Message boards security

Message board

Based on the Access and Message board owner properties of the Message board web part, you can define who can add new messages to the board.

The following table explains who can add messages to the board under particular configurations. The difference between User boards and Public boards is that Public boards are always related to a page, while User boards are always related to a page and a user.

Public boards are typically used when you want multiple users to post messages to it. User boards are typically used on user profiles, as you can see on the sample Community Starter site, on the Members -> Profile page.

When a board is in the User x Owner configuration, the following conditions need to be met in order for the current user to be able to post messages:

• the page must be accessed with the userid or username parameter in the querystring
• the current user must be the same as the one whose userid or username is passed in the querystring
• the current user must not be hidden (configured by the Is hidden option when editing the user)

This can be typically used on user profiles, where messages to such a board can be posted only by the owner of the profile, while other users can only read these messages. An example of such a board is the MessageBoardAnnouncements board on the /Members/Profile page of the sample Community Starter site.

Group message board

The Group message board is always related to a group, which means that you can specify only the Access property. You can see a typical usage of this web part on the sample Community Starter site, on the Groups -> Profile page.

When the Group members option is set, the following conditions need to be met in order for the current user to be able to post messages:

• the page must be accessed with the groupid parameter in the querystring
• the current user must be a member of the group whose groupid is in the querystring
• the current user must not be hidden (configured by the Is hidden option when editing the user)

This can be typically used on group profiles, where messages to such a board can be posted only by members of the group, while other users can only read these messages. An example of such a board is the GroupMessageBoard board on the /Group-pages/<group name> page of the sample Community Starter site.

Permissions

You can set permissions for access to the Message boards administration interface in the Permissions application. You have to select the Modules -> Message boards permission matrix.

• Modify – members of the roles can edit message board settings, delete the boards and manage message board posts.
• Read – selected role members can read the records and configuration of particular message boards, but are not allowed to modify them.