Global Permissions are the permissions setup that apply to a user or group board-wide and can be found as “Group permissions” in the Permissions tab of the Administrator Control Panel (ACP). They are set-up on a per-group basis. Something similar can be set up on a per-user basis under “User permissions,” but usually, per-user permission setups are not recommended and are harder to keep track of.
Whether a group or user is selected, you will be taken to a screen with several selections in a drop down menu. These selections are: User permissions, Global Moderator permissions, and Administrative permissions. For most groups, it is not a good idea to touch the options under the latter two selections, as most users will not be moderators or administrators.
User Permissions:
Global user permissions include the ability to sent Private Messages to other users, using a signature, viewing profiles and the memberlist, etc. In this image, the Registered users group’s permissions are being shown, though other groups can also have their own user permission setups to either increase or restrict the capabilities of their members.
For all permissions, there are three possible settings: Yes, No, or Never.
Yes: Membership in a particular group that has a Yes setting for a particular feature means membership in that group gives you access to it. For example, Registered users usually have a Yes setting for “can view the memberlist, online list, and profiles” which means that Registered users will gain access to it just by being in that group.
No: Membership in a particular group does not give them access to that feature. For example, Registered users usually have a No setting for “can change default group” which means the group does not give them access to it. However, when a user is a member of multiple groups, a Yes setting for a feature will override the No setting of another group. Yes overrides No. Registered users may not be able to change their default group, but if they’re a member of another group that does have a Yes setting, they can change their default group.
Never: Similar to No, however, the group actively prevents a user from accessing that feature. For example, if one group says Yes for “can change default group” but you are also a member of another group that has that set to Never, then you cannot change your default group. Never overrides Yes.
Global Moderator Permissions:
Do not set up Global Moderation permissions on groups that you do not want to have moderation powers. Modifying global moderator permissions is not necessary for most groups. For non-moderator groups, leave all moderation permissions set to No, which is the default.
Global Moderator permissions includes the features that allow for the giving of warnings/bans, editing or deleting posts made by other users, modifying or deleting entire topics, etc. While this can be set up and changed for other groups, this picture shows the moderative setup of the Global Moderators group. Like all permissions, there are three options: Yes, No, and Never, and they work the same way as user permissions.
Administrative Permissions:
It is not a good idea to set up Administrative permissions for groups that you do not want to have administrative access to your board. For non-administrator groups, leave all administrative permissions set to No, which is the default.
Administrative features include the ability to create forums/categories, alter permission masks and setups, prune or deactivate users, alter the profile fields and signatures of other users, etc. Each one of these features is controlled by a permission with the same three options: Yes, No, and Never. These three options work the same way as the options for user permissions.
