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You cannot do the same things moderators can. This is what I am trying to do on my website as well. Users that create an account can do everything users can, but not things a moderator can.

So, here is what I am doing

Code:
objUser = GetUserFunction(); // this returns everything about the user... this part works great

intAccess = objUser.intAccessLevel;
So, after I have intAccess when I create buttons on the page i simply check for intAccess like so
Admin = 0
Developer = 1
Member = 2

Code:
if(intAccess == 0)
{
   //Create an edit button here with the link to the edit page. 
   //(the edit page would have a seperate security check to make 
   //sure the right user is using it.
}
Is this the standard way of doing it?