There as a time when I thought the permission system was complex and made something similar. I recall requesting some clarification (on this board)dhn wrote: IIRC one of our developers wrote a script that gives you an overview over the permission settings of a specific group or user. Don't hold your breath, but there might be a chance that this could be included in the package. If it isn't, there is always the chance for a MOD.
about the permission settings, which was promptly given. After having played around with it a bit it all seemed so easy. It's just a question of getting used to it. I actually coded an overview of a user's permission (must have been a year ago now, never got the GUI right though) which (to me at least) seems a must have when using many group and individual permissions in combination with forum permission settings.
I hope such an overview will be included in de standard package (it would certainly help understand the system without having to go through a tedious trial and error procedure).