i want to have a group of users who cannot be seen by other uses. normally i would think i could go in and allow the specific users to see the private forum specially made for them. but since i may have quite a few number of people joining and don't want to do this manually, i was hoping some sort of hack could be used. i want a link or something that would automatically grant access to a specific forum once a user signs up. and if it would show them a specific style, then it would be even better.

so is that a no? ;(

I am afraid I can not help you since I cannot make "hacks" :(

I would be interested in this as well.
I am thinking of a usergroup that is not shown in the users online field, not in the memberlist and not anywhere else.

LOL... man... do you want to have a link? to grant acces to user??? so everyone can use it LOOOOL :D:D:D:D

i guess i don't see what's so funny.

as i understood there should be a link to grant full acces to ALL users?

no, just a specific group of people. for instance, i got my general users and i have users from a weight loss site that i want to join my forum. the forum for these people cannot be seen by everyone else though, just the weight loss people. instead of going into the cp and granting access one by one, i was hoping for a hack that would allow them to register and get access to the specific forum (as well as all others) without me having to manually give them the access.

I did something similar. I have hacked the registration process so that when somebody activates their email, it checks to see if they are one type of member. If they are, it moves them to a special usergroup. If they aren't, it moves them to the regular registered usergroup.

The thing is, you have to know how to differentiate between the types of members when they register.

One way would be to have two different links. Each registration link would go to a different registration form that has a hidden variable. The hidden variable would tell you what usergroup to put them in.

Is that what you are seeking?

Amy

yeah, i think something like that would work.

or maybe a password during registration?

or maybe a referer?

maybe

if someone would help me, i'd be eternally grateful, i cant pay much, but something...

contact me.... over icq or email

amy can i see your solution?

Mine isn't exactly what you are looking for. Mine calls a script called validate which goes to another site and sees if they are a member there. If they are, it puts them in usergroup 12. If not, they go in usergroup 2.

Are you validating email addresses or not?

I am willing to look into this hack for you this afternoon.

Amy

hmm, ok, maybe it's not. i am validating. any help would awesome.