How to Have Members Agree to Rules Before Accessing Forum
Aug 7, 2020 11:48:15 GMT -8
Joshua Farrell, Chris, and 3 more like this
Post by ProBoards Help Guide on Aug 7, 2020 11:48:15 GMT -8
How to Have Members Agree to Rules Before Accessing Forum
Forums that represent an organization or the nature of the forum requires new members to read and agree to the forum rules before participating may benefit from this Help Guide article. The following instructs you on how to set up a condition where newly registered members must agree/accept the forum rules before they are granted access to the forum.
How This Works:
After a new user registers to be come a member, they will only see and have access to the Welcome category, and the Please Read board as a result of them being automatically added to the New Member member group.
The Please Read board should contain a thread of your forum rules.
Other than the newly registered member, only the main admin and members designated as "staff" will be able to view and access the category. Regular members will not see this category.
Once the admin is satisfied the member has agreed to the rules, removing the new member from the New Member group hides the Welcome category from them and gives them access to the rest of the forum that is open to members.
Note: This will work regardless if the new user is registering via the desktop or mobile version of v5 as there is no coding or changes to the layout templates, CSS or headers/footers.
1. Go to Admin > Members > Member Groups
2. Create a new member group with the following settings:
3. Go to Admin > Structure > Categories & Boards
4. Click Create New Category
5. Click Create New Board
6. For all other existing categories edit their properties and under who can access click Add Group for 'Except members in the groups' and tic the group New Member. Click Done, then Save Changes. (Remember to do this to any categories created in the future.)
7. Go to Admin > Settings > Forum Settings, Login & Registration tab and set the following:
8. On the Please Read board create a thread that contains your forum rules or conditions that must be agreed upon for participating on your forum.
9. Decide how you would like the new member to indicate they agree to the forum rules.
Option 1: You could have them reply to the thread, creating a post that states "I agree".
If you chose this option, the thread will fill with posts of each new member stating they agree. There is no issue with this other than aesthetically you may not wish to have all those posts visible to other new members who register. Or then again you might want the posts as an example to others.
Option 2: You can have the new member PM you (send you a personal message on the forum) indicating their acceptance. The Restricted PM Post Count would need to be set to "0" otherwise option will not work. (Admin > Settings > Forum Settings)
If you choose the PM option, then you should edit the Please Read board properties (step 5 above) and under the {Permissions tab} change the 'Who can reply to threads on the board' from Everyone to Staff so the new members cannot post in any of the threads on the Please Read board..
You can then add the following link to the bottom of the agreement that helps to slightly automate the PM process by auto-filling the subject and message fields. Substitute the Your Forum URL with your forum's URL. The PM will be sent to the main admin. If the PM should go to another staff member, then change the user ID from 1 to the ID of that staff member.
The PM subject line will be:
"Agreement Acceptance"
The body of the message will be:
Note: if you wish to have the PM sent to multiple staff members, this can be achieved by adding their User ID separated by commas to the URL like shown in this example:
10. After the member agrees to the rules:
a. Go to the member's profile and click on the Groups tab
b. Under the section: "This Member's Groups" you should see the New Member group listed
c. Click the link to "Remove from Group:
Removing the member from the group hides the Welcome category from them and gives them access to the rest of the forum that is open to members.
Notifications
To be notified if a new member has agreed to the rules, you can set up a forum and/or email notification.
Notifications can be set by going to your Profile > Edit Profile, Notifications tab.
Tick the corresponding box under the Forum column for type of on-forum "bubble" notification you wish to receive. Under the Email column use the corresponding dropdown selector to choose the frequency for email notifications you wish to receive. You may set either or both.
Forums that represent an organization or the nature of the forum requires new members to read and agree to the forum rules before participating may benefit from this Help Guide article. The following instructs you on how to set up a condition where newly registered members must agree/accept the forum rules before they are granted access to the forum.
How This Works:
After a new user registers to be come a member, they will only see and have access to the Welcome category, and the Please Read board as a result of them being automatically added to the New Member member group.
The Please Read board should contain a thread of your forum rules.
Other than the newly registered member, only the main admin and members designated as "staff" will be able to view and access the category. Regular members will not see this category.
Once the admin is satisfied the member has agreed to the rules, removing the new member from the New Member group hides the Welcome category from them and gives them access to the rest of the forum that is open to members.
Note: This will work regardless if the new user is registering via the desktop or mobile version of v5 as there is no coding or changes to the layout templates, CSS or headers/footers.
