Show banner notification for specific user group

[MegaBrutal]

Sorry if this topic is redundant, but I couldn't find the answer via search. On our forum the permissions are set up in such a way that completely new users with 0 posts can browse the forum but not allowed to post anywhere, except posting a new thread into a dedicated board for introductions. In other words, they must introduce themselves before they are allowed to interact with the forum and its other members normally.

Despite having this information written at several places, some users still fail to figure out that they can't post because they are supposed to introduce themselves by creating a thread in the introductions board. I thought it would be nice to set a specific banner for them which would appear on every forum page, reminding them that they haven't introduced themselves yet and they need to create their thread, I would even include a direct action=post URL that would take them right to the "Start new topic" form. Important that this notification must only appear for members who haven't posted yet.

Is there any functionality in base SMF like this, or do I need to find a mod (if there's any)? I vaguely remember that I've seen such functionality on other forums, but I'm not sure if they were also powered by SMF.

[Kindred]

It is not possible in the core.

There used to be a mod to do something along these lines, but I can't find it right now (and I am certain that the mod was never updated to 2.1.x - so it's lifetime is limited)

[savo]

Can you go one step further and modify your board or membergroup permissions so it hides all the boards except for the Introductions board if they are logged in and have 0 posts?

[@rjen]

I have done exactly this using TinyPortal: created a php block that shows only to members with 0 posts and explains that they must introduce themselves.

As soon as they post and the post count is no more 0 the block is no longer showing

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[MegaBrutal]

Can you go one step further and modify your board or membergroup permissions so it hides all the boards except for the Introductions board if they are logged in and have 0 posts?

We've tried that. Technically it works, of course, but it severely hurts user engagement. If they don't see anything of the existing conversations, they are not motivated to step over the barrier of introducing themselves. They rather just silently leave and never return.

I have done exactly this using TinyPortal: created a php block that shows only to members with 0 posts and explains that they must introduce themselves.

As soon as they post and the post count is no more 0 the block is no longer showing

Thank you! Actually, we have TinyPortal to show articles on the main page, so I'll look into this!

[Steve]

Marking solved for now. If you have more questions about TinyPortal you should ask in their support topic. If it doesn't work out like you wanted and would like to come back to this topic and ask more questions, by all means, mark it unsolved and ask away. 

[@rjen]

Just FYI. Below the block code I am using. It was a bit tricky, because TinyPortal does not use post-based groups in its permissions...

Code Select Expand

global $user_info;

if($user_info['posts'] < 1)

echo'
<div class="roundframe">
<div style="padding: 0 8px;">
<b>Let op:</b>
You have not yet introduced yourself on the forum: before you can post messages, it is necessary to introduce yourself. You can introduce yourself in this board: <a href="/index.php?board=1.0"><b><u>Forum > Introductions</u></b></a>.<br><br><b>Only after you introduced yourself, you can post messages in the other boards and respond to messages</b>.
</div>
</div>';