Allow only Topic Author and Moderators (or other groups) to Reply - I've searched!!

[seven8time]

Hello,

I've searched for hours now and tried many old plugins and methods, but nothing really does what I need. Hopefully this already exists.

I run a forum for Troubleshooting, Q&A, etc. I'd like to have certain forums with this behavior:

A registered member can post a new topic "How do I do ____?" or whatever question they have.
Only the Author of the topic can reply to it, as well as Moderators or a "Helpers" group that I made.
All members and guests can view all topics in this forum - but again can only reply to topics they started.

This is important because for troubleshooting, we need to stay on topic and reduce any "joke" posts or bad advice. In other forums I'm a member of, someone posts a question, and people who don't know what they're talking about give bad answers, or it starts going off-topic and the problem never gets solved.

By limiting reply permissions to the Author only and a designated group of people who can reply, the Helpers can reply and ask questions, and only the Author can reply to answer those additional questions. This keeps the thread on topic and keeps others from getting involved. This also prevents people with a similar topic from hijacking the post, requiring that they start their own, focused topic.

I know there is a plugin for only showing Author's own posts, but I want everyone to be able to see all threads, as we may link to them in the future, and they could also just look around and may find their question already posted and answered.

So really it seems I'd need additional permissions in the ACP > Permissions > Forum Permissions area. Other forum platforms have this and refer to it as "Only OP Can Reply" or "Can Reply to Own Threads" or "Can Reply to Others' Threads."

Reading old requests and solutions for this type of feature had questions like "well why make a thread if only the author can reply to it and no one else?" The difference here is that Moderators or other Groups can reply to it as well. Just not other registered/normal users.

Any help would be appreciated. phpBB seems like a great platform and I'd like to stick to it if possible. But I do know of another solution with this available as a plugin if this can't be done.

Thanks!

[KevC]

I'm not a coder but I can see that being an enormously complicated setup to code. Even the existing extensions that do similar things have been in progress for months and years but yours requires that the OP permissions change once they have started a topic and that those reply permissions only apply to the topic they started and no others. Permissions are all set up to be forum based not topic based. That (I think) would require an enormous rewrite of the permissions system........just for you. But I'm happy to be wrong, just don't want you to get your hopes up unnecessarily.

[seven8time]

I see. Well it’s been wished for since 2008 or so, and other platforms can do it. I wouldn’t think permissions need to change once they make a topic - they can’t post anything else except a new topic or something they started at all times.

I would guess there’d have to be some sort of “flag” that just sees who started the thread and allows replying or not.

I’m not sure how phpBB is designed of course so I don’t know how difficult it may be. But it seems I’d have to use another platform for this function.

Ill look around a bit more but I’m pretty sure I’ve exhausted all searching. I’ve found an old plugin for phpBB that does exactly what I want but the contents don’t match recent plugins so I’m guessing it’s too old.

Thanks for the insight

[obfuscated]

I have a custom extention that allows the author of a post or moderator to set which groups of user can reply or exclude certain users or groups from replying.

[andares]

There are one extension for this:

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/exte ... erstopics/

I'm not sure if it works with the latest version, if a case you can try with the development version that is in github:

https://github.com/brunoais/readOthersTopics

[obfuscated]

There are one extension for this:

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/exte ... erstopics/

I'm not sure if it works with the latest version, if a case you can try with the development version that is in github:

https://github.com/brunoais/readOthersTopics

This ext appears to control who can "read" a topic whereas the OP is asking for one that limits who can "reply" to a topic.

[Ted1982]

I have a custom extention that allows the author of a post or moderator to set which groups of user can reply or exclude certain users or groups from replying.

May I ask which custom extension do you use? I am also looking for such a function to add to my forum.

[obfuscated]

I have a custom extention that allows the author of a post or moderator to set which groups of user can reply or exclude certain users or groups from replying.

May I ask which custom extension do you use? I am also looking for such a function to add to my forum.

One that is not publicly available but if you want I can send it to you... PM me

[Ted1982]

I forgot to comment here, but I sent a PM to you.

Thanks, and the best wishes for 2022.

[PAA-Ad-Min]

I run a mess of a board that was started in 2008.

The posts and topics are all over the place and I would love to be able to get it into some order, but I think the start is using some mod to limit posts to one particular topic.

If that mod would work, please let me know!

[HiFiKabin]

<snip>
If that mod would work, please let me know!

This extension will do nothing to solve your existing problem. I suggest that you open a topic in [3.3.x] Support Forum setting out your problem, what you hope to achieve and filling out the Support Request Template which will enable us to assist you better.

[Marek Muc]

Check out this new extension:
https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/exte ... y_replies/