Really had my hopes up

  • There is a lot to like about this forum software plugin.
    For example, I like the custom color choosers, so easy to get the forum design to match the website.
    And I love the feature for automatically adding WordPress posts to a forum.

    But I was puzzled by the lack of a “Register” button even though I had checked the box. And the Login button took me to the WP login. So I figured it out, this forum doesn’t have it’s own login or user system, it wants to use my website’s WP user/login system. Well my website is single-user and I have no intention of changing that just to make one plug-in work.
    If I can figure some solution for this issue, I’ll be back.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Plugin Author Asgaros

    (@asgaros)

    Hello @bobthearch

    First of all: Thank you for your review.

    The register-link is only showing up when you also enable user-registrations in your general WordPress settings. When this global option is disabled, I cannot show the link to ensure the overall security.

    Regarding the user system: This is a WordPress plugin and not a standalone Forum system. A plugin usually integrates into the underlying system and uses offical Programming Interfaces for already existing functionality. Because of the reason that this is a WordPress extension, it just makes no sense to develop an own user-management-system just for the forum.

    Why? You can ask yourself the question: Why develop a user-management-system when we already can use an existing system which is well-developed since decades and actively maintained by the WordPress developers? Developing an own user-management-system requires to develop login-logic, registration-logic, own database-tables, synchronization-logic between the existing user-management-system because you want to use your existing WordPress administration account as well, and much more. Develop existing functionality twice leads to redundancy and the need to ensure compatibility with every new release of WordPress as well. It also brings the risk for security-issues. As you can see there are a lot of arguments against an own user-management.

    Using the existing WordPress user-management has no disadvantages at all. It brings security, stability and you can manage all users in one place: The administration area. If you want that your users only stay in the frontend area, you can use available extensions which modify the way how the login/registration process works. For example BuddyPress has a great functionality which adds front-end login/registration to your site. Its also easy to connect it with Asgaros Forum. If you need help, feel free to contact me at any time.

    But: If you really want to use a forum-system which works like a standalone-system, a WordPress forum-extension like Asgaros Forum may be the wrong choice. In thise case you should have a look at existing standalone forum solutions like phpBB, Simple Machines Forum, vBulletin, etc.

    I would be happy if you could reconsider your review after this post. If you have suggestions on how I could improve the login/registration process I would be also thankful to hear from you again. Maybe together with your ideas we can find a way to increase the overall login/registration-experience in the next update.

    Thank you,
    Thomas

    Thread Starter Bobthearch

    (@bobthearch)

    Hello again. Thank you for the comments and for explaining some of the reasoning.

    I have looked into stand-alone forum software that can be installed through Softaculous. Honest, most of those aren’t very user-friendly, meaning it would be very difficult to match the forum layout with the rest of the website: headers, background, etc.

    Right now I am leaning towards to using the wpForo plugin. It has some features you might consider for your plugin. For example, the login. Like Asgaros, wpForo uses the existing WordPress user management. But unlike Asgaros the wpForo login feels separate; it opens a login dialog within the forum rather than the WP login; users feel like they’re registering for only the forum.

    And also, the Login/Register/Logout is always present at the top of the forum page, without having to change any WP settings. I’m unsure the consequences regarding site security as you mentioned.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
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