Best way for Read Only "makeshift forum Gallery"?

[semtal]

Hi Guys,

I would like to create a few forums on my board so that members can post pics, but other members can't reply to them.

I created the forums, created groups associated with those forums.

The idea was for any other member (inckuding registered members) to have Read Only access, unless they were added to the Gallery Groups. At which point, they could then post a thread.

Something like this:

"Gallery 1" Forum (Read only for non-group members)
"Gallery 2" Forum (Read only for non-group members)
"Gallery Feedback" Forum (All registered members)

*e.g. click on gallery 1 forum and you see this*

"Gallery 1" Forum (Read only for non-group members)
Member 1 Topic (member's gallery) (Read only for non-group members)
Member 2 Topic (member's gallery) (Read only for non-group members)
Member 3 Topic (member's gallery) (Read only for non-group members)
Member 4 Topic (member's gallery) (Read only for non-group members)

"Gallery Feedback" Forum (All registered members)


Is there an easier way to do all this without having to alter forum settings, create new groups, alter group settings?

I keep having members that shouldn't have access post in an area or vice versa.

Heeeeeeeeeeeelp Please!

If EOL for 3.1 is this July, is it worth doing? I just want to set up something easy that members can add their pics to their galleries, without comments getting in the way like they do in the forum topic conversation.

E.G.

Pic
Pic
Pic

not

Pic
Pic
Comment
Pic
Comment
Pic
Pic

Should I preserver with forum and group settings and hope to get it right, is there an easier way to do the settings or is there an even better properly gallery that looks nice within a forum?

[stevemaury]

If I understand your question, you want the Group forum permission for Registered users to be Can start new topics - No and Can reply to topics - No. For the Gallery groups, the Can start new topics would be Yes.

[semtal]

Do I need to create new User Groups for newly created forums if I want to give them access to post or reply, depending on the forum?

I did this years ago and now I've got myself confused and am I'm wondering if I could just edit the Registered Users Group Forum Permissions instead for the new forums.

[stevemaury]

You can't just edit the permissions of one group if you want more than one group to have different permissions than another. Everyone should be in the Registered users groups.

You do not need to create new groups for new forums, assuming you already have a group you want to be able to see the forum.

You are making this more complicated than it need be. Start with two groups - Registered users and another. Set the permissions as I said and see if that does what you want.