Wedge

First up, in answer to the title, yes, you can ask a dumb SMF question. We're not really set up to be an SMF support forum, but for something like this we can answer fairly easily.

Well, sort of. There's no good way to do this in SMF but a pair of less optimal methods.

The easiest method is to go into the permissions, turn on post-count based permissions (Admin > Members > Permissions > Settings), then go into the permissions themselves. Set it up so 'Regular Members' do not have the ability to start new topics (but leave all their other permissions alone) then set it up so all the higher post count groups can start new topics.

(The second easiest method is to turn on deny permissions and just deny start-new-topic to the lowest post count group, but that makes other things more complicated.)

Thanks Arantor, I was pretty sure that SMF wouldn't do what I wanted but then I started second guessing myself and thinking the meds had me confused.

Codeine has that effect on me at times. I was hoping that it was the meds and I was just missing the obvious.

I started to ask this on the SMF forum, but then I thought they would either not answer or confuse me more then I was already.

Codeine is like that, heh.

SMF can usually be beaten into submission, it just isn't usually as obvious as perhaps it might be - and this is certainly the case here.