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| Joinable Groups; How to use this new feature. | |
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| Topic Started: Jul 2 2008, 11:36 AM (2,818 Views) | |
| Brian | Jul 2 2008, 11:36 AM Post #1 |
Still a fan of the Fightin' Irish
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Joinable Groups are one of the many new features in ZetaBoards. They provide some flexibility for how you run your board and how your board's community interacts. In order to use them to their fullest I thought I'd help explain them a bit more. If your not familiar with the 4 standard groups in ZB, you should first read about them. I've included a brief description at the bottom of my post. Now that you know the basics of the Groups on ZB we can get into the versatile Joinable Groups. With the standard groups we mentioned before you can generally only belong to one group at a time. Also, any member of that group will have the same Permission Masks as another member in that group. (Permission Masks are what allows a user to access different areas of the board) That may be fine if you only have 4-5 members in a group, but what if you have 4-5 thousand members in a group? Many times you'll want users to have access to different areas. With Joinable Groups you can set up a new group that users can choose to become a part of. These groups can have their own special permission masks that allow them to access sections of your board that only members of the JG can access. To set up a JG you'll usually want to cover three areas.
Type of Joinable Group There are a few different types; invitation only, administrator approval, and open membership. Depending on your need as the board creator, you can select the type of group that fits best for your purpose. New Sections for the Joinable Group When you're setting up your JGs, you'll need to decide if you want to add any special sections. These can function sort of like a home area for members of that group to chat. Before you set up the JG, decide whether you'll want these and set up the new Sections using the Section Manager. Special Permissions Each JG allows you to assign extra Permission Masks to it's members. You may be able to assign Permission's that you've already created, but in many cases you may want to create a whole new set. All you need to do is create a Permission mask set that adjusts what members of that particular Joinable Group can do on the board. Since Joinable Groups are stackable, members can be a part of multiple groups and gain different permissions and privileges on the board. Some great examples of uses for these are: Clans - Different levels or factions can have their own section. Alliances can be created to allow users into multiple sections. Community Games - We use groups here on the Support Forum for a community political election game. Each group acts as it's own political party with debates, and elections. Clubs - Communities have all sorts of topics, but one example is American Idol. As the board owner you could create a JG for each contestant. Members could choose the one that they support and become a member of that JG. I'm sure there are plenty of other uses out there. If you have a good one, send me a PM and I'll add it to the list. If used imaginatively, Joinable Groups can help to create a much more flexible community where your users have new ways to interact. When you first start your board there are 4 built in member groups: Admins, Members, Guests, and Validating. (You can change the names of these, but that's what they start out as) The Admin group is for your account (assuming your the board creator), and anyone else that you trust with running your board and accessing the ACP. The Member group is where people who register for you community will be assigned. Usually members of this group have permission to Read, View, Post, and Reply in most sections of your board. The Guest group is for users that view your community without a registered account. Many communities will limit what this group can do on their board. However, it can be important to allow the Guest group permission to view some areas, otherwise they won't have a reason to register to become a Member. The Validating group is kind of a placeholder. It's for people that are between the Guest group and the Member group. If you require email validation or admin validation, anyone that registers on your board will first go to this group until they are validated and placed in the Member group. Each of these 4 groups can be assigned sets of Permission Masks. These are found in the Forum Access section of the ACP. They say where the users in those groups can go and what they can do on your board. |
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8:27 AM Dec 8
