Someone did point me towards a way to accomplish this using php, but it would be nice if this was something that could be managed directly from the MT control panel. That's something I would like quite a bit.

where do you want to restrict access to phose entries? from within MT? or after it's published?

How about changing the status to "draft"?

i'm not sure MT will look for a file it's already created for that entry and delete it but if that's what u want, then you can just delete it thru ftp or however you manage files on ur server.

if you want to give access to certain people... probably thru a password or cookies, i think i have a long winde solution.

create a new category and call it something like "restricted"

then in your individual entry template use the do a check for whether that posts belongs to the "restricted" category. this can be dont in php by using something like:



if you're clever with this enough you cna use a cookie to check whether a user is allowed to see restricted entries... so they wont be asked for a password when they visit the page next time.

Yeah, I want to be able to limit access on certain entries to registered users. I did find a way to do it here:

http://www.scriptygoddess.com/archives/000916.php

I may eventually take the time to give this a try. But it seems like this wouldn't be too difficult to build into MT itself.

I know this is kinda late concerning the time that the original author posted, but I figured why not...  It is in the "Request a Feature" section anyway and I don't want to add another topic since someone already has one...

I tried that method from Scripty Goddess.  It does work and now I can now limit my entries to certain people, but none of my entries are truely secure...  All it does is mask the outer entry...  People can still see what I post (well some of it) from the XML link and all the comments are still public (IE: if I have a script running in my side bar to post the last XX comments - even though they are masked in the entry).  So the entries are never completely protected...

While I have close to no understanding of the core of MovableType, and I am extremely appreciative of such an AWESOME tool, a feature that would restrict post access to certain groups (like LiveJournal's security groups) would be very nice...

I totally agree with BfloEagle!

The more I used MT, the more I loved its features. My only wish was that I could have the private/public posts of LiveJournal. In order to accomplish that with MT, I had to create multiple blogs. I had a "public" one that was set up so that anyone could read it and then I had a "private" one that used .htaccess to limit who could see it.

I am going to look at the method described by Scripty Goddess and I might try it. My preference is to have things intergrated directly into MT, like the way Sanitize was recently added.

It would take a little doing, but you can re-write the template that generates your XML file and restrict it to certain categories. There's nothing magic about that file--it's just another template, and can take advantage of all MT's various features, although the syntax is fussier.

Although I'm not sure how I'd go about it, it seems like it should be possible to do the same with the "latest comments" extract--limit that to public categories.

I want to express my desire for limited access entries as well. Ideally the author could specify a list of users with full access, and those users would be able to log in to the blog once and stay logged in with a cookie if they choose.

I'm doing a study of blogs (including those using MT) and am finding, unsurprisingly, that the majority of blogs out there are diary-style personal blogs rather than content filters. I think MT should recognize that by adding improved privacy features.

Thanks!

Just bumping this I'd also really like to see LiveJournal style implementation of user lists (more than one) of who can see various entries. It would be cool if the interface was similar to LJ, also using id/pw rather than existing users (like with LJ you have to be a user to be added to a friends list.)

I'd just like to add my voice to the pile requesting this feature.

Same here. I'd love to be able to choose who can see what, that way I could do something like keep a journal for myself, but publish certain entries so they can be included in a RSSfeed outside of my personal (private) stuff.

It makes more sense to me to be able to keep everything together in one blog, rather than starting another. It always seemed strange to me that this wasn't a built in feature of MT.

mrC

This would be nice. I'd like something like pmachine has - where people would have to sign up to view the site. I love mt and don't want to switch - but I love this feature of pmachine and with mt had it as well.

I feel compelled to add that the Scriptygoddesses suggest using Mark Pilgrim's RSS template - I believe that's what I do (how sad is it that I don't remember ); the template shows the entire entry body, and not the extended entry, so if I place my restricted post text in the extended entry, it's not visible in the RSS feed.

I hope this helps -

Donna

I really wish MT would integrate this function into their next update. I'm even considering switching to Wordpress or b2 over this *gasp*.

MT, save me from the temptation. Let me have my cake and eat it too. Add this feature soon, please!

