Basically yes you can do what you want to do. It is, in fact, more or less what we do here on this site.

We use WishList Member to control membership but there are other alternatives that will work just as well. The main thing is that your membership plugin needs to be able to allocate users to WP Roles which can then be picked up by the forum and it has to abide by the WP API so that SP knows of new users being signed up.

This codex FAQ – https://simple-press.com/documentation/codex/faq/problem-with-post-edit-buttonow-to/problem-with-post-edit-buttonow-to-configure-simple-press-with-membership-plugin/ – goes into more detail on what you need to do. This is based on using WishList but the same things apply to other plugins as well.

And on our Codex in the ‘Getting Started’ section is a brief and simple overview of user groups/permissions and access control which might be useful reading.

One thing that must be remembered is that WishList does not inform us naturally when a membership expires at which time we want to move a user into a different user group. We wrote our own small plugin for that which I am sure we would be willing to share if appropriate.

Thank you Andy!

OK, now I need to say something to be sure I got it just right.

I found THIS PLUGIN which is free as well and therefore it gives me margins of error. If it doesn’t work, I uninstall it and that’s it…

So, let’s see if I got it right…

I am using another plugin called UAM, which allows me to create new WP groups. Let’s say that I need 3 levels: Silver, Gold and Platinum.

With UAM, I create the groups. I create the same groups in Paid Memberships Pro and map them.

So the question is: at the moment, “Subscriber” is technically the default WP role. Which one will become default?

Now, in SP I create the same roles and map them. What is going to happen with “Member” which is the default role?

At the moment, nobody can sign up to my site and forum. I sign up the members and put them directly in a new group.

If people start signing up, where will they go? Would they become Silver, Gold or Platinum automagically? No “Subscriber” nor “Member”? So, if I create a new group with 3 forums for Silver, Gold and Platinum, will the actual members keep on seeing the forums as they see now and the 3 new WP groups will see those 3 forums only?

Last but not least, which plugin do you use to register here? The widget on the right sidebar, that’s what I mean.

Thank you!

Hey Stefano,

Don’t have a chance to look into the Paid Membership Pro plugin currently but at a glance I’m not sure it does what you want. It looks like it lets you set up custom membership levels that control access to pages. If it works within the WP API and ties in with UAM and allows you to place your PMP members inside UAM roles, then you should be able to map those to Simple Press in the same way as described in the codex article Andy posted.

My guess is that ‘Member’ will still exist but will go unused unless you decide to use it somewhere, and I think ‘Subscriber’ will function in the same way, although without going through all the steps with the same plugins I couldn’t be sure.. Just a guess!

Also – We use Wishlist Member, but I think the login widget is a custom one.. Would need confirmation from Andy or Steve on that one!

need to clarify terms just to make sure we are saying same thing…

what is a group created by this other plugin?  WP does not have groups, but has roles… do you mean a role?  if not, can you map a group from this plugin to a standard wp role?

and you dont create a role in simple press, but a usergroup… and you can map that to a wp role..

how are people going to sign up to get the wp default role of subscriber?  can folks still register and not get a new role from the UAM plugin?  if selling memberships, is that the only way to sign up?

If not, you can still use subscriber and map it to whatever sp usergroup you want with whatever permissions you want…  so you could give non paying member (sp usergroup mapped to subscriber) unique permissions in your forum so perhaps like a guest, but registered…

we dont use a plugin for registration per se…  we use wishlist for users to purchase a membership and get access…  the login widget in the sidebar is a custom piece of code we have written for running on this site…  It does have a link to the membership join page…

Sorry Steve, I probably made a bit of confusion…

I made up my mind, I am going to buy WishList Member so – if something goes wrong – I will have a good reason to come here and annoy all of you asking for help!

So, last question (for now): is there another plugin similar to the login widget in the sidebar I can use and does things like the ones on this site?

Thank you very much for everything! Now I need to go and load A LOT of beautiful new icons on my website

Any login widget will work as it is still the WordPress core site that is being logged into. I believe there is a widget that came with WishList as well but I seem to recall that we were unhappy with all the ones we have seen in the past. I doubt that Steve would mind (he wrote this) if you were to ‘borrow’ ours although it would need just a little recoding I suspect.

That would be awesome! Thank you so much!

In the meantime I have gone a bit further…

I bought and installed Wishlist Member. I created 3 new roles in WP: Silver Member, Gold Member and Platinum Member.

I then created the 3 levels in Wishlist Member with the same names and mapped them to the WP roles I created before.

Then I followed what explained HERE. But there is a thing I do not understand…

It says:

“Go to forum – User Groups – Manage User Groups – and set up a unique Simple:Press User Group for each role/level. This will let you set unique permissions for each membership level.”

I went on Manage User Group, but I haven’t found a way to set up a unique SP…

Sorry, I am stuck here and don’t know how to proceed…

The accordion menu on the left – ‘Create New User Group’? But you need to be careful as you already have ‘members’ so they are probably your starting point. And we only suggest you mimic the names of the WishList and WP roles for ease of use. They do not have to be the same.

OK, done!

So now I need to understand something…

I have the 3 new WP roles, mapped to Wishlist Members. I have the same 3 user groups in SP.

