How do I restrict a forum or even just a topic so that only members can view it?

I don’t want to only block posting of replies… I want to completely block a certain topic to guests so that they cannot see it.

I have seen the hidden forum plugin but it looks like more work than it’s worth… is there a simpler solution?

[@johnhiler Member 15 years, 2 months ago]

The only way I know that would work is to use the Hidden Forum plugin to create a forum called something like Members Only, and then allow anyone with any role (Member, Moderator, Admin, etc.) to see it.

Then you could add topics to it, and only members could see it.

That’s the simplest solution I’m aware of… sorry!

[@brad_langdon Member 15 years, 2 months ago]

Thanks.

[@starship-trooper Participant 15 years, 2 months ago]

Brad,

I’m confronted with a similar problem (on the ‘Post’ level): Beside visitors (lurkers), I need user categories like VIP or Paying (for content) too.

Where I was able to get an idea how to eventually handle it, was by looking at _ck_’s bb_attachments.php

Put this into capabilities.php just behind the memberblock:

'visitor' => array(

'name' => __('Visitor'),

'capabilities' => array(

'participate' => false,

'read' => true

)),

Then changing her (shipping) setup code in bb_attachments.php to this here:

$bb_attachments['role']['see']="participate";        // minimum role to see list of attachments = read/participate/moderate/administrate

$bb_attachments['role']['inline']="participate";    // add PAID ! minimum role to view inline reduced images = read/participate/moderate/administrate

$bb_attachments['role']['download']="participate";  // add PAID ! minimum role to download original = read/participate/moderate/administrate

$bb_attachments['role']['upload']="moderate";  // minimum role to upload = participate/moderate/administrate (times out with post edit time)

$bb_attachments['role']['delete']="moderate";  // minimum role to delete = read/participate/moderate/administrate

I was able to exclude the ‘Visitor’ from even seeing that there are attachments to a certain post.

Hope that helps.

[@starship-trooper Participant 15 years, 2 months ago]

Addendum: To check a user’s role anywhere in your code use

<?php if (bb_current_user_can('administrate')) { ?> .....

(by replacing administrate by the proper role description)

as proposed here:

https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/page-elements-viewable-only-to-admin

[@shagalaga Member 15 years, 2 months ago]

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/private-forums/

[@johnhiler Member 15 years, 2 months ago]

I used the Private Forums plugin for a year or so… it would randomly turn all my private posts public!

Then I checked the comments on that plugin, and a number of other users had reported something similar:

https://bbpress.org/plugins/topic/private-forums/page/4/#post-1621

I don’t recommend using Private Forums for that reason… especially since Hidden Forums does the same thing. I’ve been using that for a year or two now, and have never had any problems.