I would much prefer a configuration that would only allow registered readers/users to view the private entries, as well as different levels for the users to determine which private entries they can or cannot read. The general public would still be able to read the non-private entries without registering. Also, the issue of private entries showing up on RSS feeds might need to be considered as well.

I also would love to have this feature on MT, the lack of this feature is one of the things that is holding me back on seriously considering buying this.

Any idea on the possibility of this feature being added to movable type?

Users are moving other blog publishing systems partly because MT doesn't allow password-protected entries. This feature has been requested for nearly 2.5 years already and up until now, there has been no saying on this.

Such an important feature yet MT chooses to ignore.

Currently there are two ways to work around this using scriptygoddess or orangehairedboy's scripts. Most prefer the latter.

MT needs to incorporate this feature in order to stay competitive.

I switched to b2 over a year ago partly because of the heavy server-load with MT and partly because I wanted to restrict access to certain posts. MT has made huge strides in resolving the server loads but I'm not going back to MT on my personal blog until there's an easy, effective way to restrict access to certain posts. I think the new MT is just brilliant, so much so that I bought a commercial licence so I can use it on my hosting site for organising FAQs etc. I'm itching to switch my personal blog back to MT - please, please add this feature.

See Password Protect Entries this will create a new field on your entry page to enter a password and will restrict access to it until a password has been entered by the reader. For an example see here and enter "password" as the password.

Just wanted to add my name to the pile.

It's actually incredibly frustrating that people are continuing to request this feature and nothing's being done. Is there actually a reason why it's not being implemented?

I currently use orangehairedboy's tutorial and while it's fantastic, it's not secure and continues to show my entries in RSS feeds . . . which completely defies the point.

Please please please add this!

Something has been done about it. See MT Protect

It seems absurd that Six Apart would make this one of the selling points of Type Pad (where you can simply check private while posting) and turn around and leave those features out with MT.

Look up "membership manager" or "subscription content script" on google and you'll find lots of cgi scripts that will do this for you as well as manage the membership list. It's a pretty easy work around.

However, remember that nothing on a web server is truely secure. If someone wants in badly enough, they can get in. Usernames and passwords are to keep the honest and/or ignorant honest and/or ignorant.

This was one of the reasons why I moved a couple of sites over to WordPress. Another reason is not being able to have local member registration.

I am one of those people who use another system for my main blog for this reason alone. I'm trying out MT Protect right now and I'll switch back and power everything with MT if this works for me. I think it would be ideal of 6A incorporated something like this just like custom friends in Livejournal.

I'm crossing my fingers that something like this will happen soon.

Does MT Protect work with version 3.33?

Yes, but there's an update for it.

List of plugin compatiblity to 3.3:
http://www.learningmovabletype.com/archive...ty_and_mt33.php

I'd also like to see the capability for private entries added to MT. MTProtect takes a bit of finessing to install for many who have tried it.

Cheers

Dear iconolith,

Not only that I didn't have any issues installing MTProtect for some customers, but I could confirm that it worked at least with v3.33 and I am quite confident it will work also with the current v3.34

Cheers,
Mihai Bocsaru

Not everyone's an IT consultant though! I gave up on MTProtect today. I could probably get it working if I had enough time to faff around with it but I don't. Why is MT so resistant to adding greater membership features? I've just had a look over MT4 and there's no sign of restricted access to posts and/or categories in it as far as I can see. I suppose all I can do is post here to reiterate my request for some kind of restricted access feature to be implemented.

I made a post about this back in 2002-2003 or something questioning why hasn't MT invested its time into making this feature. It's one of the most significant features of all time in a blog. Years later MT still did nothing about it :-) Arvind was great, coming to the rescue, but the thing is that ALL of his plugins are static only. (sorry i'm a fan of dynamic), so no, for me and for many others, MT still hasn't done A THING about password protected entry, which could only equate to the lack of skills and resources.

I'm continually to be amazed at WP (though i can't stand their interface a while ago, haven't checked the latest version) and I hope MT lose a lot of customers for this reason. It's been like 4-5 yrs since the first "official" real request. so stupid.

Shame.

There is the Movable Type Community Solution http://www.movabletype.com/products/community-solution.html (requires MT4), not sure if it does all you want though.