How do I make my community Members-only? (original) (raw)

It is possible for the community's owner or maintainer to set a minimum security level for all future posts and restrict membership to the community, to create a community viewable only by its members.

You may want to change the security settings of your personal journal instead.

Any Friends-only entries in the community are only visible to members of the community. However, existing public entries are viewable by anyone who reads the community's entries.

To make all past entries in a community Members-Only, you must have each entry's author edit each entry individually to change the security level to Friends-Only, or delete the past entries. There is no way to change the security level on all past journal entries with one command. Community maintainers cannot edit past posts, so if the author cannot or does not want to edit the entry, the only alternative is to delete it.

Setting the Minimum Security for New Entries

You can set the minimum security for all future entries posted to the community. For example, setting this option to Members-only will prevent a member from accidentally posting a public entry. Setting the minimum security level for the community will make it impossible to select "Public" when posting to the community using the web interface. LiveJournal will automatically change the security level of any entry posted to such community to Members-only.

To set the minimum security level for your community, modify the option at the top of the Privacy tab of the My Account Settings page. (Make sure to choose your community from the "Work as user" menu at the top, and then click "Switch", in order to change your community's settings.)

The minimum security level of the community can be circumvented by a member by editing the entry after it has been posted. This cannot be prevented, as neither owners nor maintainers have the capability to edit entries in communities they didn't write themselves.

Restricting Membership

If you have open membership set on your community, any user can join the community and read Members-only posts at any time. By setting the moderated or closed membership options, it is possible to filter who becomes a member of the community.