I created 3 new forums which are supposed to be accessible by those 3 new roles only. I set up the permissions in SP, the 3 new groups have the full permission for the 3 new forums and NO ACCESS for the other forums. This should allow them to see the other forums, read the titles of the posts but not be able to read. When they click on one of them, they should be taken to a page that explains the memberships, the 3 new levels and so on. Have I done it correctly?

Now, when someone signs up and pay for it, they should become “members” like Silver, Gold or Platinum. Not normal members. Is it right?

All the existing members are not people who registered to the website, I did it for them. Pretty much, they send me their password and I open the accounts in WP from the admin panel then I put them in a group called “IRSA Stringers” which is the basic one.

Have I done everything right?

I created 3 new forums which are supposed to be accessible by those 3 new roles only. I set up the permissions in SP, the 3 new groups have the full permission for the 3 new forums and NO ACCESS for the other forums. This should allow them to see the other forums, read the titles of the posts but not be able to read. When they click on one of them, they should be taken to a page that explains the memberships, the 3 new levels and so on. Have I done it correctly?

not sure…  so you three memberships can only see the three private forums, but no other forums?  sounds odd, but if what you want, should be right…  also sounds like each of the three memberships can see all three private forums…  no difference between different memberships… again, if what you want, sounds right..

so on the other forums (not the 3 private), if members try to read them, and you did the sneak peek as you say, then yes, they wont get access but be redirected to page… again, sounds backwards, but if what you want, sounds right…

so I clarified because I suspect you didnt really say that the way you wanted…  they sound backwards…

I would suspect you have a bunch of open forums that anyone can access (guests?, users and membership levels)…  then you have three private forums…  typically, each membership level would be mapped to an individual private forum for just that level…  anyone else clicking would go to the sign up page…

Mr Papa said
not sure…  so you three memberships can only see the three private forums, but no other forums?  sounds odd, but if what you want, should be right… 

Steve, they should see the other forums but have no access. Just like on this site. If I come here and do not login, I click on a forum, click on a topic and I get redirected to a page that explains the 2 levels of membership. I need that.

also sounds like each of the three memberships can see all three private forums…  no difference between different memberships… again, if what you want, sounds right..

Correct, just like on this site. The difference is the time. Silver Membership expires in 1 month, Gold expires in 6 months, Platinum expires in 1 year. But they can see the same 3 forums.

so on the other forums (not the 3 private), if members try to read them, and you did the sneak peek as you say, then yes, they wont get access but be redirected to page… again, sounds backwards, but if what you want, sounds right…

The existing members are supposed to keep on being able to do everything they do now. All the forums must be visible to everyone, guests included. But they cannot read the content of a topic, when they click they must be redirected to a page that explains the different level of membership and they can sign up. Once they sign up and pay, they must be able to access to the 3 new forums only. Just like on this site with the page /membership. The existing members should continue as they are now.

What is the sneak peek?

I would suspect you have a bunch of open forums that anyone can access (guests?, users and membership levels)…  then you have three private forums…  typically, each membership level would be mapped to an individual private forum for just that level…  anyone else clicking would go to the sign up page…

I have a bunch of forums. Everyone must be able to see them but NOT access them, just be redirected to the registration page. The existing members, who belong to special ranks, must continue to be able to access to them normally.

Wow…it’s harder then I thought it would…

I need to find a manual about WishList Members. That plugin is huge, with a lot of settings…

Sneak peak is the feature where you can let users see forums and/or titles, but not content…  then redirect to another page if they try to see the post content…

i think you have the fundamentals.. perhaps just the terminology you are using…

that was my point, just like this site is not how you explained it, but what I said I thought you wanted…

so open forums…  give any usergroup (ie existing members, guests, etc) you want access to the forum…

private forum level_1.. only give usergroup level_1 (mapped to wp role/wishlist level for level_1) gets full permission…  all other usergroups get a permission set for sneak peak (view forum and titles, but not content)…

private forum level_2…  only give usergroup level_2 gets full permission… all other usergroups get a permission set for sneak peek…

private forum level_3…  only give usergroup level_3 gets full permission… all other usergroups get a permission set for sneak peek…

the sneak peek page is set to the join page so users can sign up…

make sense?

Now it’s starting to make sense! Thank you Steve!

So, let’s put it this way…

For the 3 “private” forums, all the existing members have permissions like this: they can read but they cannot write.

For all the other forums, the 3 new Silver/Gold/Platinum levels and the guests will be able to “sneak peek”. For the Silver/Gold/Platinum levels, when they click on a post nothing happens.

As for the guests, they will be redirected to the registration/explanatory page. Correct?

To set up a “sneak peek”, I need to change “Can view a list of forums and list of topics only”.

But for whom and where exactly? I mean, in which permission?

“No access”?

One thing I haven’t said clearly, probably: the 3 groups Silver/Gold/Platinum will NEVER be able to read the other forums, only the 3 dedicated to them.

Instead, the existing members must keep on doing what they do now. For the 3 new forums, they must only be able to read and not write or anything else.

I hope I explained myself correctly…

dont worry about giving usergroups ‘no access’ permissions… if a usergroup does not have any permission set applied on a forum, they will not have any access..  so if your three membership level usergroups only have permissions on the private forums, they wont be able to access any else…

you have the sneak peak permission – just apply it with the usergroup to the forums where you want it active… you can set the join page on forum – components – custom messages…