1. Go to Admin > Members > Member Groups
2. Create a new member group with the following settings:
Group Name: New Member
Type: Hidden
Stars: None
Staff: No
Global: No
Powers: (Not applicable, do not assign any powers)
Type: Hidden
Stars: None
Staff: No
Global: No
Powers: (Not applicable, do not assign any powers)
3. Go to Admin > Structure > Categories & Boards
4. Click Create New Category
Name: Welcome
Display Name: Welcome
Hidden: No
Who Can access this category: select Staff
And members in the groups: click add group, tick the group New Member, and click Done.
Except members in the groups: (not applicable / do not add a group)
Click the Create Category Button in the lower right
Display Name: Welcome
Hidden: No
Who Can access this category: select Staff
And members in the groups: click add group, tick the group New Member, and click Done.
Except members in the groups: (not applicable / do not add a group)
Click the Create Category Button in the lower right
5. Click Create New Board
{About tab}
Name: Please Read
Display Name: Please Read
{Settings tab}
Show Announcements: No
Disable Post Counts: Yes
{Permissions tab}
Who can create threads on the board: select Staff
(It is not necessary to set the View and Access permissions for the board as that is already controlled by the category permission)
Click the Save Changes button in the lower right
Name: Please Read
Display Name: Please Read
{Settings tab}
Show Announcements: No
Disable Post Counts: Yes
{Permissions tab}
Who can create threads on the board: select Staff
(It is not necessary to set the View and Access permissions for the board as that is already controlled by the category permission)
Click the Save Changes button in the lower right
6. For all other existing categories edit their properties and under who can access click Add Group for 'Except members in the groups' and tic the group New Member. Click Done, then Save Changes. (Remember to do this to any categories created in the future.)
7. Go to Admin > Settings > Forum Settings, Login & Registration tab and set the following:
Assign new members to a user group: tick Yes (enable)
Member Group to assign to new members: select New Member
Member Group to assign to new members: select New Member
8. On the Please Read board create a thread that contains your forum rules or conditions that must be agreed upon for participating on your forum.
9. Decide how you would like the new member to indicate they agree to the forum rules.
Option 1: You could have them reply to the thread, creating a post that states "I agree".
If you chose this option, the thread will fill with posts of each new member stating they agree. There is no issue with this other than aesthetically you may not wish to have all those posts visible to other new members who register. Or then again you might want the posts as an example to others.
Option 2: You can have the new member PM you (send you a personal message on the forum) indicating their acceptance. The Restricted PM Post Count would need to be set to "0" otherwise option will not work. (Admin > Settings > Forum Settings)
If you choose the PM option, then you should edit the Please Read board properties (step 5 above) and under the {Permissions tab} change the 'Who can reply to threads on the board' from Everyone to Staff so the new members cannot post in any of the threads on the Please Read board..
You can then add the following link to the bottom of the agreement that helps to slightly automate the PM process by auto-filling the subject and message fields. Substitute the Your Forum URL with your forum's URL. The PM will be sent to the main admin. If the PM should go to another staff member, then change the user ID from 1 to the ID of that staff member.
[a href="https://Your Forum URL/conversation/new/1?subject=Agreement%20Acceptance&message=I%20accept%20the%20agreement%2E%0A%0A%0A%0AClick%20the%20Create%20Message%20button%2C%20bottom%20right%2C%20to%20agree%2E%20"]Click to Accept Terms[/a]
The PM subject line will be:
"Agreement Acceptance"
The body of the message will be:
"I accept the agreement.
Click the Create Message button, bottom right, to agree."
Click the Create Message button, bottom right, to agree."
Note: if you wish to have the PM sent to multiple staff members, this can be achieved by adding their User ID separated by commas to the URL like shown in this example:
[a href="https://Your Forum URL/conversation/new/1,3,12,21?subject=Agreement%20Acceptance&message=I%20accept%20the%20agreement%2E%0A%0A%0A%0AClick%20the%20Create%20Message%20button%2C%20bottom%20right%2C%20to%20agree%2E%20"]Click to Accept Terms[/a]
10. After the member agrees to the rules:
a. Go to the member's profile and click on the Groups tab
b. Under the section: "This Member's Groups" you should see the New Member group listed
c. Click the link to "Remove from Group:
Removing the member from the group hides the Welcome category from them and gives them access to the rest of the forum that is open to members.
Notifications
To be notified if a new member has agreed to the rules, you can set up a forum and/or email notification.
- If using Option 1 (posting in the thread), then bookmark the thread and enable notifications for bookmarks.
- If using Option 2 (PM), then enable notifications for PMs.
Notifications can be set by going to your Profile > Edit Profile, Notifications tab.
Tick the corresponding box under the Forum column for type of on-forum "bubble" notification you wish to receive. Under the Email column use the corresponding dropdown selector to choose the frequency for email notifications you wish to receive. You may set either or both.