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Role Based Access Control

Better Messages provides comprehensive role-based access control to restrict messaging capabilities based on WordPress user roles.

How it works​

Administrators can define rules that control which user roles can message which other roles. The system supports both whitelist (allow) and blacklist (disallow) modes. Beyond role-to-role messaging rules, administrators can restrict who can start new conversations, who can reply to existing ones, and who can view message content. Rate limiting can be configured per role to prevent spam.

Key capabilities​

  • Whitelist or blacklist mode for role-to-role messaging
  • Control which roles can send messages to which other roles
  • Restrict new conversation creation by role
  • Restrict replying to conversations by role
  • Hide message content for specific roles (shows placeholder text)
  • Rate limiting per role for new conversations and replies
  • Allow users to configure who can message them
  • Custom messages shown when access is restricted

How to enable​

Navigate to WP Admin → Better Messages → Settings → Restrictions.

  • Restriction Mode — Choose between allow (whitelist) or disallow (blacklist) mode
  • Role-to-Role Rules — Define which roles can message which other roles
  • Restrict New Conversations — Roles not allowed to start new conversations
  • Restrict Replies — Roles not allowed to reply to existing conversations
  • Restrict Message Visibility — Roles that see placeholder text instead of message content
  • Visibility Placeholder — Custom text shown in place of hidden messages
  • Rate Limit New Conversations — Minimum seconds between new conversations
  • Rate Limit Replies — Per-role rate limits for sending replies
  • User Self-Restriction — Allow users to configure who can message them