XenForo + Addons suitability for a private group of friends

reikoku

New member
Dear all,

my recreational club (roughly 100 members locally and 30 stationed abroad) is looking into the option to organize future events via a private web platform without relying on Facebook or Google+. None of us are too tech savvy, thus would xenForo and easy to install addons suit our needs? We have set a 500 USD budget to acquire the domain and the software package.

We would require the following global features:
- Private site; without search engine indexing any of the content
- Access is only granted via authorized or invite based registration
- Mobile friendly (iOS, Android & Blackberry) access to all modules

The specific features beside the forum used for discussion and sharing links would be:
- Events management & Calendar
x This would be our most important feature for organizing birthday celebrations, BBQs, wakes retirement, welcoming and departure parties,​
x Photo and videos related to the event can be uploaded by attendants​
x RSVP​
x Travel details (itinerary, accommodation)​
x Pledging donation (rarely used, only in cases of hospitalization & death)​
x Visibility of the event can be limited during the planning stage (e.g. Surprise parties: the honoree will not be able to see the event details)​

- User group discrimination
Beside the usual functions, we are differentiating between local members, members stationed abroad, spouses, children, relatives and retirees. Respectively the user groups are limited to certain content (e.g. We would not want children to see the bachelor/bachelorette party event photos)​
- Photo gallery & video library
x We would like to offer the platform for all members to store their private photos​
x We would like to have shared galleries related to events (e.g. all participants at the BBQ can upload their photos & videos)​
We are interested in hearing about your experience with xenForo as a community platform and thank you in advance for sharing your expertise.

Your sincerely,
r
 
Dear all,

my recreational club (roughly 100 members locally and 30 stationed abroad) is looking into the option to organize future events via a private web platform without relying on Facebook or Google+. None of us are too tech savvy, thus would xenForo and easy to install addons suit our needs? We have set a 500 USD budget to acquire the domain and the software package.

- Private site; without search engine indexing any of the content
Doable via a number of different options, be it simply robots.txt, restricting node visability, or something like a htaccess login

- Access is only granted via authorized or invite based registration

Ragtek has a system like this, alternatively you can set all registrations to be admin-approved. http://xenforo.com/community/resources/invite-referrer-system.506/

- Mobile friendly (iOS, Android & Blackberry) access to all modules

Xenforo loads fine on all my devices, as well as having a tapatalk module.

- Events management & Calendar
x This would be our most important feature for organizing birthday celebrations, BBQs, wakes retirement, welcoming and departure parties,​
x Photo and videos related to the event can be uploaded by attendants​
x RSVP​
x Travel details (itinerary, accommodation)​
x Pledging donation (rarely used, only in cases of hospitalization & death)​
x Visibility of the event can be limited during the planning stage (e.g. Surprise parties: the honoree will not be able to see the event details)​
This should handle most of these needs. http://xenforo.com/community/resources/8wayrun-com-xenatendo-events.99/ and http://xenforo.com/community/resources/donation-manager.385/

- User group discrimination
Beside the usual functions, we are differentiating between local members, members stationed abroad, spouses, children, relatives and retirees. Respectively the user groups are limited to certain content (e.g. We would not want children to see the bachelor/bachelorette party event photos)​
Easily doable using the usergroup restrictions
- Photo gallery & video library
x We would like to offer the platform for all members to store their private photos​
x We would like to have shared galleries related to events (e.g. all participants at the BBQ can upload their photos & videos)​
Not something currently available realy.

As a social interaction platform, XenForo is great, moving my own site over to it was one of the best things we ever did. You can see out 6 month on review here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/xenforo-conversion-review-6-months-on.33085/
 
- Private site; without search engine indexing any of the content
Doable via a number of different options, be it simply robots.txt, restricting node visability, or something like a htaccess login

- Access is only granted via authorized or invite based registration

Ragtek has a system like this, alternatively you can set all registrations to be admin-approved. http://xenforo.com/community/resources/invite-referrer-system.506/

- Mobile friendly (iOS, Android & Blackberry) access to all modules

Xenforo loads fine on all my devices, as well as having a tapatalk module.

- Events management & Calendar
x This would be our most important feature for organizing birthday celebrations, BBQs, wakes retirement, welcoming and departure parties,​
x Photo and videos related to the event can be uploaded by attendants​
x RSVP​
x Travel details (itinerary, accommodation)​
x Pledging donation (rarely used, only in cases of hospitalization & death)​
x Visibility of the event can be limited during the planning stage (e.g. Surprise parties: the honoree will not be able to see the event details)​
This should handle most of these needs. http://xenforo.com/community/resources/8wayrun-com-xenatendo-events.99/ and http://xenforo.com/community/resources/donation-manager.385/

- User group discrimination
Beside the usual functions, we are differentiating between local members, members stationed abroad, spouses, children, relatives and retirees. Respectively the user groups are limited to certain content (e.g. We would not want children to see the bachelor/bachelorette party event photos)​
Easily doable using the usergroup restrictions
- Photo gallery & video library
x We would like to offer the platform for all members to store their private photos​
x We would like to have shared galleries related to events (e.g. all participants at the BBQ can upload their photos & videos)​
Not something currently available realy.

As a social interaction platform, XenForo is great, moving my own site over to it was one of the best things we ever did. You can see out 6 month on review here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/xenforo-conversion-review-6-months-on.33085/


Thank you for your insight. Are there any intentions to add a gallery feature to xenForo in the near future?
 
TBH, it doesn't really sound like xF is what you need. Have you looked at something like elgg? I've tried it in the past, but it was never something I really needed, but I was somewhat impressed of what could be achieved with it.
 
TBH, it doesn't really sound like xF is what you need. Have you looked at something like elgg? I've tried it in the past, but it was never something I really needed, but I was somewhat impressed of what could be achieved with it.

Yes we have looked into the social networking platforms such as elgg and oxwall. Looking at the submission of addons/plug-ins, neither of the solutions seemed to have an active developer base

A couple of addon authors are working on systems, and there has also been talk of using the IPB gallery system when its released as standalone.
We are looking into the IPB community suite as well.

Oh well, thank you all for sharing your experience. I guess we will discuss it on the weekend and see if we can motivate a more tech savvy member of the circle to investigate the proposals.
 
- Photo gallery & video library
(1) We would like to offer the platform for all members to store their private photos​
(2) We would like to have shared galleries related to events (e.g. all participants at the BBQ can upload their photos & videos)​
Not something currently available really.

(1) ... I doubt people want that.
(2) use a thread ! Event XYZ photos and videos. Use XenMedio to store the videos, and use the embed code to embed them.
 
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