Allowed posting settings, wtf did they go?

[Ally6]

I have only just realised the admin settings that were integrated into YaBBGold which allows you to set who can post where are no longer there.  This was such a helpful feature as people do not read where they should and shouldn't post unless they are actually stopped from posting.

ive now got my llamas posting in the announcement area which 'used' to be read only, and answering in areas which 'used' to be set so they could post but not reply.  Its so bloody annoying, any plans by someone to make this into a hack, or else im gonna need gloves to protect my hair from being pulled  .

[sylvester]

use the "mute users mod"

[AnalogDuck]

  Wow!  I have the exact opposite phenomanon and problem.  We must live in inversely correlated universes!  

For real. In all my YaBBSE installs, no one but the administrator can post to an announcements forum.  There are no 'New Topic' buttons or links, and you can't cheat and use the URL to direct yourself to a post page either.  (Using something like index.php?board=1;action=post;title=Start%20new%20thread for an announcements forum yields the page which says: "An Error Has Occurred! You are not allowed to create a new topic here - this is an announcement board. ")

So I have two questions:  

That 'mute users mod' sounds very useful.  Where can I find it?  I need a clue.

Also, how do I enable users or groups with the ability to post announcements in announcements forums, without making them administrators?

Anyone's input would be greatly appreciated.  If the functionality does not exist, I can write a mod and provide it.  Just give me a clue as to whether there's a need for it.

[sylvester]

moderators of an announcements board can post on that board too.
mute users mod: http://www.yabb.info/community/index.php?board=158;action=display;threadid=7148

[AnalogDuck]

Sylvester, that simply isn't correct with YaBBSE 1.4.0.  Now perhaps you are one of those people with the phantom 1.4.1 copies floating around, which I have seen reference to ( for example, this reference by Nemesis, aparently one of the YaBB team: http://www.yabb.info/community/index.php?board=158;action=display;threadid=10228;start=0 ), but are not available for download on the download page ( http://www.yabb.info/download.php ).  

I have triple-checked the matter both by actually trying to do it (I have made an announcement forum and promoted a user to be the moderator of the forum, and still he cannot post -- Only Global Moderators can post), and looking at the source code itself (which I will include below as evidence).  It's not possible in YaBBSE 1.4.0 to have a normal moderator start a new thread in an announcements forum.  Period.  Examine the following code sniplets:

In the mod Nemesis wrote, he does stuff like this:

Code Select Expand

<edit file>
Sources/MessageIndex.php
</edit file>

<search for>
if (!$isAnnouncement || $settings[7]=='Administrator' || $settings[7]=='Global Moderator' || in_array($username,$moderators))
   print "$menusep<a href=\"$cgi;action=post;title=" . URLdecode($txt[464]) . "\">$img[newthread]</a>$newPollIcon ";
</search for>

<replace>
if (!$isAnnouncement || $settings[7]=='Administrator' || $settings[7]=='Reporter' ||$settings[7]=='Global Moderator' || in_array($username,$moderators))
   print "$menusep<a href=\"$cgi;action=post;title=" . URLdecode($txt[464]) . "\">$img[newthread]</a>$newPollIcon ";
</replace>
However, pay close attention.  He said he wrote this mod for 1.4.1, and was curious if it would work with 1.4.0.  Well it turns out that this key line here:

Code Select Expand

if (!$isAnnouncement || $settings[7]=='Administrator' || $settings[7]=='Global Moderator' || in_array($username,$moderators))

... in his <search for> string references a line of code, is significantly different in 1.4.0.  Lucky for me, it's also the clue I needed to modify the 1.4.0 code so that moderators of announcements forums could post new threads.  This is the 1.4.0 code:

Code Select Expand

if (!$isAnnouncement || $settings[7]=='Administrator' || $settings[7]=='Global Moderator')
Notice how it's missing this key part:

Code Select Expand

|| in_array($username,$moderators))

Hmmmm?  How then could a normal moderator post a new thread in an announcement forum?  The code very clearly says that only if you are an Administrator or a Global Administrator can you post a thread.  End of line.

I apologize for vicitmizing you with this rant, but it's less about you, and more about the fact that I just did an exaustive search of this forum on the matter and found many people here to hand out the same piece of dis-information to various peoples who were perplexed on the issue.  I just wanted to set the record straight with a correct post, and felt it needed to be thurough as to cut off any bickering over the matter.  I'm not tying to offend you in any manner.

The source has spoken!  

P.S.  If anyone else needs clues on how to make such functionality work, all you have to do is examine all the code search and replace lines in the module written by Nemesis.  It answers all the questions.  

[AnalogDuck]

Oh, and BTW, in response to Ally6's dilemna:

Yeah, it's true anyone can reply in an announcements forum, but it doesn't send the mailouts when they do so, and only Admins and Global Moderators can post a new thread, so the security remains intact.

To work around the 'reply' issue, all you have to do is lock each thread when you post it.  Simple enough.  And conveniently enough there's a "Lock after Post:" checkbox when you're an admin or moderator making a post.  All it costs you is one click!  

[sylvester]

 
sorry... I'm not the perfect man
Thank you for the correction

[AnalogDuck]

Jeesh.  No apology needed.  Who could possibly count the number of times I've made a fool of myself trying to help someone else, but that's besides the point...

It's just part of the whole open-source picture.  I'm always grateful for free help.  Sometimes taking the free support of an opensource community means you get a little accidental disinformation, and not everyone has the time to examine the source to find the truth -- especially in a set of scripts as expansive as YaBBSE, and especially when you need the damn thing to just work NOW, while you've got hundred users online who just don't know or care about your administrative challenges, let alone the paying client who is demanding results.

If I feel the need to hold people accountable for their advice, that's when I buy a support contract from some commercial entity.    Then I've got a legally binding contract to actually make the problems someone else's problems.

But, in the case of forum software, at this point, it's hard for me to imagine using anything but YaBBSE.  Recently I tried to use a few other forum software packages (yet again), and they all left me with big disappointments for one reason or another, not the least of which was in their support.  The activity and helpfulness of the YaBBSE community is second to none.  Few opensource projects are blessed with such an incredible community.   Your help, and the help of every other person around the planet who attends this forum regularly, is greatly appreciated.