Community sites with WordPress?

[burgher]

Hi,

I’ve used WordPress for running a weblog and really love it.

I’m looking to start a site which allows anyone to register and contribute content, which may or may not then be moderated before it is posted.

Now, I know that Drupal is an often-recommended solution for this type of site but I’m familiar with WordPress (and as I said, I like it) so I’d like to use WordPress is possible.

I know that you can have multiple users and permissions etc through WordPress, but I guess what I’m trying to ask is whether WordPress is a viable option for this type of site, or whether it isn’t really scalable enough.

For instance, could WordPress cope with lots and lots of users if the site gets popular (say, thousands)? And would it be likely to have problems with “spammers” who set up accounts automatically and post junk?

Thanks for any advice you can offer!

[Kafkaesqui]

Not sure what advice I can provide, short of:

1. Yes, WordPress can be used in this way (and the upcoming version 2.0 may make it even a little easier).

2. If your site can handle thousands of users pounding on it at once, WordPress should be able to as well.

3. Spammers will always be a possibility, but if you’re sending posts from these accounts to “moderation” it doesn’t work in their favor.

Keep in mind that a community framework was never the intent of blogging software in general (including WordPress), and likely other issues of scalability you haven’t thought about yet, such as wanting to provide author “diaries” or branch out to a multi-blog environment, will be limited by going with a system that’s primarily intended for individual authors or small groups working on a single blog. In short, WordPress *could* be a good choice for what you need, but spend some time thinking through exactly what that need is going to be before making the choice.

[dss]

I’ve tried to do this in several ways:

1. building a site for a specific user group. It seemed that asking the users of a popular message board to register again and learn how to post in WP was just too much for them (lame, i know) but the results after one year were sad. Site removed. Board still thriving and happy.

2. I offered a journal to subscribers. I registered the users myself, and created categories for them. This allowed each user to present thier blog as https://domain.net/user or to simply be in the mix of recent posts on the front page.

Using copies of templates and a couple of tips found here about style per category, I was able to offer some hands on style for each user.

In the end, it was deemed “too hard” for people, and again they defaulted back to a message board.

3. I gave up and simply offered unique installs of WP to the members of the community who wanted them. If they posted, I encouraged them. If they didn’t, I removed the install.

These journals are still going strong, and I unite them by bringing their RSS feeds together in a “community” overview page.

I would have preferred to see a real community thrive with WP, and those who didn’t care to initiate comment with the same excitement and enthusiasm they seem to post on a message board.

But they don’t…

There are some awesome community WP based sites. Sadly I can’t think of any of them off the top of my head, but they all seem to be fairly tight groups of people with common interest who are not making a transition, rather starting the project together and deciding on WordPress as the tool they want to use.

Dunnoe if any of my blabbering even helps out, but I hope so…

[burgher]

Thanks for your replies. Anyone who can name community-type sites driven by WordPress, please let me know.

From what I’ve seen, WordPress 2.0 might make things easier for these types of sites too, given the extra control over what users can and cannot do.