XF 1.4 Permissions Questions

[Denali]

I have several usergroups that imported over from our old VB forum. I've read here that all users should have their primary usergroup set to registered. Does this include the administrator?

Basically here's what I need to have-
>A new user group that has their first post moderated.
>An approved user group that can post freely after their first post is approved and sees slightly fewer adds than guests.
>A user group who sees fewer ads than the approved user group because they posts more frequently (I think I need an addon for this).
>A user group that sees no ads because they've contributed financially.
>Mods
>Admin

So, would I make the permissions of the registered users group be the "new user" group and have the others mentioned as secondary groups, with the approved user group being a promotion?

Also, how do I go about putting all users into that registered group?

Thanks in advance. Trying to wrap my head around permissions. I think I'm making it harder than it is, but am only used to VB.

 

[Amaury]

Yes, everyone should have Registered as their primary user group. Other user groups should be secondary.

This lovely resource of @Brogan's should have everything you need: Implementing permissions across multiple user groups

 

[Denali]

Got it, thanks Amaury.

Follow up question-

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how to implement this. Nearly half my users have their primary group as the registered user group, which currently allows for posting without moderation. Nearly half have their primary group as 'approved members' (the carryover from VB) which allows for posting freely as well. Currently there is no difference between the two groups from a permissions stand point.

I want the primary group to be registered of course, and I want it to have the first post go into moderation queue. Once approved, I want that user to be promoted to an "approved" group where they can post freely. The question I have is how do I switch everyone's primary user group to registered, and have the people who have multiple posts have the "approved" group as their secondary? Will this effect their ability to post right now?

 

[Amaury]

and I want it to have the first post go into moderation queue

In the forum options, you can choose to have threads be placed into the moderation. They're technically the first post, which might be what you're after:

Once approved, I want that user to be promoted to an "approved" group where they can post freely.

You can use user group promotions for this.

The question I have is how do I switch everyone's primary user group to registered, and have the people who have multiple posts have the "approved" group as their secondary?

You should be able to use the Batch Update Users function for this.

Will this effect their ability to post right now?

It depends. My recommendation would be to close down your forum for a short time while you get user groups all set up.

 

[Denali]

It depends. My recommendation would be to close down your forum for a short time while you get user groups all set up.

Hmm, I'm hoping for an alternative to disabling the forum. Can I use the batch update function to set their secondary group as well? That way, I could set all users primary group to registered, and all their secondary group to approved, and just change a couple handful manually. I can worry about new registrations first posts being approved from here on out. Does that sound right?

 

[Harpers Tate]

Just to add, based on our experience....

I think it works out best (at least - in my head!) to have two parallel hierarchies of secondary groups; one for regular members and the other for all of your team members (Mods and up) each with its own incremental set of permissions starting at Registered. Promotion schemes can be automatic (based, say on number of posts or trophies etc., if that's your preference) or a mixture in the Members hierarchy, and fully manual (based on role) within the "team" hierarchy.

Thus you have (I'll use Member level 2, 3, 4 as example terms - call them what you want)

For members.......
Primary Group for all = Registered.
Secondary groups for all =
Member level 2 (additional permissions vs. Registered only)
Member level 3 (additional permissions vs. level 2 only)
Member level 4 (additional permissions vs. level 3 only)
etc

And then, alongside, for your team.......
Primary Group for all = Registered.
Secondary groups for team =
Moderator (additional global permissions vs. Registered only)
SuperModerator (additional permissions vs. Moderator only)
Admin (additional permissions vs. SuperModerator only)

Some permissions may duplicate/overlap between the two parallel streams; you may want/need to give your "team" permissions that also apply only to promoted members. This duplication doesn't matter.

Thus (examples):
- at its lowest level, a (hypothetical if unlikely) otherwise junior member who is also a Moderator will be in groups Registered + Moderator only.
- a (more likely) level 3 member who is also a Moderator will be Registered + level 2 + level 3 + Moderator
- a level 3 member who is a SuperMod will be Registered + level 2 + level 3 + Moderator + Super Moderator
- an even more experienced Super will be Registered + level 2 + level 3 + level 4 + Moderator + Super Moderator
- an Admin will be as whicever is applicable above + Admin.

Doing it like this means that your "team" have an underlying permission set as per ordinary membership which will be in place if/when they have to quit their team role, which will be unaffected when you remove the team permissions (by removing them from the team groups).

FWIW