so anyone can post a topic, but no-one can post a reply – yes ?

Yes, but they must be able to reply the blogs.

Install this additional plugin

Private groups

This is a simple plugin in principle, but can take a bit of time to understand.

So FIRST in dashboard>settings>bbp private groups> select the help tab, and take some time to understand how this plugin works !!

Then…

1. go to dashboard>settings>bbp private groups> and select ‘group name settings’ – set group 1 to a name of your choice, say ‘topics only’

2. go to dashboard>settings>bbp private groups> and select ‘topic settings’ – click to activate topic settings and save.

3. go to dashboard>settings>bbp private groups> and select ‘assign groups to roles’ – tick ‘Add group on first or no-group login’ AND set the role ‘subscriber’ to the group 1 name you set in step 1. If you want other roles to only be able to post topics, set these as well. click save.

4. go to dashboard>forums and select the forum you want this to apply to and click ‘edit’ You will see a new box called ‘Forum groups’ Click group 1 and them click update on the right hand side.

5. You will then see topic permissions for this group. select ‘Create/edit topics’

So then the forum uses group 1 permissions which only allow the creation of topics, and subscriber users are in group 1, so that is all they are able to do.

You may need to adjust forum visibility in the plugin settings and non logged-in isers depending on how you forum works.