Permissions and board structure for a vehicle community

A half-set-up forum where members couldn't post because permissions had never been configured, and where the board structure had to mirror how the community actually talks about the subject.

The objective

The client had installed phpBB and stopped. Permissions weren't set, so registered users couldn't post at all. There was no board structure and no theme.

The permission model they wanted was specific. Regular members could post and edit only their own posts, and couldn't delete anything without a moderator or admin approving it. Moderators could post, create forums and categories, delete posts and manage users.

The structure repeated the same set of categories under each vehicle generation, which is a lot of boards to create consistently.

What I did

I built the permission roles to their specification and tested each one by logging in as that kind of user, rather than by reading the settings screen and assuming.

I created the category and subforum structure, with the same category set repeated under each generation.

I upgraded phpBB to a current version as part of the setup.

And I built a basic theme in keeping with the subject of the site.

The result

The forum opened with members able to post, moderators able to moderate, and a structure people could actually find things in.