# Custom Discourse instance for a writers club
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-discourse-instance-for-a-writers-club/180297
**Category:** Marketplace
**Created:** [February 19, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-discourse-instance-for-a-writers-club/180297 "2021-02-19T03:24:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@T.C\_MacNevin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/T.C_MacNevin)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-discourse-instance-for-a-writers-club/180297/1 "2021-02-19T03:24:32Z")
I manage JoesWriters.Club and as of now am the only developer.
I’m looking for an experienced discourse developer and someone who is organized in development cycles to help keep our project on track. Initially, any tips you could give in reply to this topic would be helpful. We are willing to hire the right candidate on an hourly basis with your minimum retainer required just to help me develop a long-term plan and provide guidance on best practices in pushing updates. I’m pretty disorganized just going straight into the server making changes or in the customization console. I’m not saving a git repository or docker image. I could probably get these things together on my own but I just want a smart developer to help keep me accountable.
I’m beginning to worry I might do something that will upset our members as well. For instance, I recently added the calendar plugin and the events plugin below:
> [@Discourse Calendar and Events](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-calendar/97376):
>
> discourse2Summary Discourse Calendar and Events adds dynamic and interactive calendar and event features to your Discourse site.open_bookInstall Guide This plugin is bundled with Discourse core. There is no need to install the plugin separately. Enabling Calendar and Events The Calendar and Events plugin can be enabled either by the toggle or from its settings, both accessible from your admin/plugins page: Features Somewhat unsurprisingly, Discourse Calend…
> [@Events Plugin calendar](https://meta.discourse.org/t/events-plugin/69776):
>
> electric_plugSummary Discourse Events allows you to add and manage events with Discourse.hammer_and_wrenchRepository Link [https://github.com/angusmcleod/discourse-events](https://github.com/angusmcleod/discourse-events)open_bookInstall Guide [How to install plugins in Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/install-plugins-in-discourse/19157)people_huggingCommunity Community based support and discussions about this plugin are hosted on the [Angus’ support site](https://discourse.angus.blog/c/events). Watch this video to get an overview of the plugin and what it can do. When you’re ready to get started, the next s…
I found when importing the iCal to google calendar only publically viewable events are showing. I considered whether it was because the google auth didn’t originally ask permission for google calendar API and added that to our google developer permissions. The real point is, even though I’ll figure out a solution eventually I’m worried some of our members may be using the calendar in their private rooms and I don’t want them to lose track of anything important if I make a major change.
We have plans for other integrations and customizations and guidance in designing a feasible timeline would be appreciated and compensated.
In the long-term, we are hoping to work with a developer who may be interested in joining our writing community and perhaps become a partner in our club. We are a small club and don’t have a very large budget for the ongoing development and would require someone skilled that would help us for a minimum base pay plus partnership interest.
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### Author:  [@itsbhanusharma](https://meta.discourse.org/u/itsbhanusharma)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-discourse-instance-for-a-writers-club/180297/2 "2021-02-19T15:15:51Z")
Hi @T.C_MacNevin
If this project isn’t excessively time sensitive then I am interested in your project. I’m more of a consultant than a developer but have a good understanding of discourse and integrating other services to discourse.
I’d like to understand your requirements better. Feel free to write an email to [bhanu@orng.co](mailto:bhanu@orng.co) and can discuss.
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### Author:  [@T.C\_MacNevin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/T.C_MacNevin)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-discourse-instance-for-a-writers-club/180297/3 "2021-02-19T20:23:08Z")
Thanks @itsbhanusharma
I sent you an email with broad details of what we would like to achieve. Essentially I’d like to begin with someone who can help us organize to prevent any huge mistakes. If you could recommend any additional developers as we go that would also be appreciated.
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### Author:  [@T.C\_MacNevin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/T.C_MacNevin)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2021, 9:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-discourse-instance-for-a-writers-club/180297/4 "2021-02-19T21:03:39Z")
Regarding importing a calendar subscription into google calendar, it seems that private category events won’t show up:
> [@Events Plugin calendar](https://meta.discourse.org/t/events-plugin/69776/139):
>
> Thanks for the report. Should work regardless of any data irregularities now. [https://github.com/angusmcleod/discourse-events/commit/cfa044c9344b43b1b303939a8ababd7a55753180](https://github.com/angusmcleod/discourse-events/commit/cfa044c9344b43b1b303939a8ababd7a55753180)@tobiaseigen Thanks for the feedback. Yeah this one is TBD as I think it’s a relatively marginal use case. This is not literally possible yet (you could achieve a version of this through category-level permissions), but the more I think about it, the more I like it. I’ll take a crack at it soon. Yes, this has been on…
I’d like to implement this feature at some point and I see any restricted category displays a link to generate iCal API keys. I’ll probably be investigating this and I wouldn’t be too worried about adding this to our own site but it horrifies me to think that if I come up with anything useful I might issue a PR to the main branch. I’m sure if it gets to that point plenty of knowledgeable people will have reviewed it.
Has anyone seen an existing solution to integrating iCal API from discourse events with google calendar directly?
I’ve also seen posts about google calendar onebox but some people say it doesn’t work for them and in addition, that means login with google is required to use the calendar.
> [@Can Google Calendar be One-Boxed?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-google-calendar-be-one-boxed/57043):
>
> I’ve read the Google-Calendar plugin post, but it is now not working anymore. I’ve seen the Google Maps One-Box, it works perfectly now. I really wander if Google Calendar can work with One-Box ??
I don’t want to make this thread all about calendars but I wanted to clarify as much as I know in case anyone comes across this topic.
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### Author:  [@T.C\_MacNevin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/T.C_MacNevin)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-discourse-instance-for-a-writers-club/180297/5 "2021-03-12T16:46:48Z")
> [@Events Plugin calendar](https://meta.discourse.org/t/events-plugin/69776/139):
>
> Thanks for the report. Should work regardless of any data irregularities now.
>
> [github.com/angusmcleod/discourse-events](https://github.com/angusmcleod/discourse-events/commit/cfa044c9344b43b1b303939a8ababd7a55753180)
>
> [ ](https://github.com/angusmcleod)
>
> #### [skip\_before\_action if behaves strangely && add extra check for event](https://github.com/angusmcleod/discourse-events/commit/cfa044c9344b43b1b303939a8ababd7a55753180)
>
> by [angusmcleod](https://github.com/angusmcleod) on [11:46PM - 07 Mar 18 UTC](https://github.com/angusmcleod/discourse-events/commit/cfa044c9344b43b1b303939a8ababd7a55753180)
>
> changed **1 files** with **16 additions** and **14 deletions**.
I got the private events to import into google calendar and iOS by adding the generated API key, thank you. I noticed that adding a specific category calendar actually adds all events from every category I belong to. So for now I created a new user for each category with access to only that category. Then generate a separate key for each. Thinking about implementing this programmatically.
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 11, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-discourse-instance-for-a-writers-club/180297/6 "2021-04-11T16:47:33Z")
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