Looking for Basic Information About How User Upgrade System Works

[System0]

I have a discussion forum that uses WordPress to power the home page (and other informational pages), Amember to handle member payments, and XenForo for the forum software.

Amember works great, though I am curious as to how the XenForo upgrade system works in practice as I have three other forums that I could introduce premium memberships for in the future.

One added bonus from using amember to handle payments is that I can completely disable registration in XenForo. This means that I never had to deal with spam registrations on the site; something that continues to plague my other forums unless I activate strict unfriendly anti-spam add ons.

Believe me - not having to even think about spam saves me a huge amount of time. I never have to deal with emails from people saying that the captcha image is impossible or emails saying that they are banned, even though they have never used the forum.

I am curious as to how XenForo handles user upgrades. Specifically, I want to understand how it works under a closed registration policy.

I understand that with a normal active forum, users can simply pay using PayPal to upgrade their account and then instantly receive additional permissions etc.

• Can the upgrade system be used to make members pay for a subscription if they do not already have an account i.e. only visitors who pay for a membership can actually register through the forum?
• Can you manually change the start date and expiry date of a member? e.g. for competition winners

Would love to hear from those of you who are currently using user upgrades on their forum to generate income and hear about the way you have things configured

Kevin

 

[Jeremy]

No, you must be registered to buy an upgrade.

You can manually upgrade a user and set a custom end date.

 

[System0]

Thanks for clarifying Jeremy.

If registration is disabled through the settings area (/admin.php?options/list/usersAndRegistration), is the only way to create a user by doing it manually yourself?

I'm trying to think of a way that I could set a paid forum up so that spam is not an issue. If I enabled registration and allowed visitors to view certain rooms, I would still have to deal with a lot of spam registrations clogging up the user table etc.

 

[borbole]

Thanks for clarifying Jeremy.

If registration is disabled through the settings area (/admin.php?options/list/usersAndRegistration), is the only way to create a user by doing it manually yourself?

I'm trying to think of a way that I could set a paid forum up so that spam is not an issue. If I enabled registration and allowed visitors to view certain rooms, I would still have to deal with a lot of spam registrations clogging up the user table etc.

If you disable the registrations then creating users manually is the only way to add new users. Xenforo has some very good and efficient antispam measurements. Have you set them up? There are also several antispam mods in case you would need some extra spam measurements.

 

[System0]

If you disable the registrations then creating users manually is the only way to add new users. Xenforo has some very good and efficient antispam measurements. Have you set them up? There are also several antispam mods in case you would need some extra spam measurements.

Yeah I have anti-spam configured on my other forums (using add ons), though I receive a lot of complaints from new members saying that the anti-spam measures were frustrating.

I may look into whether I could configure the forum in a different way. For example, I could allow people to register, but that would only allow them to view the forum or view certain rooms. Or perhaps only view a forum room for potential members who want to ask questions.

 

[borbole]

Yeah I have anti-spam configured on my other forums (using add ons), though I receive a lot of complaints from new members saying that the anti-spam measures were frustrating.

I may look into whether I could configure the forum in a different way. For example, I could allow people to register, but that would only allow them to view the forum or view certain rooms. Or perhaps only view a forum room for potential members who want to ask questions.

You can use Group Promotion as well in combination with what you described. And promote them after it has been established that they are legit users.

 

[System0]

You can use Group Promotion as well in combination with what you described. And promote them after it has been established that they are legit users.

Cool. I'll keep that in mind. I'll probably handle upgrades through subscriptions

 

[KCGaming]

I have a closed system and use a form for people to apply to our clan once the apply I send an invite to their email for them to sign up. once registered I use the credits system to earn point and progress them through a ranking system

 

[System0]

I have a closed system and use a form for people to apply to our clan once the apply I send an invite to their email for them to sign up. once registered I use the credits system to earn point and progress them through a ranking system

Is the form a custom solution, or is this built into XenForo?

 

[KCGaming]

Built on Xenforo

Invite system I use http://admin-talk.com/threads/5-xenforo-addons-by-ragtek.42869/

The application form is a paid addon but worth every cent with what you can do with it http://xenforo.com/community/resources/simple-forms.289/ $25usd but this tool is awesome it creates a post on any form you request it to taking all the info entered into the form but not only that Ive used it to create forms to request admin rights etc etc etc. it can even post to two categories at once with different data.

 

[KCGaming]

As for ranking up I use the credits addon http://xenforo.com/community/resources/credits.1391/

And use the built in xenforo usergroup promotions to rank up.

I also use http://xenforo.com/community/resources/promotion-message-by-waindigo.2229/ to post a message on the forum so users can congratulate the promotions

 

[System0]

Built on Xenforo

Invite system I use http://admin-talk.com/threads/5-xenforo-addons-by-ragtek.42869/

The application form is a paid addon but worth every cent with what you can do with it http://xenforo.com/community/resources/simple-forms.289/ $25usd but this tool is awesome it creates a post on any form you request it to taking all the info entered into the form but not only that Ive used it to create forms to request admin rights etc etc etc. it can even post to two categories at once with different data.

Thanks KC. I'll keep a note of that. Looks very handy. Looks like it can be used in a lot of different ways.