{"id":75217,"date":"2021-06-29T10:49:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T14:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/?p=75217"},"modified":"2021-08-16T15:07:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T19:07:07","slug":"private-boards-in-smf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/support\/edu\/software\/smf\/private-boards-in-smf\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create Private Boards in SMF"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the course of managing and moderating your forum, you will probably identify a need for private forums, or, at least, exclusive forums where only members of a certain standing can participate. These might be maintenance or governance forums or anything requiring elite participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Create Private Boards in SMF<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The important thing about creating private boards in SMF is that you can divide certain boards by user access. But understand, these forums are not \u201cprivate\u201d as in hidden or encrypted, but merely inaccessible by certain users. Follow the steps below to create private boards in SMF:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Log into SMF<\/li>
  2. Create a board using the normal process<\/li>
  3. Click Permissions<\/strong><\/li>
  4. Choose Modify<\/strong> to adjust the parameters for the selected group<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    More Information About Creating a Private SMF Forum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Be careful about what you post.<\/em> Again, it is always best to be mindful of what you are posting in your forum. Pay close attention to the terms and conditions that the administrator has set forth. If you are the administrator, of course, adhere closely to your own guidelines to make the discourse in the forum healthy. And also remember, while the board may be limited to exclusive members, the messages are not encrypted. All of the information is saved in plain text in the forum database.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Using Pre-Defined Permission Sets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    You also have the option of creating pre-defined permissions sets so you can rapidly update permissions for a board without manually clicking through boxes. As the documentation says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    These allow you to use the \u201cdefault\u201d permission setups \u2013 standard means \u2018nothing special\u2019, restrictive means \u2018like a guest\u2019, moderator means \u2018what a moderator has\u2019, and lastly \u2018maintenance\u2019 means permissions very close to those of an administrator.<\/p>SMF Documentation<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Now you know how to create an exclusive (or, private) board in SMF. Be sure to check out these other articles from the SMF education channel<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n