Member groups help

[SpectroPro]

Ok....I am reading all over, and can't find the answers to a few basic questions.  If there is a comprehensive help file or doc somewhere, please point me to it. 

1)  What exactly ARE the membergroups?  What use are they?
2)  What is the ungrouped member category? 
3)  How come I have people in the ungrouped members section that are also in the other groups (administrator, newbies, etc...)?
4)  when I look at the Permissions by Membergroup window, it lists all my groups.  My problem (and headache) comes from that question.  How can you be in several groups at once?  Why would you want to be?  Seems stupid to me.
5)  Is there an inherant difference between Moderator and Global Moderator and then GM and Admin?
6)  Under Modify boards, you can choose which groups can access the board.  However, the Moderator group is NOT listed.  Is there a reason why??

more to come I am sure...but this is giving me a royal headache.....(literally)

TIA

EDIT:  I have added membergroups to the board.  I now have Administrator, Global Moderator, Instructor, Instructor Aid

I can edit the privs of the 2 new ones (I got rid of moderator, I have no use for them) and yet, they  still don't show up when I try to add a user to them.  If I want someone to be a global moderator (primary group) and then also an instructor (secondary group) it isn't listed.  the only things listed in the additional groups are Administrator and Global moderator....  Is this a bug or am I just a blithering idiot and don't get it.  hehe

[[Unknown]]

1. Membergroups are logical groupings of members.  For example, I am in the "Administrator", "Lead Developer", "Team Member", and "Simple Machines Hero" groups.  There are three types of groups: primary groups (each member can only have one of these), post groups (again, only one.. and these are automatically assigned..), and additional groups (as many as you want, or none.)

2. Ungrouped members are.. just that.  Members in no particular *primary* group.  They are still a member of a post group, and may or may not be in additional groups.

3. You could keep the primary group at "(none)" and only change their additional groups.

4. You can be in additional groups.  For example, here everyone on the team is part of the "Team Member" additional group.  While my *primary group* is Lead Developer, my permissions are largely controlled based on my membership in the "Administrator" group.  So, yes, you might want to be in a great many... I'm sorry if it seems stupid to you.

5. Moderator = moderator of one board.  Global Moderator = moderator of all boards.  Administrator = forum administrator.
In other words, A moderator is a lowly janitor.  A Global Moderator is a manager, and an Administrator is an owner.  The Global Moderators can't do everything the Administrators can, but they can do a few things Moderators can't... and everywhere.  Moderators are only moderators for one board.

6. If you list someone as a moderator for a board (such as SMF Coding Discussion) it is assumed you want them to be able to access it.  Otherwise... "seems stupid to me."

Only primary groups are shown.  Additional groups are not shown, for a multitude of reasons.  Many people use them for permissions (e.g. "Calendar Poster") and would not want them shown.

-[Unknown]

[Oldiesmann]

[Unknown] - you beat me to it - however, you misunderstood the last question.

Sounds like you made "Instructor" a post-based group by mistake. Go into the Admin section, click on "Edit Membergroups" and click "Modify" next to "Instructor". Make sure the box next to "This group is based off posts" is unchecked.

[SpectroPro]

[Unknown] - you beat me to it - however, you misunderstood the last question.

Sounds like you made "Instructor" a post-based group by mistake. Go into the Admin section, click on "Edit Membergroups" and click "Modify" next to "Instructor". Make sure the box next to "This group is based off posts" is unchecked.

I never made it a post based group.  I made sure of that.  I did however, put it in place of moderator..I wonder if that is the problem.

[davon]

just having a question here too,

i have no usage for post based groups and i would like to disable it coz i don't want them. but i'm looking over and over, i can't find "how".  at the end i tried to delete all post based groups but one was left over (newbie) which i couldn't delete no more. well..  can someone gimme a hint about here to find such an disable option for this thingy?

greetz

[[Unknown]]

Name the Newbie group... nothing.  Or perhaps "Happy member".  Or check the option in "Current Theme's Settings" to not show post groups for members of other groups.

-[Unknown]

[davon]

thanks

in the meanwhile i had uncommented that part in the theme source. for some unknown reason i always haven't seen the way to disable displaying post groups in the theme settings itself.


greetz