using s2members for forum restriction on wordpress

[aslauda]

I was recently handed control of a charity website for volunteers. currently all of the website is for public access. However i want to create a forum for the volunteers only. No public registration at all, just manually add in their email address and give the volunteers access. Then would like to have only two levels, one for standard access with access to certain forums and then leader access for the unit leaders to have access to everything.

So my question is what forum widget should i use to create this that will work in conjunction with this? I dont want the volunteers to pay for access but i cant have everyone in all the forums. Im just keeping it simple, one section for standard volunteers and one locked one for officers (with the officers being able to view and comment on both forums) and of course the moderator/admin leve.

All of the forums will/must be hidden from the public.

Is there a you tube video that shows this process or a step by step guide for the person who has minimal technology training? I.E. im a dum dum or am i barking up the wrong tree

this is the current version of the site http://mnemshonorguard.org/

https://wordpress.org/plugins/s2member/

[jaspud]

This might help some.
http://www.s2member.com/forums/topic/s2member-integration-with-wp-forum-plugins/

Basically, I would assume any forum program that works with the basic user login of wordpress should work fine (should be most of them)

[jaspud]

Just read the dum dum part 😛

Basically…create your wordpress site and add the forum to it. Then the pages that have the forum on them, you would protect with certain levels through s2member.

Just make sure its a forum plugin that allows users to log in through wordpress to post

[aslauda]

is there no plugin to bypass the wordpress login and create a login from the main site so there is less confusion? most of the volunteers are older and not technologically savvy.

Also i have a forum style setup with the restrictions and labels, just need to figure out how to have it added to the membership but how do i integrate that to s2member

[jaspud]

You can use some code I believe and have the login actually show up on your page itself. Or, what you can do is make a HUGE button that says FORUM LOGIN. Then this will direct to the login page (which you can style to be pretty through s2) and will take them into the protected area.

I do a little tech support for a company with some old members…the struggle is real lol but they can usually find huge buttons with bright colors on the homepage.

[KTS915]

The Pro version of s2Member does have a login widget that you could put in any widgetized area on your site.