This option is set from the Profiles tab of the Options Manager interface. These featuresare available only in Discus Pro.

Within a Discus Pro discussion board, for each unique username a single user account can be created. In certain situations, there is a needto separate these accounts into groups (e.g. an academic setting where one group is created for each member of a class). In most casesusernames will be unique, but there exists an occasional situation where a user has already been created in one group, and there is a needfor that user to be created in another group as well, such as in the case where a student is registered for two classes that use the samediscussion board but have different instructors.

When a moderator has the correct privileges to access the group where the user already exists, that moderator can simply go to that groupand copy the user into the second group. If the moderator does not have these privileges, the board administrator certainly does.

Discus Pro provides an automated method of handling this situation when the moderator attempts to add a user account through the UserManager. Note that the following options apply only to the case where a moderator is entering a new user account under the "Add User"tab in the User Manager. These options do not apply to user self-registration or to the "Add User List" functionality.

If an account with the same username already exists in the group being edited, the account cannot be added regardless of options.The moderator should choose a username that does not exist in the group that is being edited. This enforces the "one account perusername" design of Discus Pro.

If an account with the same username is discovered in another group, the program will determine if the moderator who is currentlylogged in is able to edit that other group. (In case where the user account exists in multiple groups, the moderator is deemedto have editing permissions over the account if the moderator is authorized to edit any group in which the account exists.)The policy of the program can be configured based on whether or not this editing privilege exists by selecting one of thefollowing options:

Present error message: This will give an error stating that the user account already exists. The moderator mustchoose a different username. This is the default setting and is recommended for most uses.

Copy user if password matches: This will check the password that was entered for the new account by the moderator.If this password is the same as the one already on file for the account, then the account will be copied from its currentgroup into the group being edited. Otherwise, the error message stating that the username already exists will bepresented.

Copy user always: This will automatically copy the user account into the group being edited, without any checksto see if the password matches. This setting is not recommended for the "If moderator cannot edit other group" situationbecause it defeats the purpose of moderators being able to edit only certain groups.

Note: When a user is copied, the username, password, e-mail address, full name, and all other profile settings are leftas they were from the other group. The username, password, e-mail address, full name, and other settings being specifiedby the moderator are ignored. This results in a seamless addition of that user account to the current group from theuser's perspective. If the board administrator chooses to enable this option, this subtle point should becommunicated to moderators who may be affected.