Want to disable subscription fee/payment for groups

[Portalnoob]

Hello,

I have made a clean installation of IM 141.

My intention is to have a forum with the following:
1 public section for registered users
2 private sections that are not hidden, but prevented from reading in unless access is granted
2 private sections that are hidden
4 groups that are hidden with access to the different private sections

The idea of having the forums private but not hidden is to make registered members aware of that there are more sections they could request access to. Instead of having to inform members to send a PM to the Admin to request access to the different sections so the Admin can manually select who gains access to what. I don't want any of the users to have to pay any sub.scription fee to join a group, but here is where it fails... I can't get rid of it.

What happens is the following:
I register a clean TestUser with no group access.
The TestUser can see (but not read) the private sections as intended, so far so good.
The TestUser clicks on the Private section and gets this message:

Information
Sorry, but only users granted special access can read topics in this forum.
Click here to select a group to join. You will need to pay a sub.scription fee.

The TestUser then clicks on the Here link to proceed and then gets this message:

General Error
Website PayPal account has not been set up to receive funds, please contact our administrator to report this issue.

I have of course not set up any PayPal information in the configuration as I don't want any donations or sub.scription fee on this forum, and I have tried to disable any Donation / Currance / CashMod int he configuration and the Groups are only set as hidden and not as any payment demands.

How I would like this to work is the following:
A registered user can see that there are private forum sections on the forum, but can't read them (working as intended)
When clicking on the private sections there should be information like this:
*Sorry, but only users granted special access can read topics in this forum*
*You can send a PM to the Admin requesting access to this section*

Or just simply....
*Sorry, but only users granted special access can read topics in this forum*


Is this possible ?


***
PortalNoob

[Helter]

be sure that your group status is "closed" and not "payment group"
to add this

You can send a PM to the Admin requesting access to this section

you could edit the language file

[Portalnoob]

I have tried both Hidden or Closed group settings together with Private (not hidden) forums, and it both result in the Information about sub.scription fee & Error about Paypal not beeing setup when clicking on a private (not hidden) forum.

So I havent found any way to make use of the Private (not hidden) mode unless I want to start taking payments from my users (wich I of course don't want).

As it is now the only work around I have is to have the Forums set to Private[Hidden], but this makes the Private (not hidden) setup useless for sub.scription free forums... Is this the way it's meant to be or is there a bug somewhere?

***
PortalNoob

[Helter]

i have not used the ipn mod enough to know if it is a bug or by design. I presently uploading a current version of 141 to my webspace to test it out. Ill do the bd install tonight after work and let you know what I find.

[Portalnoob]

Thank you HelterSkelter, I hope you have better luck than I had.

/Pn

[.QUACK.Major.Pain]

I tested it myself, and I create a section and set it to Private.
I created a user group and set it to open & closed, and neither work.

If you go in the forum and select the private area, you get the page you mentioned, and when clicking on the HERE or whatever to continue to the next page, no groups appear in the drop down menu.

What I had done in the past is when you create the forum section, in the de.scription, I put the following:

<b><span>PLEASE PM ADMIN TO BE GRANTED ACCESS TO THIS AREA</span></b>

Once they pm you, you can add them to the CLOSED usergroup.

Or you could do this

<b><span>PLEASE JOIN THE "EXTRA OPTIONS" USERGROUP TO ACCESS</span></b>

Memebrs would join the OPEN usergroup names EXTRA OPTIONS or whatever name you chose, and you would have to monitor the usergroup and approve them as they request addition.
I believe if you are the moderator of the group, you will receive an email of a user wanting to join and needing your approval.

It would be nice though if usergroups would appear in the drop down menu. Little easier.