No discussions, no replies?

No discussions, no replies?

by Mark Cornwell -
Number of replies: 23

Hi, I'm trying to get comfortable with Moodle 1.7. I ordered William Rice's book and have found out that there have been some big changes recently and many of the sections don't seem to be quite the same as described.

I have a site News forum and want to block it from replies, but can not see where to make such a setting. William describes a "no discussions, no replies" setting but I can not see it. Searching these forums I see that there are permissions and I can see that these are settable for forums other than my site news, but not for the site news itself.

1. where do I get to the site news permissions?

2. how do I restrict a forum (site news or otherwise) so that I can choose one of: discussions and replies are allowed; no discussions but replies are allowed; no discussions no replies?

Thanks.

 Mark

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In reply to Mark Cornwell

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Helen Foster -
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Hi Mark,

Forum permissions may be accessed via the Roles tab on the update/edit forum page.

To restrict a forum, select the Override Roles tab and choose the role to override e.g. Student. You may then prevent students from starting new discussions or replying to forum posts.
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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Mark Cornwell -

Helen, ok... I see that I might override Student and Teacher with a new role that prevents forum entry, but I don't understand how to control that for the front page and for other courses. I get the impression that if I set up a role called, say "PlainUser" with a role that did not allow posting, and then overrode the student and teacher (so that only admin can post news on the front page) it would apply through the different courses not just the front page. Maybe I have interpreted that incorrectly.

I'll have to dig around in the forum and documents some more to see if I can work it out. Yesterday I had no luck finding an explanation. As an ex network admin I find this far from intuitive! sad

Mark

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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Mark Cornwell -

Hi, again, Helen.

Ok, I found what I could about this but it is limited. One of the key items in the docs is a stub. sad

Here's what I did.

There is me as an admin.

There is Jane Doe as a student.

I created a new role FPUser and using the role override in the FP settings I made FPUser override teacher and student. FPUser has "prevent" set for most of the forum activities apart from reading.

Once I had applied this I logged on as Jane Doe. I could see both an "add new topic" button and a "discuss this topic" button on the FP forum.

I tried both. Both worked! Not right....

I also kind of worry that if the permissions are inherited, were I to manage to prevent Jane Doe on the font page she might also be prevented in a course.

When I look at my "assign roles" Jane is a student. When I look at Jane's userid (accounts>browse list of users>Jane Doe>assign roles) she is neither a student nor an FPUser.

Maybe I have mis-understood how I am meant to set this up (as I said, I'm new to doing all of this).

My instinct tells me that I should be able to set up an FPUser override *just* for the Site News forum. But I'm not sure that I see *how* right now.

Back to the drawing board...

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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Mark Cornwell -

Helen, right... sorted myself out now. It is amazing how much simpler things are sometimes when you come back to them with a clear head.

In case anyone else ponders this, here is the answer!

With editing turned on and site news showing in the main menu block, I:

  • chose the site news forum
  • selected update
  • went in to Roles
  • clicked the "override roles" tab
  • selected student
  • clicked "prevent" on each thing I didn't want (I left viewing options only)
  • saved updates

Now when I logged in as a student I could see the forum and subsribe to it but not reply or anything else.

Wonderful.

Cheers,

      Mark

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In reply to Mark Cornwell

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Stuart Mealor -
On a standard 1.7 install only an Admin can set the Override roles.
(This can be given to a Teacher of course).

An alternative for a standard Teacher is to set Students to the Guest role for the Forum (allowing them to read posts, but not reply or post new items)...

1. Select the forum
2. Click on 'Update this forum' button
3. Click on the 'Roles' tab
4. Click on 'Guest' from the Assign Roles table
5. Add in any Student you do not want to be able to post or reply (they can still read)
6. There is no 'Save changes' button - it's an instant change.

Explanation: the key here is that a Guest (standard role) cannot Post to a Forum.

Stuart
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In reply to Stuart Mealor

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Jeff Wood -
Thanks to all for the "fixes;" however, I think the role changes to the forums and the removal of the controls from 1.6 and before was a step backward.

