There are several types of "members" of the forum.
Guests can post without registering. They can read the boards, topics, and posts that are visible to the internet without logging-in. Guests can also post in these areas without registration (the form requires some answers, but no answers are kept or recorded.)
Guests can only see what anyone else without an account can see.
Registered users can log-in. They can see more and access more features.
The benefits of registering (creating an account) are: you can see your unread/read posts, you can read and post in boards not visible to guests or the whole internet, you have a forum profile, you can see other members profiles, and you can private message other users.
For registered users there are two main types of members.
Regular Members and
Verified Members. They have forum profiles and can see boards and topics that guests (anyone without registration and profile) can't see.
Verified Members have additional permissions enabled:
Profile:
- Edit custom title...The custom title is shown on the topic display page, under the profile of each user that has a custom title.
- Choose a remotely stored avatar
- Choose a Gravatar
Account:
- View warning status...Allows users to view their own warning status and history.
Calendar:
- Create events in the calendar...An Event is a topic linked to a certain date or date range.
- Edit events in the calendar...An Event is a topic linked to a certain date or date range. The event can be edited by clicking the red asterisk (*) next to the event in the calendar view. In order to be able to edit an event, a user must have sufficient permissions to edit the first message of the topic that is linked to the event.
Topics (only topics they created...their own topics):
- Move topic...Move a topic from one board to the other.
- Lock topics...This permission allows a user to lock a topic. This can be done in order to make sure no one can reply to a topic. Only users with a 'Moderate board' permission can still post in locked topics.
- Remove topics...Delete topics as a whole. Note that this permission doesn't allow to delete specific messages within the topic!