User Groups is an optional feature of RumorMill - it need not be used unless desired. User groups provide a way for the system administrator to control which users may read from or post into which groups. Once created, a single user group may be assigned to as many users as desired. As an example, a school might create one user group called Teachers that has read and post access to a set of groups and another user group called Students that only has read access to that same set of groups.
Each user group defines a list of groups. That list is then further described as a Permit or Exclude user group. Each user is assigned to a user group that defines the groups that can be read and another user group that defines the groups which may be posted.
The list of groups in the User Group definition is an enumeration of group names separated by commas. An asterisk ("*") may be used as a wildcard, and the exclamation mark ("!") may be used for negation. A few examples follow
List definition | Permit/Exclude | Interpretation |
* | Permit | All groups may be read (or posted) |
* | Exclude | No groups may be read (or posted) |
!microsoft*,* | Permit | No groups beginning with "Microsoft" may be read (or posted), but all other groups may. |
!*sex*,!*binary*,* | Permit | No groups with names containing "sex" or "binary" may be read (or posted) |
Note that there are two user groups created by default - Default post and Default read. If no user groups are created, all users (and the default user - used when no users are created or logging in is not required) are assigned to these users groups. You cannot delete or rename these groups. However, you can change their definition, that is, the Permit and Exclude values as well as the list of user groups may be modified. This can be used to good effect if you wish to allow guest users to some (or all) groups but deny guests the ability to post to groups.
To create or modify user groups - just use the Add..., Edit... and Duplicate... buttons. The Delete... will remove the selected user group, but only after confirming the delete request.
You may create as many user groups as you choose. The only limitation is that group user names must be 31 or fewer characters.