Question about guest permissions

[Rob]

Forum URL: (private)
I'm in the process of building a forum, the purpose of which will be for me to show off custom content I've created for a computer game and to provide clickable URLs to download said content. One thread per item.

Ideally, I would want Guests to be able View and Access the Boards, but not to be able to click on the download URLs. The download URLs should only be clickable by registered members.
In fact, now that I think about it, the download URLs should not even be visible to guests, to prevent them cutting & pasting the URLs.

How to?

[Craig]

Hi

Are these downloads you are adding to the threads as attachments, or downloads from other hosts?

Craig

[Scott]

Rob - the best way is to use the built-in attachment feature.

When you create a post (in the full editor, not the quick reply) there is the option to Add Attachment.

When a member clicks on an attachment it will either download the file to the member's computing device or open in their browser (depending on their browser settings). Guests do not have access to download or view an attachment, but can view the link or image thumbnail shown in a post. Note that just because a guest can view the link, they still cannot access the attachment. If a guest clicks the link / tries to download, they are prompted to either login or register to view the attachment.

There is an initial limit of attachment space (can be increased with subscription). To make the most of the available space, I would recommend restricting the ability for adding attachments to just yourself.

You can learn more about attachments here: Managing Attachments

[Rob]

Jul 1, 2024 1:47:50 GMT -8 Craig said:

Hi

Are these downloads you are adding to the threads as attachments, or downloads from other hosts?

Craig

Downloads from other hosts.

Attachments, as suggested by Scott, are not an option for me at this time because the downloads are in a typical range of 2-6MB, sometimes slightly smaller or larger, which exceeds the 1MB attachment limit for my free account.

Registering, in order to access the boards containing the download links, would really only be a matter of convenience and curiosity for users anyway, since the file host is well known to everyone in the hobby and once anyone knows where my files are on it they can download any or all of them directly and freely without going through my forum at all.
My forum basically just gives a preview of the files, with pictures and textual descriptions, and allows users to post feedback. This is something I'm really never going to foot a bill for, frankly.

I guess I'll just allow guests to view and access my welcoming board only, and restrict viewing and access to the other boards that contain the download links to registered members. That was my original plan anyway, although it doesn't leave guests with much to look at. I'll see how it works out.