I am working on https://www.dallasgemandmineral.org/
wordpress version 6.7.1
bbpress 2.6.11
I do have Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection v 5.3.5
I am a newbe and lost
I have some forums, and Akismet Anti-spam: Spam Protection is correctly marking things as spam.

I am getting spammed, and anti spam is catching them.

I want to set u the forum so only registered users can post but anyone can reply.
I found one setting that limits posts and replies to registered users,

the situation is this:
Anouther rock club donated equipent, on the condition that if we sell it their members are able to bid. I set up a forum to sell things, by posting a reply to an item for sale.

I had to remove the setting that only registered users can post and reply, because to register you have to be a member of our club.

So is there a way to limit new topics to registered users (to cut out the spam) but allow anyone to reply?

[@robin-w Moderator 12 hours, 19 minutes ago]

use :

Private groups

and use topic permissions – see the help section for how to set up