Understanding User Roles

When creating a new user account, the Community Server administrator assigns the user role, which determines the permissions and functionality available to the user within Community Server.

You can also add user roles to the list of pre-defined Community Server user roles.

Below is a list of the Community Server default user roles and permissions granted to each role. For some of these roles, you must specify the default global permissions. 

• Blog Administrator – Administration role for blogs. The user has permissions for all blog management functions.
• Editor – Editing role; user has some manage responsibilities for site content.
• Everyone – Used for permissions mapping. All anonymous and registered users are automatically part of this role, as is every new user created by the system administrator. This role has no administrative privileges.
• File Administrator – Administration role for files.
• Forums Administrator – Administrator role for forums. The user has permissions for all forums management functions.
• Gallery Administrator – Administrator role for galleries. The user has permissions for all gallery management functions.
• Media Gallery Administrator – Administrator role for media gallery. The user has permissions for all media gallery functions.
• Membership Administrator – Administrator role for membership management. The user has permissions for all membership management functions.
• Moderator – User has authority to approve site content. The user is notified by email when content has been added or modified.
• Owners – User can create blogs.
• Reader User – User has read-only permission for feed reader.
• Registered Users – Users who have created their accounts are automatically assigned this role.
• System Administrator – User with global permissions for all site management functions.
• Trusted Users – Out-of-the-box role for which you can assign your own global permissions.

Special Roles

The Owners role is a special role within Community Server. Instead of having the Owners permissions immutable as they were in Community Server v1.x, Owners permissions can be defined the same as any other role. However, the Owners role generally should not have any members added to it. Rather, the permissions defined for the Owners role will be given automatically to the users defined as the owner(s) of a certain blog or file gallery.

The Everyone and Registered Users roles are also special. The Everyone role represents every user, including anonymous users. The Registered Users role represents everyone who has joined or registered with the community and has a member account/profile.

Related Topics

• Editing User Roles
• Understanding Permissions