🚀 Plus for FluentCommunity v1.4.4 — Messaging Controls, Group Chat Enhancements , and more!!
New version out today. I had planned to release sooner, but the newest version of FCom delayed it... and it was worth it because I was able to extend one feature into the new Group Chat.
This one is mostly about giving community managers more control over how members use Fluent Messaging — who can reach staff directly, and how group conversations get started. Both new features are completely free. Join my community, download the plugin, and they're yours.
Here is what is new in v1.4.4:
DM Restrictions. Fluent Messaging gives you two choices for who can initiate a one-to-one message — any community member, or only mods and admins. If you want members messaging each other, you have to allow it for everyone. This bridges that gap. Set it to "Any Community Member" and then use DM Restrictions to prevent regular members from initiating threads with your admins, moderators, and/or space staff specifically. You choose which roles are protected — the three checkboxes are independent, so you can lock down community admins without touching space mods, or vice versa. Staff can always reach anyone, and members can still reply in threads that staff start with them. Requires Fluent Messaging.
Group Chat Controls. Fluent Messaging restricts group chat creation to moderators by default. This opens it up to regular members, with built-in oversight — designate one or more staff members who are automatically added to every member-created group. They show up visibly, can not be removed by other members, and the "Admin" label in group chat is relabeled "Owner" so the terminology actually makes sense. DM Restrictions also extends to group member add actions, so members can not sidestep the role blocks by adding restricted staff to a group instead. Requires Fluent Messaging 2.4.0+.
Both features live under a new Messaging Controls section in the Enhancements tab — no license needed, no paywall. Just join the community and grab the latest download.
Also in this release: space lock icon size fixed in Menu Styling, additional i18n coverage, and some code cleanup.
Full details in the changelog and the updated manual.
And if you only prefer to use the free features, that's cool. Please consider supporting my work either way by "Buying me a coffee".
Jeff Brigman I like this option, which is more affordable for me at the moment. I'll tip you soon as a thank you!
Also, I added these two for free because they should be part of the chat system to begin with. It's my hope that Shahjahan Jewel will take note and ship a future update with them or something similar included.