Post passwords in bbPress
WordPress lets editors add post passwords to forums and topics. bbPress checks these passwords in common front-end views and posting flows, including content inside a protected forum. This compatibility is best effort and is still changing. It may have bugs, especially in less common workflows, themes, plugins, or integrations.
Post passwords are not a supported way to control access to a forum and are not recommended for private or sensitive discussions. Configure forum visibility and user permissions for the audience you intend to allow. Post passwords do not define moderation permissions. Keymasters and Moderators should be able to manage content they are permitted to moderate, including a Moderator assigned to a specific forum, although some screens may still prompt for a password while this behavior is being improved.
If you choose to use post passwords, test viewing, posting, search, feeds, APIs, notifications, and moderation workflows on your site with and without the password. Report unexpected access or blocked moderation actions.
Search
These search rules are scheduled for bbPress 2.6.21 and are included in the 2.7 development branch. They are not included in bbPress 2.6.20.
Password-protected content is excluded from front-end search for everyone, including Keymasters and Moderators, even after the correct password has been entered.
| Password set on | Excluded from front-end search |
|---|---|
| A forum | That forum, all descendant forums, and the topics and replies within that forum tree. |
| A topic | That topic and its replies. |
| A reply | That reply. |
This applies to bbPress search and ordinary WordPress searches that include bbPress content. Excluded content does not contribute to result totals. Other post types retain their normal search and visibility rules.
Entering the password still allows direct viewing, subject to other permissions. Authorized moderator searches in the main administration lists retain their existing access.
Custom search engines and external indexes need to apply equivalent rules if they bypass normal WordPress and bbPress queries.
