User Types
There are three default MindTouch user types with predefined privileges - Anonymous users, Community Members, Pro Members.
Anonymous users - Anonymous users refers to any user visiting a MindTouch site who is not logged in. Anonymous visitors can only consume (i.e., view) public content. Within the control panel, there is a user named Anonymous that cannot be modified, because MindTouch records activity from unauthenticated (not logged in) users through the Anonymous Community member account.
Community members - End users who can only consume (i.e. view) public and permissioned content. These may be your customer base that, in addition to public content, may also need exclusive viewing access to pages pertaining only to them. Community members are assigned by a site administrator and need to log in to view exclusive content.
Pro members - Internal users who can contribute to content. These may be your employees who will draft or edit content or administer your site. Pro members are assigned by a site administrator and need to log in to contribute content.
User privileges
| Anonymous user | Community member | Pro member | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Log in | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ |
| View | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Rate articles | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Provide feedback | ✕ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Contribute | ✕ | ✕ | ✔ |
For a Community member to be able to edit or author content, you must reassign the community member as a pro member in the MindTouch control panel and then assign the appropriate contributor role.
Pro members must be assigned a role. Roles are initially assigned in the control panel but can be overwritten by granting special permissions on pages or entire sections as needed.
For Anonymous users to rate articles, you may need to configure it via your site configurations.
Planning for user permissions
Read more about how to decide whether to assign roles globally or on a page-by-page basis. Pro members can have multiple levels of control. For instance, an author can only modify a page, whereas an editor can move and delete a page. Below are example permission configurations for different user scenarios.
Viewer role for Pro Members
Community members cannot be boosted to Pro member roles at the page level, so the Viewer role allows a Pro Member to have limited editing rights on a site, and then later be boosted to a higher role at the page level as part of a group as needed.
Can community members perform Pro Member roles?
No. If the user is configured as a community member in the control panel, that user will never be able to do more than view and rate pages or leave comments. If you need community members to create or edit pages (especially in internal-only sections in MindTouch), you have to reassign them as pro members.
Self-service scenario
You want your users to self-help and resolve their own issues. You want your content to be authoritative and produced by internal subject matter experts (SMEs). In this scenario your employees/SMEs will be considered pro members.
- Site: Set your site to public.
- Community members: Although your biggest users user base will be anonymous users, we still recommended you Allow anyone to create a viewer/commenter account commenter account (navigate to Site tools > Control panel > Configuration.
- Pro members: Unlike community members, pro members can modify and create content. You can either create a brand-new pro member or promote a community member to a pro member in Site tools > Control panel > Users.
Feedback scenario
You want your users to self-help and resolve their own issues while continuing to increase their expertise in your product or service. You want your content to be authoritative and produced by your SMEs while allowing customers to interact with content to expose successes and failures. In this scenario, your internal SMEs will be considered pro members.
- Site: Set your site to public.
- Community members: Allow users to register and join the site in Site tools > Control panel > Configuration and select the option for Allow anyone to create a community member account.
- In this scenario, your users/customers are considered community members.
- Pro members: Unlike community members, pro members can modify and create content. You can either create a brand-new pro member or promote a community member to a pro member in Site tools > Control panel > Users.
Collaboration scenario
You want your users to self-help and resolve their own issues while continuing to increase their expertise in your product or service. You want your content to be authored by both internal and external subject matter experts (SMEs). In this scenario, your internal and external SME customers, partners and colleagues will be considered pro members and your users/customers are considered community members.
- Site: Set your site to public.
- Community members: Allow users to register and join the site in Site tools > Control panel > Configuration and select the option for Allow anyone to create a community member account.
- Pro members: Unlike community members, pro members can modify and create content. You can either create a brand-new pro member or promote a community member to a pro member in Site tools > Control panel > Users.