Posted by ericfoy on Thu, Jan 23, 2020 - 9:05pm --- Updated: Jan 23 '20 - 9:05pm

Having navigated to  /admin/config/people/settings|Contact Settings

I have unchecked "Enable the personal contact form by default for new users."

Nonetheless, when I create a new user via the (annonymous) user registration form, then go to his own account, then click the "Edit" tab...

The Contact Settings tab still shows up, offering him the selection box,

" Personal contact form
Allow other users to contact you via a personal contact form which keeps your e-mail address hidden. Note that some privileged users such as site administrators are still able to contact you even if you choose to disable this feature."

It seems to me that this option should not show up.

I've cleared every cache I know how to clear. Is this an anomoly on my part, or a bug, or a feature?

Accepted answer

It's a feature? ;-)

If you read the setting closely it says "Enable the personal contact form by default for new users." If you disable this, contact forms are still available for users, they are just NOT turned on by default. 

The contact module has permissions and you can disable the ability for regular users to use personal contact forms, but you can't disable their ability to turn on their own own contact form. 

This means you have a potential situation, in fact the default situation, where users are able to enable their personal contact form, but no one other than admins can use it, and admins could use it anyway according to the help text. This is weird.

I think that there should be a permission that grants (or removes) permission for users to enable their contact form. I'll create a github issue for this. 

 

Most helpful answers

Special note: I never use the

Special note: I never use the contact module in Backdrop CMS because I seldom use the individual contact forms and for a site wide contact form I prefer to use the Webform module. 

The webform module has the following advantages over the core Contact module:

1) You have much more control over the specifics of your contact form. You can add custom fields easily along with many other configuration options.

2) It stores entries in the database and you can go back to them later. I am pretty sure the default contact module just sends you an email with the contact form information, but does not store anything in database. 

Disadvantage:

1) It is a more complicated and will require some learning of how Webform works. 

What you disabled is the

What you disabled is the checking of that box for new users. So now the box is unchecked for new users. The box is still there for them to re-enable though.

I can't remember if there's a permission for hiding the box from them, but if not you can use the Simplify module to do this: https://backdropcms.org/project/simplify

Comments

Thu, Jan 23, 2020 - 9:36pm by stpaultim

It's a feature? ;-)

If you read the setting closely it says "Enable the personal contact form by default for new users." If you disable this, contact forms are still available for users, they are just NOT turned on by default. 

The contact module has permissions and you can disable the ability for regular users to use personal contact forms, but you can't disable their ability to turn on their own own contact form. 

This means you have a potential situation, in fact the default situation, where users are able to enable their personal contact form, but no one other than admins can use it, and admins could use it anyway according to the help text. This is weird.

I think that there should be a permission that grants (or removes) permission for users to enable their contact form. I'll create a github issue for this. 

 

Thu, Jan 23, 2020 - 9:38pm by BWPanda (not verified)

What you disabled is the checking of that box for new users. So now the box is unchecked for new users. The box is still there for them to re-enable though.

I can't remember if there's a permission for hiding the box from them, but if not you can use the Simplify module to do this: https://backdropcms.org/project/simplify

Sat, Jan 25, 2020 - 12:46pm by ericfoy

Yep. That pretty much sums it up. Thank you.

Sat, Jan 25, 2020 - 5:02pm by stpaultim

Special note: I never use the contact module in Backdrop CMS because I seldom use the individual contact forms and for a site wide contact form I prefer to use the Webform module. 

The webform module has the following advantages over the core Contact module:

1) You have much more control over the specifics of your contact form. You can add custom fields easily along with many other configuration options.

2) It stores entries in the database and you can go back to them later. I am pretty sure the default contact module just sends you an email with the contact form information, but does not store anything in database. 

Disadvantage:

1) It is a more complicated and will require some learning of how Webform works.