It would be nice to have the same controls as the earlier versions of moode, i.e.
  • no post, no reply
  • reply only
Keep the role option for those that want/need it, but simplify the basic use.

Thoughts?

Jeff

PS I love moodle and have been using it for years, but some of these changes (especially roles) are making things more difficult for the "average" user. I have noticed this in Windows Vista too... lots of additional features but for the average user YIKES try to figure them out black eye
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In reply to Jeff Wood

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
I'd love to simplify the interfaces but it's difficult to see how.

The problem with this particular simplified suggestion is: what role does it apply to?

Everyone has different needs and wants different combinations, so everyone will have a different idea of what "simplified" mean.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Jeff Wood -
Hi Martin,

Thanks for your reply and all your hard work.

I guess what my suggestion meant was by introducing roles (a great feature for some but not for everyone IMHO) a whole new layer of complexity has been introduced.

The original forums allowed each teacher to choose the type of "openness" it would allow. Under the new role system a teacher has to mine: Forums> News > roles > over ride roles > student > allow replies/posts and disallow in order to have the "old" news forum back.

Could it be possible to add to the role permissions other fields? E.g. studentforumsallow or studentforumdisallow . This way if a teacher sets a forum they can choose (while creating the forum) if they want students to be able to reply or create new posts.

For your consideration.

Jeff

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In reply to Jeff Wood

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Helen Foster -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hi Jeff,

I've just discovered that the News forum is back in Moodle 1.8, together with a couple of additional capabilities, mod/forum:addnews and mod/forum:replynews, for anyone wishing to override the default no discussions, no replies. approve

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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Joseph Rézeau -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators

Hi Helen, you wrote:

"I've just discovered that the News forum is back in Moodle 1.8..."

Well, I can't see how to create a News forum from the dropdown list in Moodle 1.8. Where is it?

Joseph

Attachment image00.jpg
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In reply to Joseph Rézeau

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Joseph Rézeau -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Sorry, got it now! The News forum is automatically created upon creating a new course, it is not created from the Adding a new Forum screen!
Joseph
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In reply to Mark Cornwell

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Damon Blanchette -
Hi Mark, I tried what you outlined above, but it is not working for a news forum in a course here. Even when all the settings were overridden to be "Prevent" (except View Discussion), the students can still click on the "Reply" link on every post and give a response. Might I be missing something?
Thanks,
Damon
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In reply to Damon Blanchette

HoweverRe: No discussions, no replies?

by jon s -

Hi all.

What if new students enroll this course?

You will always have to set them as Guest in the news forum level.

However, i tried to set all my course's students as newsForum Guests but they can still post and reply.

I use 1.7.1+

Any thought?

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In reply to jon s

Re: HoweverRe: No discussions, no replies?

by jon s -

Well, i update my moodle installation to 1.7.2+ and the that bug was fixed.

Now, nobody can post or reply to the newsforum except from teachers!

You can also create a new course forum for all participants.

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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Bonnie Mioduchoski -

I am in Moodle 2.4. When I edit the forum settings I don't see anywhere to define the role or create a role override. I'd like to set certain forums for students to NOT add new discussions and just reply to the one I've created. Any help on how to do this? The breadcrumbs of how to get there? THANKS!

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In reply to Bonnie Mioduchoski

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Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Bonnie Mioduchoski -

Hi Paul,

I am using groups so that students get overwhelmed with the number of forum posts (there are 80 students in the class). A single simple discussion would make my life easier but I am afraid it woudl overwhelm the students. Thoughts?

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In reply to Bonnie Mioduchoski

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Bonnie Mioduchoski -

Figured it out. Under edit there is a button for permissions - it's more of a top level menu item so I missed it. I thought it was under the editing window itself. Hope this helps someone else!

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In reply to Bonnie Mioduchoski

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Rick Jerz -
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I don't see it.  Could you attach a screen shot, or more accurately describe where the button for permissions is?

Thanks.

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In reply to Mark Cornwell

Re: No discussions, no replies?

by Jacek Krenz -

I have opposite problem: as a teacher I can’t post and replay to the posts. What is more strange - students can, I am not mixed, and it is only on one of my courses !?

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