SMF permissions answer two questions: who can see a board, and what can they do there. Both are based on membergroups.
Membergroups
- Guests: visitors who aren’t logged in.
- Regular members: everyone who has registered.
- Post-count groups (Newbie, Jr. Member and so on): members move up automatically as they post. Useful for giving trusted members more abilities.
- Custom groups: for example “Club members” or “Team”, which you assign by hand.
- Global Moderator and Administrator.
Manage groups in Admin then Members then Membergroups.
Who can see a board
Edit the board in Admin then Forum then Boards and tick the groups allowed to see it. To make a private board, untick Guests and Regular members and tick only your custom group.
What they can do: permission profiles
Each board uses a permission profile. SMF comes with several, such as Default, No Polls, Reply Only and Read Only. Change what each profile allows in Admin then Members then Permissions.
General permissions (not tied to a board), such as sending private messages, uploading avatars or viewing the member list, are set per membergroup on the same screen.
Sensible starting permissions
- Guests: can read public boards, can’t post, can’t see the member list or profiles. This reduces spam and protects members.
- New members: can post, but consider holding first posts for approval and limiting links until they have a few posts.
- Attachments: allow them for trusted groups, and set size limits. Attachments use the most storage.
- Private messages: allowed, with a sensible limit for new members to stop spam.
Make the whole forum members-only
Untick Guests on every board, and turn off guest browsing in the forum’s general settings. Combine with admin-approved registration for an invite-only community.
Questions people ask
Why can a member not see a board?
Their membergroup isn’t ticked in that board’s allowed groups. Check both their primary and additional groups.
Do post-count groups and custom groups mix?
Yes. A member has one post-count group automatically and can also have custom groups; their permissions add together.
Running SMF? SMF hosting is free for your first 30 days, then £0.99 a month, and our free SMF themes work on any host.