Forums in Read Only mode, when closed

[Floren]

I think this option is small but very important.
When I close my board, I would like to have the choice of allowing the users to read the forums, but not be able to post. My logic is explained, below.

 

[Shamil]

I still think we can use localstorage() for this. All major modern browsers support it. The security concerns can be partially resolved using time keys for specific domains.

 

[Erik]

I still think we can use localstorage() for this. All major modern browsers support it. The security concerns can be partially resolved using time keys for specific domains.

No, it is not supported by all major browsers:

 

[Shamil]

It's workin on Chrome, Firefox, Opera on mac for me. All the latest stable versions on Windows is fine. I'd say it is. PS, I don't know anyone running Opera 10.1 on a Mac. Everyone who I know who uses Opera on a Mac is using 10.5 at least.

As said, the fallback would be to tell the user that the post hasn't been submitted, and offer the post content to them, to save on their computer.

 

[Trevor]

xF 1.5

 

[Floren]

I still think the best option is to force users into guests.
I don't see the rush to post something right away...

 

[Dean]

I still think the best option is to force users into guests.
I don't see the rush to post something right away...

Sounds good.

If I needed to take our forum offline frequently and wanted to leave it in read only mode while doing so, I would probably install a simple count down timer which the admin could set, and when it counted down to zero it would put all non-admins into the 'guest group'.

 

[Fred.]

Good idea, i also find read-only mode a must have.

 

[Decent60]

I still think the best option is to force users into guests.
I don't see the rush to post something right away...

The only problem that I have on my forums, is that there are special groups of members. Let's say that I have GamerA who only has access to GameA sections on the forums (GamerB has access to GameB sections and not GameA sections). That would limit his viewing extremely as guest only have access to universal information: News and Updates, General Chat, Bugs, and Support.
A universal method would be to simply disable account changes, posting, and editing posts. I would have love this feature when we revamped our site, changing and moving sections around and moving posts all over the place to comply with the new sections. Instead, we closed down the board for 72 hours which caused more headaches than anything from the emails we've received. When we revised it again, we manually changed the permissions on all the sections to a "Read-Only" setting...but changing them back was a tedious and extremely painful experience. This could have saved the time by allowing us to do that without causing much of a problem. All database designing should have the site Shutoff completely to prevent corruption.

 

[Floren]

Disabling account changes, postings and editing posts will not solve the session writings that store constantly what threads you read already, for example. The only viable alternatives are: force users into Guests, or use localstorage() and risk to have an unsupported browser in use, which defeats the purpose of using that function in the first place.

IMO, the best solution is to force users into Guests.
It should not be very hard to accomplish, all you have to do is process a silent logout.

 

[Paul M]

It would also need to silently log you back in again when the forum was re-opened, otherwise you would have a lot of very unhappy users.

 

[James]

It would also need to silently log you back in again when the forum was re-opened, otherwise you would have a lot of very unhappy users.

Is this feasible?

 

[Decent60]

Disabling account changes, postings and editing posts will not solve the session writings that store constantly what threads you read already, for example. The only viable alternatives are: force users into Guests, or use localstorage() and risk to have an unsupported browser in use, which defeats the purpose of using that function in the first place.

IMO, the best solution is to force users into Guests.
It should not be very hard to accomplish, all you have to do is process a silent logout.

Ah, yeah, I forgot about the session writings. Then yes, assigning users as Guests would be the only valid solution.

 

[Jethro]

You can't force me

Did it for ya

 

[Floren]

It would also need to silently log you back in again when the forum was re-opened, otherwise you would have a lot of very unhappy users.

The users will see a notice type message (below the nav breadcrumbs) that tells them they are viewing the forum as quests, because x reason (software update, server setup, etc.).

Here's Kier's funny message on one of his (nonXenForo) forums:

Working on the forum bugs. To avoid hurting your eyes with white pages and horrible error messages, we've closed the board. Since you might be one of "many people" who will complain and get upset for no reason, we decided to log you off so you can still browse the forums as Guest. Feel free to log back, once the forums are open... or report us to authorities.

The bold part is my contribution to his original message.

 

[Simon]

I like this idea very much. Probably best to force users as guests. I like the idea of the countdown time too advising users when the forum is due to open.

 

[Vincent]

I'mma give this a little boost here, it has 70 likes and no Developer posts

 

[Grover]

Essential: Users don't lose their post when they click Submit while my forum is down for maintenance.

Exactly, you are the first one to mention this most important factor in this discussion. I like the idea of the forum being read-only when doing maintenance, but the fact that people are loosing the complete contents of their postings -that they were in the process of writing- when a board suddenly get's in offline/maintenance mode is a serious issue that needs to be solved first.

(I remember requesting this more then 5 (!) years ago for a certain other forum package I am still running: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...raft-Feature?p=1013238&viewfull=1#post1013238)

 

[Floren]

All modern browsers save your post, if you click on Back button. Chrome does, so get a decent browser.
Personally (as admin), I DO NOT care if any user did not saved ONE post (or hundreds) in the minute they tried to post. It is more important for me to create a reliable backup or perform an emergency maintenance that will benefit the entire community.

 

[Robert Prost]

Having a read-only maintenance mode is very important. This should be top priority!

 

[rdn]

Very nice Suggestion