mirror of https://github.com/zulip/zulip.git
178 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
178 lines
6.6 KiB
Markdown
# Public access option
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{!web-public-channels-intro.md!}
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Web-public channels are indicated with a **globe** (<i class="zulip-icon zulip-icon-globe"></i>) icon.
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## Enabling web-public channels in your organization
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Enabling web-public channels makes it possible to create web-public
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channels in your organization. It also makes certain information about
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your organization accessible to anyone on the Internet via the Zulip
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API (details below).
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To help protect closed organizations, creating web-public channels is
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disabled by default for all organizations.
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### Information that can be accessed via API when web-public channels are enabled
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The following information about your organization can be accessed via the Zulip
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API if web-public channels are enabled and there is currently at least one
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web-public channel.
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* The organization's settings (linkifiers, custom emoji, permissions
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settings, etc.)
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* Names of users
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* Names of user groups and their membership
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* Names and descriptions of channels
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Enabling web-public channels is thus primarily recommended for open
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communities such as open-source projects and research communities.
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### Enable or disable web-public channels
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!!! warn ""
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Self-hosted Zulip servers must enable support for web-public channels in their
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[server settings](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/stable/production/settings.html)
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by setting `WEB_PUBLIC_STREAMS_ENABLED = True` prior to proceeding.
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{start_tabs}
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{settings_tab|organization-permissions}
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1. Under **Channel permissions**, toggle the checkbox labeled **Allow
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creating web-public channels (visible to anyone on the Internet)**.
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{end_tabs}
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### Manage who can create web-public channels
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{start_tabs}
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{settings_tab|organization-permissions}
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1. Under **Channel permissions**, make sure the checkbox labeled **Allow
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creating web-public channels (visible to anyone on the Internet)** is
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checked.
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1. Under **Who can create web-public channels?**, select the option you prefer.
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{end_tabs}
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!!! tip ""
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See [Managing abuse](#managing-abuse) to learn why only
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trusted roles like moderators and administrators can create web-public channels.
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## Creating a web-public channel
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To create a new web-public channel, follow the [instructions for
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creating a channel](/help/create-a-channel#create-a-channel_1), selecting
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the **Web-public** option for **Who can access the channel?**.
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To make an existing channel web-public, follow the instructions to
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[change the privacy of a
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channel](/help/change-the-privacy-of-a-channel), selecting the
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**Web-public** option for **Who can access the channel?**.
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## What can logged out visitors do?
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Logged out visitors can browse all content in web-public channels,
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including using Zulip's [built-in search](/help/search-for-messages)
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to find conversations. Logged out visitors can only access
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the web-public channels in your organization, and the topics, messages
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(including uploaded files) and emoji reactions in those channels.
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They **cannot**:
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* View channels that are not configured as web-public channels (or see
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whether any such channels exist) without creating an account.
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* Send messages.
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* React with emoji.
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* Participate in polls, or do anything else that might be visible to
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other users.
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Logged out visitors have access to a subset of the metadata
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information available to any new account in the Zulip organization,
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detailed below.
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### Information about the organization
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* The **Organization settings** and **Channel settings** menus are not
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available to logged out visitors. However, organization settings data is
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required for Zulip to load, and may thus be [accessed via the Zulip API][info-via-api].
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* Logged out visitors cannot view [usage statistics](/help/analytics).
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[info-via-api]: /help/public-access-option#information-that-can-be-accessed-via-api-when-web-public-channels-are-enabled
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### Information about users
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Logged out visitors can see the following information about users who
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participate in web-public channels. They do not see this information
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about users who do not participate in web-public channels in the Zulip
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UI, though they may access it via the Zulip API.
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* Name
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* Avatar
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* Role (e.g., Administrator)
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* Join date
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The following additional information is not available in the UI for
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logged out visitors, but may be accessed without an account via the
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Zulip API:
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* Configured time zone
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* Which user groups a user belongs to
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The following information is available to all users with an account,
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but not to logged out visitors:
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* Presence information, i.e. whether the user is currently online,
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[their status](/help/status-and-availability),
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and whether they have set themselves as unavailable.
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* Detailed profile information, such as [custom profile
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fields](/help/custom-profile-fields).
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* Which users are subscribed to which web-public channels.
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## Managing abuse
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The unfortunate reality is that any service
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that allows hosting files visible to the Internet is a potential target for bad
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actors looking for places to distribute illegal or malicious content.
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In order to protect Zulip organizations from
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bad actors, web-public channels have a few limitations designed to make
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Zulip an inconvenient target:
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* Only users in trusted roles (moderators and administrators) can be given
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permission to create web-public channels. This is intended to make it hard
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for an attacker to host malicious content in an unadvertised web-public
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channel in a legitimate organization.
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* There are rate limits for unauthenticated access to uploaded
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files, including viewing avatars and custom emoji.
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Our aim is to tune anti-abuse protections so that they don't
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interfere with legitimate use. Please [contact us](/help/contact-support)
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if your organization encounters any problems with legitimate activity caused
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these anti-abuse features.
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As a reminder, Zulip Cloud organizations are expected to
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[moderate content](/help/moderating-open-organizations) to ensure compliance
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with [Zulip's Rules of Use](https://zulip.com/policies/rules).
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## Caveats
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* Web-public channels do not yet support search engine indexing. You
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can use [zulip-archive](https://github.com/zulip/zulip-archive) to
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create an archive of a Zulip organization that can be indexed by
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search engines.
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* The web-public view is not yet integrated with Zulip's live-update
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system. As a result, a visitor will not see new messages that are
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sent to a topic they are currently viewing without reloading the
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browser window.
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## Related articles
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* [Moderating open organizations](/help/moderating-open-organizations)
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* [Channel permissions](/help/channel-permissions)
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* [Restrict channel creation](/help/configure-who-can-create-channels)
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