The discussion revolves around the possibility of creating plugins for Discourse to enhance its functionality. wfsaxton is looking to implement two features: hiding certain features behind a paywall using cryptocurrency for subscriptions, and assigning users “credits” based on their activity.
Stephen suggests that the first feature could be achieved with a membership module or paid groups, while jomaxro recommends starting with the Discourse Patreon Integration plugin and modifying it to work with a cryptocurrency provider. Stephen also mentions the paid-membership plugin as an alternative.
jomaxro notes that both features are possible but would require significant development effort, especially for someone without Ruby experience. wfsaxton is considering exploring plugin creation and may fork the paid-membership plugin to support a different payment system.
The discussion concludes with Erwin_Blom inquiring about the progress of the idea and jomaxro confirming that no further action was taken, but the concept remains feasible with plugin development.
I’m considering multiple open-source forum apps and Discourse is definitely the front-runner. Had some questions re: its ability to be enhanced.
I have 2 enhancements I’d like to see for my forum:
Hide certain features behind a paywall (posting new topics, etc) using Bitcoin or some other crypto-currency for subscriptions.
Assign users “credits” based on their activity. i guess this is similar to reputation points BUT those points would eventually be able to be used for different site activities.
Let me caveat this with: Anything is possible, it just depends on how much ruby/javascript knowledge, and time the developer has.
For number 1, the Discourse Patreon plugin would be a good starting point. You’d need to remove the Patreon API and replace it with an API for your crypto-currency provider first. That would allow you to add users to groups based on payment. You’d then need a plugin to modify what a user can do based on group membership, I don’t think there are any examples of that.
For number 2, you’d need a plugin that calculates these points based on forum activity. That shouldn’t be too complicated. Then, using the same plugin from number 1 you’d add them to groups based on how they spend their points and with that can gain access.
Both are doable, but are likely to be fairly involved.
Yeah, I saw that plugin. My main concern about the plugin was that it didn’t appear to be actively worked on and that, on one of the top forum posts there, the developer banned a user for asking a question. Was kind of off-putting.
Perhaps I should just check it out first and, perhaps, fork it to support a different payment system.
The plugins you’re describing would not be what I’d start with if I was trying to get into plugin development. If you do attempt this, feel free to post specific questions you run into in Development. If you’re looking for a developer to assist more directly, try Marketplace.