Existing WP users in a Discourse SSO provider scenario

Hello !

I’m here to request some guiding in a tricky situation with a client

Here is the “platform” I work with :

  • Multisite wordpress : we have 6 wordpress, configured in a multisite configuration. The user database is merged
  • I created a Discourse forum recently, the connection between WP and Discourse works perfectly
  • We tried WP as SSO Provider and it worked fine, but for some reason, it wasn’t the best option for my client
  • So we try to use Discourse as SSO Provider.

This time again, the connection works fine, but there is a problem : the existing users in Wordpress, need to create an account into Discourse when they want to comment. A sync user data option doesn’t seem to be working in this case, where Discourse is the provider.

I’m looking for option to import or sync the existing users from WP to Discourse.

So far, I came across a few options :

  • Using WP as provider first to sync all the user data, then switch to Discourse as provider. But this requires an action from the user in Discourse, and I would like to do this automatically so I can switch right back to Discourse as provider
  • mass invite these users by using their email address. But, I would like a better option that doesn’t involve emailing 600 users
  • create account in the rails console : I don’t mind the process, but I think users will need to regenerate their password
  • This topic was interesting also, but I’m not sure if it’s still doable : Create user automatically in Discourse when they sign up in Wordpress? it mentions later that the best course of action is to use WP as SSO Provider
  • I came across this topic that countains helpful informations : [Paid] Migrating old wordpress comments and users to Discourse but as mentionned, it’s not recommended for production site.
  • A migration scenario was mentionned. Migrate WP to phpbb or mybb, then migrate phpbb or mybb to Discourse. It might

Am I missing a better solution ? :thinking:

Don’t put too much work/thoughts into this request, it’s more an “exploring option” kind of thing :grinning:

I wanted to conclude this post by saying that i’m really impressed by this plugin, everytime I use it, I discover another cool things. This time is the management of the WP multisite, it works flawlessly.

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You might be able to do some kind of import (I’d imagine that one of the WordPress-based forum importers could import the users and passwords) and use Migrated password hashes support.

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