Adding a new forum section

[MLF LLC]

A little background ... I had set up a forum section for the purpose of brainstorming and development for my forum. Along with the Admin and Mods there were a select few "invited" to participate in this forum section. Back in Nov we were hacked into via the install folder still on our server.

That security issue was addressed but ever since our "invited" members have no longer been able to access our Think Tank forum section (not sure if the issue is related to the hack or not). I have since gone back and checked all the permission settings - forum section and users, to no avail. I even went so far as to delete the forum section, rebuild it and add a specific usergroup ... still no luck.

Ideally this is what I would like to do,
1. add new forum section as a sub-forum of our Admin forum
2. new forum section to be a non-public, invite only forum
3. Permissions for Admin, Mods and "invited" members only
4. "invited" members will change over time so permissions need to be able to be modified

Thanks for help in advance,
MLF

[MLF LLC]

Bueller?


Bueller?


anybody?


Bueller?

[MLF LLC]

42 views and not 1 suggestion? :erm:

[ozzy47]

42 views don't mean that 42 members viewed this, that also includes bots IIRC.

To be honest, I don't think there is a default option in vBulletin to invite certain members to a forum. Are you sure you were not using a mod to accomplish this?

[MLF LLC]

pretty sure ... IIRC at the time it seemed pretty simple to do. I just added a new section, went into the CP of the invited and granted them access. This was before I had even looked into add-ons and mods for the forum ... we were running just straight up vBulletin/

I've tried tweeking the settings ... no success

i've tried rebuilding the forum section ... no success

even tried setting up a new usergroup ... no success

A shame, because the Think Tank was really generating a lot of ideas and methods to help the forum flourish.

Thinking out loud here ... but would I be able to accomplish the same if I created a new forum section outside of the Admin forum? Although it is paramount that only the invited can access it. This is not the type of forum section where I want the usual drama and bullshit to cloud our work.

[MLF LLC]

Update ... in case anyone is interested, I managed to come up with a solution.

1. I rebuilt the sub-forum section using our Admin as a Parent forum
2. I made access to the sub-forum password protected
3. I created a new usergroup
4. I edited forum permissions under the Admin CP Forum manager to allow the new usergroup to view the Admin forum only - no ability to view threads, content or post
5. I edited forum permissions under the Admin CP Forum manager to allow the new usergroup access/posting privileges in the new sub-forum.

I created 2 new Admin accounts for testing - a non-supporting and a supporting member. With the 2 new accounts and with assistance from a trusted supporting member we beta tested the new forum section and functions and all worked exactly as we planned/needed.