Disabling Following

Disabling Following

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Hi there,

Does anyone know whether it's possible to disable 'following' altogether in Community v6.1?  

Thanks in advance, Sarah

Verified Answer
  • Sarah --

    'Following' cannot be disabled, but with some theme/widget customizations, the option to follow another user could at least be hidden.

    Both of these options suppose the use of the Fiji theme, but similar adjustments could be made for any theme.

    Option 1:  Simply hiding the button via CSS

    Try adding the following to the site's custom styles in Dashboard > Admin > Site Admin > Site Theme > Custom Styles.  The link will still be present, just not visible.

    .user-banner .internal-link.favorite-on,

    .user-banner .internal-link.favorite-off { display: none; }

    Option 2: Hiding the buttons by editing the widget and removing them from the User Banner widget in Widget Studio:

    Navigate to Widget Studio:

    Dashboard > Admin > Site Admin > Widget Studio > Manage Widgets > User Banner > Edit

    Delete lines 75 to 105 and Save.  This won't permanently change the widget, as it can always be reverted to its original state.

    Hope this helps!

All Replies
  • Hi Sarah -

    By "following", do you mean following a user?  Or subscribing to a forum thread?  Or something else?  Also, by 'disable', do you intend to deactivate it completely in the system, or to simply hide this functionality from the user?  

    In at least the latter case, this could be possible either purely via styling in a theme customization, or potentially by customizing widgets.  There is not currently a system-level setting for disabling this feature though.

    What do you have in mind?

  • Hi Michael,

    Thank you for your response.  Our intention is to disable the ability for users to 'follow' other users activity without becoming friends.  Ideally we would prefer to deactivate this functionality completely, but hiding it maybe the better option.

    If you have any other suggestions I would be most grateful!

    Many thanks, Sarah

  • Sarah --

    'Following' cannot be disabled, but with some theme/widget customizations, the option to follow another user could at least be hidden.

    Both of these options suppose the use of the Fiji theme, but similar adjustments could be made for any theme.

    Option 1:  Simply hiding the button via CSS

    Try adding the following to the site's custom styles in Dashboard > Admin > Site Admin > Site Theme > Custom Styles.  The link will still be present, just not visible.

    .user-banner .internal-link.favorite-on,

    .user-banner .internal-link.favorite-off { display: none; }

    Option 2: Hiding the buttons by editing the widget and removing them from the User Banner widget in Widget Studio:

    Navigate to Widget Studio:

    Dashboard > Admin > Site Admin > Widget Studio > Manage Widgets > User Banner > Edit

    Delete lines 75 to 105 and Save.  This won't permanently change the widget, as it can always be reverted to its original state.

    Hope this helps!

  • Thanks Michael - much appreciated.  

    Sarah