Security Settings

This area controls the basic privacy level of a community. It can also be used to establish the rights given to invited persons and persons using a community password. The community password can also be established and updated from this area.

Note: Basic security options can only be modified by the community's founder and will not be displayed to administrators. Also, communities that are set as "Open" do not require password settings, therefore they are not displayed.

Community Type

This setting establishes the basic method of control for a community's membership.

Hide Community

The community welcome page is used as an entrance by new and existing members that wish to join or login to the community directly. This page can be hidden for increased security or privacy. If this option is set to "Hide", the welcome page will only be visible to existing members already logged in to the site, users following an e-mail invitation link and users accessing a valid Go URL (i.e. direct link to a community tool, folder or content item).

Important: If the community is hidden, returning members must login at the site main page or another community before gaining access to this community. Bookmarks directly to community will not function unless the user has already logged into the site.

When the community is hidden, unauthorized users are presented with an error page, indicating the community either does not exist or is hidden. This error ensures the existence of the community remains unknown. Community previewing is also not possible if community is hidden.

Note: Setting a community to hidden will remove that community from any directory it is a part of. This prevents users from accessing the community welcome page through a directory listing.

Example

Corporation "A" has formed relationships with several partner companies, "B", "C", and "D". During the course of the relationships, communities are created for the partner companies to facilitate communication abroad.

An outside user may attempt to determine which companies "A" is involved with. This could be accomplished by guessing a community's name, appending it to the corporation's URL, and searching in a web browser. If a user tried to access "http://www.a/b.com" without the welcome page hidden, the relationship would be exposed. To prevent this from happening, the hide community feature is enabled. Therefore whenever such an attempt is made, the user is presented with an error page, indicating the community either does not exist or is hidden.

Previewing By Visitors

This section determines if non-members of a community are permitted to preview the community in advance of joining. Previewing users, by default, are not provided the right to add or edit content. Permissions can be modified for the Preview membership group to expand or further restrict the permissions provided to previewing users.

Three primary preview options are available for selection:

Allow general visitors to preview community before joining

Allowing general visitors to preview the community means that anyone who accesses the  community has the right to immediately preview it without further identification.

Allow users that have an account at [Site Name] to preview community before joining

Allowing registered site users to preview the community means that only users that have a valid user name and password at the site can preview (the site is the group of communities within the same domain or base URL).

Note: Some sites do not permit general visitors to self-register for an account. For these closed sites, this preview setting effectively blocks anonymous users from previewing the community.  If the site is open for self-registration, anonymous users need only register for an account prior to initiating the preview process.  The registration option for new users is located on the main page of the site.

Allow invited persons to preview community before joining

Allowing only invited people to preview the community means that visitors will need to supply a unique invitation key before they are permitted to preview the community. (The Invitation Key is a code included in e-mail community invitations.)

For convenience, you may want to provide a link on your web page or in an e-mail that takes users directly to the preview stage.  If so, the following link format is available for use:

http://community.domain.com/ + Alias + ?type=preview

For example:

http://community.domain.com/OurPlace?type=preview

Instant Preview Option

Select one of the available options to determine whether or not previewing members, will be presented with a "Preview" button before entering the community.  If visitors to the community meet the requirements selected under the "Previewing by Visitors" section, they may skip selecting the "Preview" button and automatically be entered into the community, in "Preview" mode.

Standard Preview Process

With this option selected, previewing members will be required to click a "Preview" button, actively agree to a Terms of Service agreement, select a "Start Previewing" button, and select a  "Enter Community" button, before gaining access to the preview feature.

Enabled Instant Preview

With this option selected, previewing members can simply select the community from the site main page, and gain instant access to the previewing capabilities of the community.  Only those users who have met the criteria under the Previewing By Visitors section, will be granted previewing access.

Important: Members accessing communities with instant preview enabled, are still bound by the Terms of Service agreement, which can be accessed on the lower right hand corner of each community page.

Preview Message

To present a custom message, only to individuals previewing the community, enter text in the box provided. This message will appear inside the community below the title bar when users are previewing the community.

Community Password

See help on community passwords for details.