An introduction to User Group Settings in Phpfox

Phpfox is built around the idea that one user belongs to a specific group.
With this in mind each user group can be customized in over 300 ways given the number of user group settings available. A user group setting must belong to a module, so we reference them with this format:
<module>.<name>
for example:
user.can_browse_users_in_public

A user group setting is used in the code to control different things. If you simply add a new user group setting via the AdminCP it will not do anything, you need to add the code for that new user group setting to make sense. Adding user group settings is a task for developers and a site administrator should never have to do this.

To change the value of a user group setting you simply go to the AdminCP -> Users -> Manage User Groups:

From here we can get to the user group settings:

Lets review a few important (and often overlooked) user group settings:

• Require to upload a profile image: This is in the user module ("Users are required to upload a profile image?"). You may force users to upload a picture at sign up with a site setting, but this user group setting forces users to have a profile picture in order to use the site. This is useful in case you dont want to require a profile picture at sign up (quicker registration) but you still want your users to have a profile picture.
• Log in as another user: This setting is meant for Site Administrators only, it allows you exactly that: to log in as another user. In older versions we called this "Member Snoop", not its the user group setting "Can members of this user group log in as another user without entering a password?", in the module 'user'. This setting is disabled for everyone by default, but sometimes site administrators need to check something in a user's account that they can't figure out by themselves, but be very careful, this is a very powerful setting and should not be granted lightly.
• Upload videos: By default every one can upload videos, but you can restrict to a better user group and change for it. This user group setting is in the video module.
• Frequency of comments: Phpfox lets you limit how often can members of a user group post new comments. This is extremely useful in the fight against spam, you can set a trial user group where they can only post one comment every hour, containing the damage by spammers should they manage to get in. This setting is part of the "comment" module.
• Frequency of blogs: Similar to the previous one you can limit how often can they post blogs. Blog posts are one of the most usual ways in which spammers attack so this is also very useful. This is of course part of the Blog module.

Again, there are more than 300 user group settings, these above are but only a small part, be sure to review the user group settings thoroughly to know how to protect your site and how to use these settings in your money making business plan.