Creating a user group?

[RedGTiVR6]

I need to figure out a way to create a user group.

Here's what I need to have happen:

Users with 0 post count are in one user group. Those users cannot post in the classifieds section. Once they have at least one post under their belt, they can post in the classifieds.

We're getting a lot of folks who register for our forums just so they can sell stuff. They have no intention of actually participating in the community.

How would I set this up? I've been told that I could do it with user groups, but I can't figure this out.

Perhaps there is an article on this that I've missed?

Any help would be appreciated!

[WetWired]

The usergroup
In the CP, under usergroups, click Add New Usergroup. After you do that, you can use the dropdown at the top clone the Registered usergroup's settings then change it as you please.

The promotion
Next, go into the usergroup manager, then pick promotions from the dropdown next to the Registered usergroup. Click Add Promotion. Change posts to 1, change promotion strategy to Posts, then select the new usergroup from the dropdown at the bottom. Click save. Under Scheduled Tasks, click Scheduled Task Manager, find User Promotions, and click its Run Now button to move all users with 1 or more post to the new usergroup. As you can see on the Scheduled Task Manager, this will happen on the 25th minute of each hour.

The permissions
Now, all that's left is to restrict posting in that forum from the default Registered usergroup. From Forums&Moderators, click Forum Permissions. Find your classifieds forum in the hierarchical list, then click [Edit] next to Registered below it. Choose Use Custom Permissions, then choose no for Can Post Threads and Can Reply to Others' Threads if you don't want them replying, either. Click Save and you're done.

[RedGTiVR6]

Thanks so much for the detailed explination!

[RedGTiVR6]

I'm sorry to bring this back from the relative dead...but...

I've just now been able to sit down and look at this issue in more detail.

I've created the user group promotion. However, I've realized that all current users with a 0 post count are not in this new group. I believe I need to do something to change the user group of all users with 0 posts from the "Registered" user group down to the "Newbie" user group.

How would I go about doing this?

[Lynne]

From the original post by WetWired:

The promotion
Next, go into the usergroup manager, then pick promotions from the dropdown next to the Registered usergroup. Click Add Promotion. Change posts to 1, change promotion strategy to Posts, then select the new usergroup from the dropdown at the bottom. Click save. Under Scheduled Tasks, click Scheduled Task Manager, find User Promotions, and click its Run Now button to move all users with 1 or more post to the new usergroup. As you can see on the Scheduled Task Manager, this will happen on the 25th minute of each hour.

[RedGTiVR6]

For whatever reason, it doesn't work.

I left it all night and I manually ran it today.

It doesn't move any users from the Registered user group to the Newbie group if they have less than 1 post.

Here's how I have the promotion set-up. Perhaps it's wrong?

The usergroup it's applied to: Newbie
Reputation Comparison Type: Greater or Equal To
Reputation Level: 0
Days Registered: 0
Posts: 1
Promotion Strategy: Posts
Promotion Type: Primary User Group
Move to user group: Registered

I'm guessing that something is set-up wrong?

[Lynne]

What is the name of the new usergroup you created in step 1? That is the name of the usergroup you want to move them to. Currently, you are moving them to the group "Registered", which is probably the name of the group everyone is in when they first register on your site.

[RedGTiVR6]

The name of the user group I created is "Newbie" -if I change this then I will want to change the promotion to be less than 1 post...as it will move all users with less than 1 post to the newbie group...and I'll apply the promotion to the Registered group.

So essentailly, I need to switch the user groups in the promotion, right?

ok - so I've just noticed that for some reaosn even if I select "Less than" it doesn't save as "Less than" it reverts back to "Greater than or Equal to" every time.

I ran the promo and it moved those with greater than or equal to 1 post...so at least I know I'm in the right direction....I just need to figure out why it doesn't save.

*sigh* another something I just thought of.

This will only run as often as I tell it to, correct?

What if I wanted users to automatically be put into this Newbie user group upon registering and not have to wait every X minutes for the promotion to run?

Do I need to completely restructure the usergroups then?

Perhaps it would be better to make an "active users" group for users with greater than 1 post and leave the "regsitered" users group as just for those with less than 1 post. That way, when they first register, they are automatically put into the user group that has the "newbie restrictions"?

[Lynne]

This is how I would do it (which I think is what you finally decided to do).....

- Users register and get put into the Registered usergroup (this is how it is by default).
- I'd make a new usergroup "Active Users" (or whatever you want to call it) and copy all the forum permissions from the Registration group except allow them to post in the classified section
- Make a promotion for "Registered" to "Active Users" based on when a user has one post.

The way you are doing it, trying to demote them to Newbs if they have less than one post, isn't going to work without some hacking to the code, I don't think.

[RedGTiVR6]

Yeah - that's what I ended up doing.

Still learning how the intricacies of vb work like that...

thanks for the help!