, but I am not aware of anyone who has done this.  Have you done a search?

  • You could customise the permissions error page (which the user is directed to when trying to access the forum) to include details of how to gain access?

  • A search on the forums didnt return much, and Googling returned a cached copy of a similar feature request from a previous version in a now deleted forum.

    The customer needs something similar to Yahoo Groups, where you have to join a forum before you can post, either automatically or by asking the moderator. I'll then need to maintain a list of which forums a user is a member of. I can edit the message that says "Access Denied: Post Permission Denied" and add a link to email the moderator of that forum. Do you know which controls I could use to get the moderator's email address, given that the CS model allows for multiple moderators of any forum?  As for forum membership, I think that's something I'll need to build myself.

  • One way that might make the management easier for you would be to create a user role, a moderator role, etc., for each forum.  This will be a lot of roles, but it would allow you to manage users much easier as you just add or remove them from roles to control access, rather than changing their individual permissions to the forum.  It's much easier to do reporting on role as well.

    Take it easy,
    Bill

  • Great - this sounds like a good way to go, because I don't really have the available development time for anything more involved.

    One problem tho: the new post button links to AddPost.aspx which gets rewritten as web/themes/[THEME NAME]/forums/createeditpost.aspx. At some point it checks if the user has permission to post, and if not redirects the page to msgs/default.aspx?MessageID=32 (presumably via another rewritten URL).

    I can't fine where it does the redirection to the generic message page. Am I being stupid?