Thank for advising on Subject: Implementing a Scribd-like Pay-Per-Document / Upload-to-Unlock Credit System on Discourse.
I am Implementer setting up a specialized student community platform focused on detailed academic documents (PDFs, project reports, past exams). My monetization and contribution model requires a system where access to high-value file attachments is controlled per document, not per category.
I need the system to function as follows:
- Credit/Point System Required: A mechanism to track user credits (a consumable currency).
- Payment Option: Users can purchase these credits (e.g., via Stripe integration, outside of standard subscriptions).
- Contribution Option (Upload-to-Unlock): Users who successfully upload and have a new, approved document (PDF) grant them a specific amount of these consumable credits.
- Gating Mechanism: When a user attempts to view or download a protected PDF/attachment, their credit balance is checked, and a specific number of credits are deducted to unlock access to that individual file.
My question is:
Are there any existing, stable, or third-party plugins (commercial or open-source) that specifically handle a consumable point/credit system and can gate access to individual attachments (PDFs/DOCX) on a pay-per-view/download basis?
The standard Discourse Subscriptions Plugin only handles category-level access for recurring fees, which does not meet the per-document credit exchange requirement. I am trying to avoid extensive custom development if an existing solution or integration already exists.