Private Message permissions?

[thetao]

I am not actually installing phpBB, but have a question about private message permissions, due to what seems like a horrible misconfiguration by a certain business (name withheld to protect the guilty ). I know it's possible to restrict PM sending and replies based on the number of public posts a user has made. My question is if it's possible to set these permissions separately. For examples, so board users can reply to PM's (perhaps sent by an admin) after only 1 post, but cannot send new PM's until they've made 5 posts.

In case you're curious, the business in question uses phpBB for customer support, but their "script" appears to require the CSR's to immediately move each discussion to PM's. They send the customer a PM, but with the PM sending/reply threshold set at 5, new customers (who have just registered with the board) can't reply, making the whole board largely useless! I am curious if this setup could be from an upgrade gone wrong, or if they just never thought it through clearly. Thanks!

[Oleg]

I know it's possible to restrict PM sending and replies based on the number of public posts a user has made. My question is if it's possible to set these permissions separately.

I doubt it since we're discussing adding a separate permission for replying to PMs in http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic ... 08&t=41767.

[Pony99CA]

I know it's possible to restrict PM sending and replies based on the number of public posts a user has made. My question is if it's possible to set these permissions separately.

I doubt it since we're discussing adding a separate permission for replying to PMs in http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic ... 08&t=41767.

That sounds like a good idea.

Also, even if such a permission did exist, phpBB doesn't support general post-based groups (putting people in or out of groups based on their post count). The only post-based group currently is the Newly Registered Users group, but that shares one threshold for all permissions. So it's not an upgrade problem.

There is, however, the Auto Groups MOD, but without separate Send PM and Reply PM permissions, that probably won't help you.

My suggestion would be to set the New member post limit to one. When somebody gets an approved post, they'll be able to reply to (and send new) PMs.

Steve

[thetao]

Thanks for the feedback. As no one in their customer service hierarchy seems to care, I will try getting the IT department's attention and direct them here.