Support Forum

Forum on Password-Protected Page

JU jugoretz
jugoretz
Member
Member since Jan 2010
24 posts
Mar 20, 2012 · 2:18 pm · Edited

Not sure if this is a use-case that is really possible.

I want to have a page with a forum, and using WordPress set a password for that page (in visibility in the publish options).

The idea is that I want to permit guests to post on the forum, without having a WordPress account, but I don’t want the whole world to post on (or even be able to see) the forum.

So I thought I could just use WordPress to set a password for that page where the forum lives. Then I could give that one same password to all the users who need it.  

But when I try that, there is no place to enter the password on the forum page.  It says “protected” but the post-password form doesn’t show up at all.  

Sample page is here

http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/sufganiyot/

(There should be a line there to enter the password–which is “password” without the quotes.  There would be on any password-protected page without a forum.)

 

Any ideas? Thanks!

11 Answers

New Answer
YS Yellow Swordfish
Yellow Swordfish
Member
Member since Nov 2008
16,437 posts
Mar 20, 2012 · 2:54 pm

Yes – as far as I was aware we do support the password protection. But I somewhat doubt this has really been tested in the newer version of WP. I do not believe we have ever had anyone use it – at least to my knowledge.

I will open a ticket on this right away and get it looked at.

JU jugoretz
jugoretz
Member
Member since Jan 2010
24 posts
Mar 20, 2012 · 3:08 pm

Much appreciated!  (I was thinking maybe I could make a new page template that would allow it, but maybe that’s the wrong path entirely).

YS Yellow Swordfish
Yellow Swordfish
Member
Member since Nov 2008
16,437 posts
Mar 20, 2012 · 3:21 pm

That probably depends on why it is not showing up. Hopefully we will find out soon!

CF Conrad_Farlow
Conrad_Farlow
Member
Member since Aug 2010
531 posts
Mar 21, 2012 · 7:37 pm

Have you considered a membership plug-in to protect content? We have been doing this for over a year now without any problems. A good free membership plugin is Chad Butler’s WP-member and an excellent premium one that we have recently adopted because we needed several different membership levels is WP-eMember.

Both play nice with SP5.x

I hope you don’t mind the plugs Andy and Steve, I have no affiliations with either company but just wanted to pass on my personal experience.

Conrad

CF Conrad_Farlow
Conrad_Farlow
Member
Member since Aug 2010
531 posts
Mar 21, 2012 · 7:43 pm

By the way WP eMember will allow guests they need to sign up for a free membership which prevents all the world seeing what you have got. You can set manual activation with a membership plug in or merely hide the foum page using a plugin such as ‘Exclude Pages from Navigation‘ which will allow you to hide pages from the outside world.

You could then just give the URL to who you want.

Just a few options.

Conrad

JU jugoretz
jugoretz
Member
Member since Jan 2010
24 posts
Mar 21, 2012 · 7:49 pm

Thanks, Conrad. Those are interesting options. I don’t think a membership plugin really works because I can’t ask these users to sign up or register for any account. They need the simplest possible access. But hiding pages from navigation is a possible workaround. Security by obscurity…

I might have some problem with them remembering the URL, so the native password protection is still seeming like my best bet. But having other avenues to explore is a good thing!

JU jugoretz
jugoretz
Member
Member since Jan 2010
24 posts
Apr 4, 2012 · 2:49 pm

Just checking back in on this.  Any ideas, Mr. Swordfish? I have not been able to figure it out myself and would really love to make this work.

YS Yellow Swordfish
Yellow Swordfish
Member
Member since Nov 2008
16,437 posts
Apr 4, 2012 · 4:06 pm

Did you upgrade to 5.0.4 – there was a fix in there for this…

JU jugoretz
jugoretz
Member
Member since Jan 2010
24 posts
Apr 4, 2012 · 6:19 pm

Thanks!  Just did that upgrade, and you’re right, it fixed the problem.  Much appreciate the great support, as always.