Best Membership Site/Forum Combination?
November 30, 2010 4:11 PM Subscribe
Best CMS for a Membership Site/Forum Combination?
For a new membership site, I'd like to integrate forum permissions, such that the user can directly access the relevant bulletin board(s) without having to login. Here are some other factors/constraints:
1) There are distinct, parallel membership groups, and within each group, successive membership ranks, e.g., there are wholly separate Groups A, B, and C, and a member of Group A can advance to A1, a member of B can advance to B1, etc. The different groups and ranks have access to different pages and forum boards.
2) The existing forums, which I'd like to import into this new installation, are SMF... so something with a simple SMF conversion tool or feature would be useful.
3) I'd prefer that the system be amenable to simple css modification; I've dropped Joomla and Wordpress, because I didn't like the design results I was getting with either of them. (And I'm dumping SMF because the administrative controls don't seem that granular-- it's a hassle to make mass changes to members-- also, the hashed passwords make bridging to a membership site messy.)
4) The membership pages and forums must be inaccessible to non-members, and membership must come through purchase, an admin appointment, or an admin-set registration link.
6) I would like to be able to run PHP scripts off the membership-system pages.
7) As a result of digging around (mainly on opensourcecms.com) for some integrated cms/forum, I'm mainly looking at impresscms, glfusion, and the under-supported but appealingly simple-looking viscacha. Any suggestions or alternative perspectives on the best way to integrate membership for a cms/membership site, and a multi-board, access-restricted forum would be appreciated.
For a new membership site, I'd like to integrate forum permissions, such that the user can directly access the relevant bulletin board(s) without having to login. Here are some other factors/constraints:
1) There are distinct, parallel membership groups, and within each group, successive membership ranks, e.g., there are wholly separate Groups A, B, and C, and a member of Group A can advance to A1, a member of B can advance to B1, etc. The different groups and ranks have access to different pages and forum boards.
2) The existing forums, which I'd like to import into this new installation, are SMF... so something with a simple SMF conversion tool or feature would be useful.
3) I'd prefer that the system be amenable to simple css modification; I've dropped Joomla and Wordpress, because I didn't like the design results I was getting with either of them. (And I'm dumping SMF because the administrative controls don't seem that granular-- it's a hassle to make mass changes to members-- also, the hashed passwords make bridging to a membership site messy.)
4) The membership pages and forums must be inaccessible to non-members, and membership must come through purchase, an admin appointment, or an admin-set registration link.
6) I would like to be able to run PHP scripts off the membership-system pages.
7) As a result of digging around (mainly on opensourcecms.com) for some integrated cms/forum, I'm mainly looking at impresscms, glfusion, and the under-supported but appealingly simple-looking viscacha. Any suggestions or alternative perspectives on the best way to integrate membership for a cms/membership site, and a multi-board, access-restricted forum would be appreciated.
Response by poster: >It is entirely likely that I completely don't understand anything you've said.
Yeah, this question was not as thought-out or precise as it should have been.
> (regulated access through a plugin, I believe)
I wasn't aware of that, so thanks. :)
posted by darth_tedious at 12:32 PM on December 1, 2010
Yeah, this question was not as thought-out or precise as it should have been.
> (regulated access through a plugin, I believe)
I wasn't aware of that, so thanks. :)
posted by darth_tedious at 12:32 PM on December 1, 2010
I meant that more of an "I might be a dumbass" than a "You didn't write it clearly", sorry 'bout that.
The forums over at phpbb are pretty useful, definitely worth scoping out if you haven't.
posted by TomMelee at 3:25 PM on December 1, 2010
The forums over at phpbb are pretty useful, definitely worth scoping out if you haven't.
posted by TomMelee at 3:25 PM on December 1, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
-the intro part about relevant boards w/o login
-membership groups w/ advancement (regulated access through a plugin, I believe)
-css modification
-access restrictions
-running scripts...not sure what your vector is here, you could redirect to behind-htaccess pages and route them back through? This is the step I'm unsure of.
with phpbb. It's my personal fave forum software, but I've never administrated a large forum with it.
There are bridges for joomla for phpbb as well, if you want "pages" outside the forum...heck, you could even wrap in CommunityBuilder and give individual users their own pages, etc.
It is entirely likely that I completely don't understand anything you've said.
posted by TomMelee at 5:12 AM on December 1, 2010