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[Solved] Privacy of forums based on user access level

10 Posts
2 Users
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Posts: 237
Topic starter
(@mrsamg)
Reputable Member
Joined: 8 years ago

When a user doesn't have the user access level to see a particular forum, they can still see the title of a user's most recent post in any forum from their profile. And when that link is clicked it just comes up with a blank page - because they don't have access. However, the web address and breadcrumb still show the forum name and topic title.

Can the user profile be set up to only display the last post based on the viewing user's access level? The same goes for the recent posts and topics widgets.

All of this potentially exposes content that should be hidden. For example, I want to have one forum that is essentially internal for those users who write content for my site and I don't want it visible to those who are users of the customer facing forum. Likewise, I want to have a forum for moderators that is also fully private to them.

9 Replies
Robert
Posts: 10503
Admin
(@robert)
Support Team
Joined: 8 years ago

Thank you SamHunter,

sure, this is under improvement, we'll go through all these issues.

Posts: 237
Topic starter
(@mrsamg)
Reputable Member
Joined: 8 years ago

Can I just add to this because I think you've solved it a round about way already and just now need to effectively implement it.

You have rolled out the private threads and anyone who tries the link who doesn't have access to private threads gets a 404 page. And private threads don't show up in the recent topics widget either.

Can this functionality be rolled out to forums set up with restricted access? It is effectively the same thing but on a per forum/user basis rather than a per thread/user basis.

Robert
Posts: 10503
Admin
(@robert)
Support Team
Joined: 8 years ago

Both area already exist. Private Forum and Private Topic. If user is not permitted to see the private topic in most cases he/she has no chance to navigate to private topic, so there will not be 404 errors. Private Forum and Private Topics are used for very different cases and both are very useful.

Posts: 237
Topic starter
(@mrsamg)
Reputable Member
Joined: 8 years ago

But private forum items show in the widget to everyone and private topics don't.

Try to navigate to the address of a private topic and don't have access - you get a 404. But try to navigate to a private forum address using link on widget and you just get a blank page.

Answer - only show topics and replies in the widget to those that have the user level sufficient to access. After all, private topics don't show in the widget, right?

And make the user experience the same if navigating to either when you don't have permission.

I thought you understood all this from my 1st post.

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