Documentation on permissions

bjason

Hello,
I'm new here. Starting a website in WP and using Vanilla. I was wondering if there is detailed documentation on the permissions for different roles. I'm new to forums (believe it or not) and can't find anything that explains the different permissions from which I can choose. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

hbf

the vanilla role definitions are best understood by going to the dashboard, selecting roles & permissions then picking a role and selecting edit. you will see (and be able to modify) the permissions of that role.

422

http://vanillaforums.org/docs/configuration-dashboardusersrolespermissions

hbf

post the permissions that you are unclear on. we can tell you what they do.

hbf

bear in mind that some permissions are specific to your local configuration and can be tied to plugins you have installed.

dudieboy

In general, checking the Add > Discussions box allows the role to start a new thread, right? (I'm confused on this too @bjason, and the docs here need an update. Although I'm the admin I honestly feel a little blind to what Members, Guests, Pending Members, and Banned people see.) And checking the Add > Comments box allows the role to reply to an existing Discussion, right? And is that why you can't Announce/Close/Sink Comments since those functions are only available for entire threads in the Discussions list? (Still right?)

So if you check Delete or Edit on Comments or Discussions, does that give a role the power to delete or edit ANY thread or comment, or just their own?

And what is the Manage function? When I checked all the Manage boxes for Admin and saved, it cleared them afterward, as if it didn't save my selections.

hbf

By default all of the roles/permissions apply across all threads in all categories. you can set custom permissions for a category, but that just makes things more confusing.

Announce / sink / close are separate permissions for all discussions in the category permission group.

Manage is associated with whtever function you see on the left. There are lots of things to manage. some you don't need the admin to manage... like conversations. you don't need manage other peoples convos normally. but you can if you want.

dudieboy

So what does Manage add to the forum, how is it different from Edit? And does the power to Edit give Members the ability to Edit their own posts, or ANY post? Too scared to check it, for the powers it may bestow.

whu606

@dudieboy

Assuming you don't already have one, it is well worth setting up a local version of your site, where you can test changes safely.

I used xampp to install php/apache webserver etc. (as I don't really understand server side stuff, and it does it all for you) on a Windows machine.

Now I have a copy of my site I can play with, without messing up my users' experience.

dudieboy

@whu606 I use XAMPP for wordpress theme development. I suppose I should set up Vanilla on it too, but I figured a quick shout from someone here would be faster. Plus my Laziness Factor -10.

hbf

dudieboy said:
So what does Manage add to the forum, how is it different from Edit? And does the power to Edit give Members the ability to Edit their own posts, or ANY post? Too scared to check it, for the powers it may bestow.

manage is usually related to whether that role has the ability to perform "Dashboard" type operations.
Giving a role "Edit" permissions within a category will give all users with that role the ability to edit all posts or discussion (depending on which checkbox) within that category. not just thier own.

The setting to allow users to edit their posts is under Dashboard ---> Forum --> Advanced.

hbf

the vanilla role definitions are best understood by going to the dashboard, selecting roles & permissions then picking a role and selecting edit. you will see (and be able to modify) the permissions of that role.

bjason

Thanks for the response.

I have been editing permissions but I can't find any documentation for what all of the different permissions are. Most are self-explanitory but there are many that I just don't get. I'm basically looking for a list of definitions and can't find one.

422

http://vanillaforums.org/docs/configuration-dashboardusersrolespermissions

bjason

Thanks for the link.

That tells me about the roles but not about the permissions.

hbf

post the permissions that you are unclear on. we can tell you what they do.

hbf

bear in mind that some permissions are specific to your local configuration and can be tied to plugins you have installed.

dudieboy

In general, checking the Add > Discussions box allows the role to start a new thread, right? (I'm confused on this too @bjason, and the docs here need an update. Although I'm the admin I honestly feel a little blind to what Members, Guests, Pending Members, and Banned people see.) And checking the Add > Comments box allows the role to reply to an existing Discussion, right? And is that why you can't Announce/Close/Sink Comments since those functions are only available for entire threads in the Discussions list? (Still right?)

So if you check Delete or Edit on Comments or Discussions, does that give a role the power to delete or edit ANY thread or comment, or just their own?

And what is the Manage function? When I checked all the Manage boxes for Admin and saved, it cleared them afterward, as if it didn't save my selections.

hbf

By default all of the roles/permissions apply across all threads in all categories. you can set custom permissions for a category, but that just makes things more confusing.

Announce / sink / close are separate permissions for all discussions in the category permission group.

Manage is associated with whtever function you see on the left. There are lots of things to manage. some you don't need the admin to manage... like conversations. you don't need manage other peoples convos normally. but you can if you want.

dudieboy

So what does Manage add to the forum, how is it different from Edit? And does the power to Edit give Members the ability to Edit their own posts, or ANY post? Too scared to check it, for the powers it may bestow.

whu606

@dudieboy

Assuming you don't already have one, it is well worth setting up a local version of your site, where you can test changes safely.

I used xampp to install php/apache webserver etc. (as I don't really understand server side stuff, and it does it all for you) on a Windows machine.

Now I have a copy of my site I can play with, without messing up my users' experience.

dudieboy

@whu606 I use XAMPP for wordpress theme development. I suppose I should set up Vanilla on it too, but I figured a quick shout from someone here would be faster. Plus my Laziness Factor -10.

hbf

dudieboy said:
So what does Manage add to the forum, how is it different from Edit? And does the power to Edit give Members the ability to Edit their own posts, or ANY post? Too scared to check it, for the powers it may bestow.

manage is usually related to whether that role has the ability to perform "Dashboard" type operations.
Giving a role "Edit" permissions within a category will give all users with that role the ability to edit all posts or discussion (depending on which checkbox) within that category. not just thier own.

The setting to allow users to edit their posts is under Dashboard ---> Forum --> Advanced.