XF 1.1 Making a private catagory for Admins?

[Soto_Black]

I am currently working on something I thought should have been pretty simple, but has not been. I set up a Category and Forum node for the administrators. The category called Administration and the forum section called General Administration. I set the permissions so that both nodes do not display to Registered or Unregistered.

However, whenever I deny Registered to being able to see the section, the Administrators can't see it either. Whatever changes I make to Registered have the same affect on Administrators. I have even gone as far as to remove myself from all groups except Administrator to ensure none of the permissions from other groups were affecting me, and I am still unable to view the section unless I allow Registered to see it as well.

I am sure there is a simple solution to this. I just can't figure it out.

 

[John L.]

You're trying to make a private forum? Simply check off "Private Node" and then under the permissions for the node give specific user groups permissions. So you go to your Administrators user group and set "View" to "Yes", etc. Pretty simple, unless I'm missing something.

 

[Paul B]

However, whenever I deny Registered to being able to see the section, the Administrators can't see it either.

That's because all users are in the Registered group as the default group.

See this for an explanation: http://xenforo.com/community/resources/implementing-permissions-across-multiple-user-groups.358/

 

[Biker]

I am currently working on something I thought should have been pretty simple, but has not been. I set up a Category and Forum node for the administrators. The category called Administration and the forum section called General Administration. I set the permissions so that both nodes do not display to Registered or Unregistered.

However, whenever I deny Registered to being able to see the section, the Administrators can't see it either. Whatever changes I make to Registered have the same affect on Administrators. I have even gone as far as to remove myself from all groups except Administrator to ensure none of the permissions from other groups were affecting me, and I am still unable to view the section unless I allow Registered to see it as well.

I am sure there is a simple solution to this. I just can't figure it out.

Remember, permissions are inherited downward from the first usergroup (normally your unregistered/guest usergroup). If you change a permission further down the line (such as your Registered usergroup) anything after that will inherit that permission as well. Even if you specifically GIVE permission to the Admin group, the Registered group permission is still going to over ride it.

 

[Soto_Black]

You're trying to make a private forum? Simply check off "Private Node" and then under the permissions for the node give specific user groups permissions. So you go to your Administrators user group and set "View" to "Yes", etc. Pretty simple, unless I'm missing something.

I just attempted that. I set it up so that both the nodes are set the private, and only Administrators and Moderators have the View Node set to Allow. Still no affect. It seems if Registered can't see it, then no one, not even Administrators can.

 

[John L.]

I just attempted that. I set it up so that both the nodes are set the private, and only Administrators and Moderators have the View Node set to Allow. Still no affect. It seems if Registered can't see it, then no one, not even Administrators can.

You don't need to specifically set Registered to not view. Leave it as default. Private nodes automatically hide everything from ALL usergroups unless you give it specific permissions

 

[Soto_Black]

I am still running into issues. Why is it that the lowest user group controls all the rest, even the admins? That seems somewhat backwards.

If the Registered is what controls everything, then I would have to allow Registered access to everything so that the Administrators have access too. It's just not making much sense to me. I read through the link and got somewhat of a better understanding, but it still seems it's backwards.

 

[Biker]

No no no no no.

Start with your Unregistered group. Give the bare minimum access that you want them to have. Do NOT prohibit anything.

Then you have your registered group. Again, do not prohibit anything. Give the bare acccess necessary for that group. It will filter through the rest of the groups. By the time you get to your Admin group, all you need to do is give access to the private forum.

 

[Soto_Black]

So I set it up so that Gradually more permissions are given as you go up the chain. Unregistered has only one thing set to allow. With my Registered users I allowed them more permissions such as posting and viewing nodes etc..
Then I set up my Administrators to have everything set to allow.

Again though, if the basic Registered user can't do something, neither can the Administrator.

I have set up my forum so that all the permissions for Registered and Unregistered are set to Not set down the board, and for the Administrators I set the forum section permissions to allow everything.

I feel like there is a core concept I am overlooking, or maybe I am stuck thinking about the process a different way than I should be.

 

[Ingenious]

Soto_Black, this is how I do it after creating a node and selecting it as a private one.

Make sure that your node permissions for the registered usergroup for the private forum are all set to "inherit" as shown (the unregistered permissions will also look the same):



Normally, this will allow usergroups to see the node, but not in this case, because you set it as private.

Then for your administration permissions you only need to set view node to "allow":




Note the LACK of "revoke" or "never" - Xenforo is different (better) than other platforms here, you don't use revoke or never to stop access to private forums, you need to get into the mindset of "inherit" then "allowing" access after setting it as "private".

When you get the hang of it, it's an amazing system since you can so quickly create numerous private forums just by creating new secondary usergroups for each one and setting "allow" as required.

 

[Biker]

Once you have the actual usergroup permissions set, then go to your nodes and set the permissions there. I find it much easier to set a Catergory before a group of actual forums, set the permissions for the category and allow the forums to inherit from the category.

So my public forums are displayed first. Everyone can view those, but only members can post. Then I have the members only forums where I only allow registered access. Then there are the staff forums which only the moderators and admins can see.

Again, if you prohibit one by saying "NEVER", that affects all other usergroups after it.

 

[Soto_Black]

Soto_Black, this is how I do it after creating a node and selecting it as a private one.

Make sure that your node permissions for the registered usergroup for the private forum are all set to "inherit" as shown (the unregistered permissions will also look the same):

View attachment 41734

Normally, this will allow usergroups to see the node, but not in this case, because you set it as private.

Then for your administration permissions you only need to set view node to "allow":

View attachment 41735


Note the LACK of "revoke" or "never" - Xenforo is different (better) than other platforms here, you don't use revoke or never to stop access to private forums, you need to get into the mindset of "inherit" then "allowing" access after setting it as "private".

When you get the hang of it, it's an amazing system since you can so quickly create numerous private forums just by creating new secondary usergroups for each one and setting "allow" as required.

This was the very first thing I did. It still did not work. I had given Registered the basic permissions such as viewing and posting and had everything else set to not set, and went on to give Administrator full permissions in their user groups. I went to the forum section and set it to Not Set down the line for everybody, except I set Administrative's Node View to Allow.

It still seems to have no affect, however if it still seems the registered user group dominates all the others as far as permissions go. If Registered cant' do something somewhere on the site, neither can any administrator even if given explicit permission.

 

[Ingenious]

Sounds like there's something else wrong, probably some permission you've overlooked. Might be worth getting someone to log in as an admin and check for you. Also have you checked permissions for any parent node, in case they're being inherited down?

 

[Soto_Black]

Sounds like there's something else wrong, probably some permission you've overlooked. Might be worth getting someone to log in as an admin and check for you. Also have you checked permissions for any parent node, in case they're being inherited down?

If you would be willing, I would really appreciate it if you would take a look at things on our end. I am pretty much at my wits end lol. I could set you up an administrator account and message the details.