Hello!
New user.  I should read the forums first, but thought I would post a quick question instead.
Q: Is there a forum module that has security built into it so that there is a public forum, a private forum and then a third level of security for the administrator of the forum?

I don't know if that's built into dnn native or if I have to go to an outside vendor.

ActiveForums certainly has this feature. You control what a user can do in a forum by using security roles. For instance, in the DNNCreative forums anyone can read, but only subscribers can post.

I'm fairly sure that the core DotNetNuke module includes this as a feture.

Thanks Joe for the response.
I subscribed to the site and am looking for a tutorial on the forum module.

Can you tell me if there is an issue that has a tutorial about setting up forums?
Or one that reviews ActiveForums?

OK, it's been a couple of hours now.
I think I can post a message without feeling too guilty.
I've exhausted myself with the built-in forum module, and have installed the free version of active forums.
But I don't see where you can say "People of group A can view Forum 1", and "People of group B can view Forum 2".

I could be wrong - but it's getting near midnight so I'm a little punchy.

For Active Forums, look for the Control Panel (logged in with host or admin privileges).  You'll find the Forum configuration section.

For the core forum module, I'll have to look at it when I get home ... tomorrow.

In Activeforums, under settings, community settings is a dropdown for Member List mode.
The available options are: Enabled all users, disabled all users, enabled registered users, enabled moderators.
This sounds sort of like what I want, but I want to enable a specific forum for a specific group.
So group A can view Forum A and group B can view Forums A & B.
I'll keep reading.

On Page 11 of ActiveForums 4.1 documentation, it mentions "New Forum Group" as an option.
I don't see that even though I'm logged in as the superuser (I also tried the admin just to be sure).

I've now posted this question on the ActiveForums forum to see if they can answer it.

The roles you are talking about are defined in the DNN Admin settings.

You add a role say "Group A"

You'll have to add them (the users you want to have this role) to the new role by selecting "edit user profile" then "Manage roles for this user"...then select the role you just created and "add role to user"

Once you've added the role you can then go to your control panel in ActiveForums and select/add the new role for thie forum you want it applied to. Then you use the radial button to select each security event you want them to have access to...ie "read, view, post, edit, delete, etc...

You can do the same for any and all forums....add the role through DNN Admin settings and then apply the rules using the control panel...pretty easy and pretty effective.

Active Forums also allows you to have anonymous postings now with the "CAPTCHA" function enabled...if you moderate the forum you'll be able to ensure only those you want to allow are approved.

Terry

> pretty easy and pretty effective.
Yes, it's simply a matter of pressing the right buttons, so it is pretty easy.

I just can't find the right buttons yet.

Under Security Roles, I have two groups: Role Group 1 and Role Group 2.
Then I have two security roles:
Role A is in Role Group1
Role B is in Role Group 2.
User1 is in Role A.
User2 is in Role B.
In ActiveForums control panel, I see
Dashboard,Settings,Forums,Templates,Filters,Ranks,Tags,About,Exit.
Under Settings, I see Settings and Community Settings.
Under Forums I see Default Group and Sample Forums 1-3.
I can click on the words "Default Group" and pull up the Forum List > Details.
But I don't see how to add a New Forum Group like they show on page 11.

It looks like security is tied to the forum group level, and I can't add a forum group.
I can only edit Default Group, because I don't see "New Forum Group" to the left of "Default Group".

You need to go to the Forums section of the Control Panel in ActiveForums.  You'll find a good dozen or so permissions that you can set, and you can set them for any of the security roles on your site.

When you say
"You need to go to the Forums section of the Control Panel in ActiveForums", I think what you are referring to is the security tab of the Forum List > Details section for a Forum Group.
On page 13 of ActiveForums-4.x-AdminGuide.pdf, it shows the following options:
View, Read, Create, Reply, Edit, Delete
And on my screen, I see even more security options:
Lock, Pin, Attach, Poll, Block, Trust, Subscribe, Announce, ModApprove, ModMove, ModSplit, ModDelete, ModUser, ModEdit, ModLock, ModPin.

But what I don't see is the ability to have more than one forum group because the "New forum Group" and "New forum" buttons are not displayed.

How can I add a forum group or add a forum?

I think I know what it is.
I'm evaluating the free version called ActiveForums lite.
I bet you the lite version doesn't have the feature to allow you to add a forum group or a forum.

You can only have 1 group and 3 forums with ActiveForums lite but you should be able to set the security in each of the forums.

The process for setting up the roles should be close to the same the DNN Core forums as well...I have not played around with it much...we have ActiveForums Enterprise version.

Just thought I would add my 2 cents here since I just went through the same thing with forums about 2 weeks ago, I ended up using the core module with DNN and once you understand the relationship with the security classes it works fine. What I ended up doing is opening 2 browser windows 1) in the site I was working on and logged into as the admin.(IE) 2) I created a standard user account for test purposes. (firefox) I used the different browsers so I can see clearly which I was into. Than whatever roll I assigned and updated I can see the result in the user window. Within about 30 minutes I got to understand the security and relationship with rolls. Good Luck and hope this helps.


Peter
U1.net

That is actually a great idea. I use the same procedure if I'm making small changes and want to see what if any affect they have on users. I also create at least two different test users who I give different roles to which makes working with multiple security settings a lot easier.