Sometimes there are people keen to help run an instance but you don’t know them well enough to give them ALL the keys. PieFed lets you control which parts of the admin area you want a ‘Staff’ role to have access to and then assign accounts to that role.

For now there are just two roles but it would be trivial to add more if there is demand for it (and pretty easy to make a UI to let an admin define as many custom roles as they want). For example, a “Super moderator” might have the “administer all communities” permission only. Can you think of any other variations of the Staff role?

  • Rimu@piefed.socialOPMEnglish
    8·
    24 days ago

    The permissions system in PieFed is greatly inspired by Drupal , which I spent too many years building websites with. It even uses the same function call user_access('administer all communities') to check if the current user can do something.

    Users have one or more roles. Each role has a collection of permissions that have been enabled for it. When a user tries to access a page PieFed doesn’t check which role they have, it checks if any of their roles have the necessary permission. This is very flexible and extensible - to limit access to an area the admin can either remove the permission from a role OR remove a user from a role. It’s simple for developers too - just call user_access() and leave it to the instance admin to decide which roles can access the functionality.

  • Die4Ever@retrolemmy.comEnglish
    3·
    24 days ago

    great work!

    I think a lower role might make sense, I’m imagining a role that would only be for approving registrations (that’s a pretty low impact role, just good for fast response)

    idk what you would call it, Approver? I asked ChatGPT lol

    ai response

    Here are some single-word role name ideas that suggest registration approval responsibilities, with a balance of clarity, tone, and brevity:

    Friendly/Formal

    • Liaison – as you mentioned, warm and diplomatic.
    • Registrar – clear, traditional for someone managing sign-ups.
    • Steward – implies care and responsibility over a process.
    • Welcomer – informal but friendly; makes the role feel user-focused.
    • Greeter – approachable, but might feel too casual.
    • Host – friendly and inclusive, though could imply ongoing duties.

    Administrative/Functional

    • Approver – very clear, but utilitarian.
    • Gatekeeper – descriptive, with a slightly authoritative tone.
    • Verifier – implies responsibility for checking legitimacy.
    • Screener – emphasizes filtering applications, might feel impersonal.
    • Curator – if you want a more dignified or selective tone.

    Invented or Stylized

    • Porter – old-fashioned, implies controlling a gate or door.
    • Keyholder – metaphorical but evocative; suggests trusted access.
    • Doorman – similar, though gendered and possibly outdated.
    • Warden – more security-leaning, potentially too harsh.

    Would you prefer the role to sound more friendly/community-oriented or more like a controlled access function?