I am setting up forums for classmates who live away from our school. I have created the forum Local Groups with topics for specific areas of the country. I know that I can password protect the entire forum, but I would like to have the option of password protecting individual topics within that forum while not password protecting others. Could this feature be added?

Jim

Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen as that forum system that we have is somewhat "dated" and I do believe there is interest in moving to a newer version in the future. To accomplish this, your only option will be to set up multiple forums that are password protected.

Scott,

Thanks for checking.

Jim

You're welcome.

I see the option to add a password (by Forum) is now available. In the "add/edit forum" view, passwords are displayed in clear text... can all admins see content in this password field, or only the root admin? Or is it based on the admin settings (i.e., "moderate forums")?

Thanks!
Terry

p.s., Updated to reflect "by Forum" where I previously stated "by Topic".

Only the root can configure the forums and therefore no other co-admins would have access to the passwords seen on that forum list page.

Perfect. Thanks, Scott!

Scott,

Although I am not the root admin for our site, I can set up user forums, including seeing, adding and changing passwords.

Teresa,

I am able to password protect an entire forum with one password, but not password protect individual topics within a forum with different passwords. If you have figured out how to do that, I would appreciate knowing how you do it.

Jim

Hey Jim,

According to Scott's reply to me, you would need to be the Root Admin to have access to "Add/Edit Forums". The option to set individual topic passwords is inside that view.

So, that leaves me curious what you mean when you say you can see, add and change passwords... Which passwords are you referring to?

Scott, I need to be certain that none of my co-admins can see the clear text password I assigned to an individual forum in my Admin Forums. (I am using this topic space to store my login data for my class-related external sites.)

Terry

Teresa,

What I am saying is that my experience differs from what Scott said in reply #5. I as a non-root admin have control over the user forums on our site. I think my root gave me that control. Anyway, when I click on "Add/Edit Forums" tab, I see a table with several column heading, including "Password" and I also see the password for those forums that have a password.

The only admins for our site are my root and me, so I cannot verify if any other admins would see the passwords that I create.

Jim

Ah, well, this is a very different story! Thank you very much, Jim!

Scott -- or somebody at CC -- please re-verify who can view individual forum passwords. Is it only the co-admins with forum modification privileges? (I hope!)

Terry

Jim,

I just re-read your comment (#7)... and now see you were asking about passwords by topic. No, I can't password protect by topic either. I wrote "(by topic)" in error. I meant "(by forum)" and will correct my previous post above for clarity. Very sorry to mislead!

Terry

Jim Valentine wrote:

When I tested this yesterday as both the Root Admin and a Co-Admin, I was only able to see these details when I was logged in as the Root.

Thank you, Scott. So, how do you explain what Jim can see/do?

Jim, is it possible that your root admin transferred his/her root privileges to you?

--Terry

Terry,

After I took over operation of our site from the previous admin, my root gradually gave me more authority as time passed. She recently told me that I now can do everything she can do, except designating the root administrator. I suspect that control of the user forums is one of those tasks that she can either give or withhold control to other admins. If you are the root admin, then you can verify if control of the user forums is one of those assignable tasks. If it is, then she gave me that control.

Jim

Jim,

There is no access privilege that specifies "control of forums" but there is an option to allow "moderator" privilege. If your are unable to view and set Co-Admin privileges in Manage Classmate Profiles, then you are surely not the Root Admin.

Scott, have you tested the "Moderate User Forums" option, both checked and unchecked, while logged in as Co-Admin? Perhaps it was unchecked when you tested previously?

Sorry to keep coming back to this, but I'd really like to know who can view/edit the individual forum passwords.

Thanks,
Terry

Terry, Add a new (hidden) member and join as them. You can use your own email address and a different password or another email address if you have access to one

Once you can log in as them, you can see what a 'normal'user can see, switch back to to root and make them an admin, and change their admin permissons, to see what each one does. That should answer your question.

Thanks John Ralph, good idea.

So, my results are only even more confusing! While logged in as Co-Admin with ALL access privileges, I can view the password-protected forum--without even entering the password! Same result when logged in as co-admin, but with access to moderate forum privilege removed.

Do the forum passwords default to "remember me"? I.e., does the software place a cookie on my computer that knows when I am accessing a password-word protected forum where the password was provided previously, despite being logged in as a different member???

Unlike Jim, as co-admin I do not have access to edit the forums or view the clear text password. How are we getting such different results???

Thanks,

Terry

Terry,

I also noticed that once we use a password to access a forum, it remembers us and we don't need to use the password in the future. If you change the password, you will need to use the new password the first time, but not after that. If you then change back to the original password, you will then need to use it again as it won't remember it from before.

If a Co-Admin is given full privileges, there will be a "Add/Edit Forums" link at the top of the forums page above the search box. When you click on that link, you will see a table that includes the passwords for those forums that have a password.

Jim

Yet that's where I get a weirdly different result. I created an imaginary Co-Admin with full privileges and logged in with that and I did not see the Add/Edit Forums link.

I gave full privileges to a fellow Co-Admin and asked him to tell me what he can see. Only the Forums List link again; not the Add/Edit Forums link.

I would really love to know how/why Jim is able to Add/Edit Forums if he is not the Root Admin on his site. This is becoming quite the mystery!!!

Jim Valentine wrote:

Terry, I have full co-admin privileges at a second site, and just confirmed that I see Edit/Delete in the Message Forum. Unfortunately, that site does not have User Forums turned on so I can't confirm the ADD/EDIT or passwords.

While I'd expect the results of privileges to be direcly and instantly related to whatever is selected, it wouldn't be the first time I've been down the path because of a cached page or cookies. I do have a program here (CCleaner) which will clear all cookies, caches, and temporary files, and run it when there's any doubt about what I'm seeing.

Terry,

Check your imaginary Co-Admin's profile under Manage Classmates --> Enter/Edit Classmates and make sure the "Moderate User Forums" box under "Admin Features" is checked. When my root checked that box for me, it gave me the "Add/Edit Forums" link. If that box is already checked on your Co-Admin's profile page, then the solution to your problem is beyond me.

My root provided me with the information for this response as I cannot see the approval boxes on my profile page.

Jim

Thank you, Jim. That is, in fact, the conundrum; I have given the Co-Admin FULL privileges--including Moderate User Forums and Moderate Admin Forums--and still don't see what you see (Add/Edit Forum link)... It's beyond me, too! I keep hoping that one of CC's technical gurus will explain it to us!

Thank you (and John) for your help!

Terry