How to Configure User Registration Settings in phpBB 3.0

When customizing your site and its behavior, you do not want to forget the user registration settings. From within the administrative dashboard in phpBB, you can tailor the settings for such features as password width, username width, the number of posts a user must hit before no longer being considered ‘new’, etc. This article discusses all the different settings found for user registration in your phpBB 3.0 site.

Setting up User Registration Settings in phpBB 3.0

  1. Log into your phpBB admin dashboard.
  2. From there, click on the General tab if the screen is not already focused on it.
  3. Once you land on the General tab you will see several categories listed on the left hand sidebar. Click on the User Registration Settings link found under the Board Configuration category.
    user settings menu
  4. This brings you to the User Registration Settings page. The settings are divided up into three categories: General Settings, General Options, and COPPA.
    General Settings
    general settings list
    Account ActivationThis setting is the master switch and will turn the ATOM feeds either on or off entirely. This setting supercedes all other settings on the page.
    New Member Post LimitEnabling this setting allows the display of individual statistics on the feed items such as views, replies, date and time, etc.
    Set Newly Registered Users Group to DefaultThis setting can be used to enable HTTP authentication to allow users to receive content otherwise hidden to guest users.
    Username LengthThis setting allows you to control the minimum and maximum length of user names.
    Password LengthAs above with the username, this setting allows you to set the minimum and maximum length of the user password.
    Limit Username CharsThis setting lets you set the allowed composition of the username from the dropdown. The settings are as follows:

    Any Character
    Alphanumeric Only
    Alphanumeric and spacers
    Any letter and number
    Any letter, number, and spacer
    ASCII (no international unicode)
    Password ComplexityAllows you to set the required complexity of the password from the dropdown list.

    No requirements
    Must be mixed case
    Must contain letters and numbers
    Must contain symbols
    Force Password Change This setting forces users to change their passwords after the set number of days. Setting this to 0 disables this feature.

    General Options
    list of general options

    Allow username changesSet to Yes if you wish to allow users to have the ability to change their usernames.
    Allow e-mail address re-useIf enabled, this allows the use of an email address for more than one user account.
    Enable spambot countermeasures for registrationsThis requires users to pass an anti-spambot task to prove they are human, if enabled.
    Maximum number of login attempts per usernameSets the nuber of login failures that will then trigger an anti-spambot task. Setting to 0 prevents it from being triggered.
    Registration attemptsThe number of attempts a user can try with the anti-spambot task before they are locked out of that.


    COPPA
    coppa settings

    Enable COPPAEnabling this requires users to state whether they are over the age of 13 in compliance with the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
    COPPA mailing addressThe mailing address to which parents will send COPPA registration forms.
    COPPA Fax NumberFax number for COPPA verifications.

  5. Once you have your desired settings configured, click on the Submit

Congratulations, now you know how to configure user registration settings in phpBB!

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