OP like PhpBB has. Or had.

Hello @kittyboom

I plan to add a private forum-functionality. In private forum only the creator of a topic and moderators/administrators are able to open and answer in them. You can find it on my todo-list here:
https://github.com/Asgaros/asgaros-forum/issues/153

So, now I’m curious; @asgaros is there a way to have private forum functionality not between merely the creator of a topic and the mods/admins….but between the creator of a topic and 2-3 other people?

Or even…..can a mod or admin create a private forum, set a topic, assign view and comment (with picture) permissions to 2-3 particular people….? And, of course, also make sure those people viewing the private forum get notified when a follow-up comment was made in that private forum?

Hello @lookingahead

Not yet, I am still working on a basic private topic-functionality. I guess this will become available in one of the next updates.

But to be honest: I dont want to go that far with private topics. If there really is a need for private communication for specific groups, I guess a private messaging or chat extension would be more suitable for this approach.

Alternatively you can assign a usergroup to those specific users and create a certain private area (category) in the forum which is only accessible for those users.

Oh there’s a need; trust me, a big one.

But your workaround — to “assign a usergroup to those specific users and create a certain private area (category)”….sounds fine. Only question: how would those users know how to get back to those groups? Is there a page that auto-populates in the member’s screen somewhere that shows them how to get back to these private groups? Like is there a list of private groups they can use to get back there and continue to interact?

Also with that workaround, will others be able to see that the private area (category) even exists…? Meaning, will there be a title or something they click on and get an error message that they can’t join — or is there nothing they ever see to click on in the first place?

And do users always get a notification that someone has replied to the private group members….?

Thanks, @asgaros for your reply; this is a time-sensitive project I’m working on and if your plugin can do the things I need then this is the fit I’ve been looking for.

P.S. Also, meant to ask in my last response: how would I, as you mention, “create a certain private area (category) in the forum which is only accessible for those users”…? Is that something I would do via an option inside Asgaros itself or something I use another plugin with (one that grants user/group permissions)…? Or is it done with code?

Thanks again, @asgaros, for all your help!!

Hello @lookingahead

Your users dont need to go back anyway. Basically this area is a normal forum-category which contains forums and topics. But this category is only visible/accessible from the overview for those users who are in those usergroups.

Users who are not in those groups cannot see this area – it is completely hidden and unaccessible for them.

If the members are subscribed to forums or topics (or in general for all new topics/posts) they of course also get notifications for new topics/posts in this private area.

To create this area you have to do the following:

– Create a usergroup which should be used for this private area
– Assign the desired users to this usergroup via the WordPress user-overview in the backend. You can use the bulk-actions to add multiple users to a group.
– Create a new forum category in the Asgaros Forum structure administration and select the created usergroup to limit the access to this category to users of this usergroup.

So @asgaros all the users need to do is to access the forums, and they will see the private group forums they are subscribed to when they get there?

And other users will not see private group forums exist — they will not see a title or a subject of a private group forum at all if they are not given permission to be in that private group forum?

Meant to also ask, @asgaros — can I turn off the ability to edit or delete comments in these private forums?

@lookingahead

Only users who are in those groups can see those private forums. Other users will not know anything about it.

Only administrators/moderators can edit/delete topics/posts. Normal users dont have the ability to do this.