Question Forums "Disappear" When Not Logged In

Configuration report below.

For some reason, my forums are not showing up at all to non-logged-in visitors. I've double checked my settings...public viewing, etc...all appear correct. When I log in, the forums all appear. When I log out, it just says "There are no categories in the section!" It doesn't give me any privacy messages or anything like that. It's just like the forums disappear when I log out. This one is driving me nuts. :evil:

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Joomla default template details : gk_memovie | author: GavickPro | version: 1.3 | creationdate: 12 April 2011

Kunena default template details : Blue Eagle (default) | author: Kunena Team | version: 1.6.5 | creationdate: 2011-07-27

Kunena version detailled: Installed version: 1.6.5 | Build: 5005 | Version name: Babel | Kunena detailled configuration:

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[th]Kunena config settings:[/th]

board_title	Kunena
board_offline	0
board_ofset	0.00
offline_message	<h2>The Forum is currently offline for maintenance.</h2> <div>Check back soon!</div>
enablerss	1
enablepdf	1
threads_per_page	20
messages_per_page	6
messages_per_page_search	15
showhistory	1
historylimit	6
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template	default
showannouncement	1
avataroncat	0
catimagepath	category_images/
showchildcaticon	1
annmodid	62
rtewidth	450
rteheight	300
enableforumjump	1
reportmsg	1
username	1
askemail	0
showemail	0
showuserstats	1
showkarma	1
useredit	1
useredittime	0
useredittimegrace	600
editmarkup	1
allowsubscriptions	1
subscriptionschecked	1
allowfavorites	1
maxsubject	50
maxsig	300
regonly	0
changename	0
pubwrite	0
floodprotection	0
mailmod	0
mailadmin	0
captcha	0
mailfull	1
allowavatar	1
allowavatarupload	1
allowavatargallery	1
avatarquality	65
avatarsize	2048
allowimageupload	0
allowimageregupload	1
imageheight	800
imagewidth	800
imagesize	150
allowfileupload	0
allowfileregupload	1
filetypes	txt,rtf,pdf,zip,tar.gz,tgz,tar.bz2
filesize	120
showranking	1
rankimages	1
avatar_src	fb
fb_profile	fb
pm_component	no
userlist_rows	30
userlist_online	1
userlist_avatar	1
userlist_name	1
userlist_username	1
userlist_posts	1
userlist_karma	1
userlist_email	0
userlist_usertype	0
userlist_joindate	1
userlist_lastvisitdate	1
userlist_userhits	1
latestcategory
showstats	1
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rss_excluded_categories
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rss_cache	900
fbdefaultpage	recent
default_sort	asc
alphauserpointsnumchars	0
sef	1
sefcats	0
sefutf8	0
showimgforguest	1
showfileforguest	1
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polltimebtvotes	00:15:00
pollnbvotesbyuser	100
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ordering_system	mesid
post_dateformat	ago
post_dateformat_hover	datetime
hide_ip	1
js_actstr_integration	0
imagetypes	jpg,jpeg,gif,png
checkmimetypes	1
imagemimetypes	image/jpeg,image/jpg,image/gif,image/png
imagequality	50
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hideuserprofileinfo	put_empty
integration_access	auto
integration_login	auto
integration_avatar	auto
integration_profile	auto
integration_private	auto
integration_activity	auto
boxghostmessage	0
userdeletetmessage	0
latestcategory_in	1
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onlineusers	1
debug	0
catsautosubscribed	0
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popthankscount	5
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bbcode_img_secure	text
listcat_show_moderators	1
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activity_limit	0
show_list_time	720
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userlist_allowed	0
userlist_count_users	1
enable_threaded_layouts	0
category_subscriptions	post
topic_subscriptions	every
pubprofile	1
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Third-party components: Jomsocial 2.2.4

Third-party SEF components: None

Plugins: System - Mootools Upgrade: Disabled | System - Mootools12: Disabled | Kunena Search 1.6.4 | My Kunena Forum Posts 1.6.4

Modules: Kunena Latest 1.6.4 | Kunena Stats 1.6.4 | Kunena Login 1.6.4

Check the permissions on your Kunena menu items. The should look something like these:


The other thing that can affect your forum is if, and how, you have modified J! 1.7 permissions settings. J! 1.7 permissions are "tricky" and you should only change these things if you really know what you are doing; otherwise, just leave J! 1.7 permissions the way that they were originally set when you first installed Joomla 1.7.

---

UPDATE: I have reverted to all the default Groups, ACL's and Category access levels (all public). I have eliminated the Guest group...everything. There is still no forum visibility for a non-logged in user.

Could any simple Kunena configuration parameters that I may have missed cause this? Here are my settings for the ones I assume matter:
>> Allow Guests to post/write - NO
>> Registered Users Only - NO

I'm getting a bit desperate on this issue. :sick: I'd really appreciate any help you can provide.

---

All of my categories, with the exception of one sub-sub-sub-category, are public.

But I will say this, the problem seemed to start (I'm not 100%) certain, when I set up a Guest group so a couple of modules would disappear for logged-in users. But I got so frustrated, I removed the Guest group and Access Level completely but nothing changed.

I do have some additional groups and permissions. Is it possible you could take a look if I give you back-end access? (I'm considering removing all groups/acls I've added to see if that solves the problem, but _everything_ on the site is working perfectly EXCEPT that guests cannot see the forums. I'd prefer not to start over with my groups/acls again. They are an important part of the way my site functions.)

Thanks.

Griz (Steve)

sozzled wrote: Check the permissions on your Kunena menu items. The should look something like these:

The other thing that can affect your forum is if, and how, you have modified J! 1.7 permissions settings. J! 1.7 permissions are "tricky" and you should only change these things if you really know what you are doing; otherwise, just leave J! 1.7 permissions the way that they were originally set when you first installed Joomla 1.7.

If you created Guest group, it's obvious that they are not showing up (they are in another part of the ACL tree).

For the menu you need to add your new guest group to the Access level = Public

Kunena allows you to add 2 groups (with their children) into each category. Those are "Public Access Level" and "Admin Access Level". As Admin Access Level has no meaning in J1.6+ you can use it for the Guests if it's in the different sub-tree..

Appreciate the input, but...

Somehow it goes beyond that. I've been very careful and double/triple checked the guest/public access and still nothing. Finally I've done away with the Guest group altogether again and went back to all the default ACL/Group settings...still not showing. (In summary, I have all ACL groups settings back to default and ALL forums are set to public access...still don't show unless I'm logged in.) Try it at...

grizzledgamer.com/index.php/forums/forum-index

(I know you can't see the back-end, but it is properly set for visitors to be able to view the forums. If you create an account and log in, the forums will appear.)

I always hesitate to jump to this conclusion too quickly, but it seems as though I've somehow triggered a bug.

Griz

Matias wrote: If you created Guest group, it's obvious that they are not showing up (they are in another part of the ACL tree).

For the menu you need to add your new guest group to the Access level = Public

Kunena allows you to add 2 groups (with their children) into each category. Those are "Public Access Level" and "Admin Access Level". As Admin Access Level has no meaning in J1.6+ you can use it for the Guests if it's in the different sub-tree..

I don't think that there's a bug -- the code is so simple:

We Just get all the groups where the user belongs into (recursively):
JAccess::getGroupsByUser(JFactory::getUser()->id, true);
.. and then we check if the group you have entered in category configuration matches one of those.

So easiest way to see the groups visitor is to add this code into somewhere where it gets run: It returns list of user group id's (all that user belongs into)..