I just want to be able to upload Discourse to a host temporarily so I can test out the software and admin panel. I have a forum project going on and we are thinking about using this software but many of my colleagues are unfamiliar with it (including me), so we have no idea what kinds of features we can offer*.
Anyone have any idea how/where I can do this???
*We’re going to be offering subscriber packages, and if I/we don’t know exactly what comes with Discourse and how to do it, then we’re left in the dark.
If you’d like to charge for access to your forum, you’d need either the patreon plugin (which I do not believe is included with those free trials) or to do some custom work to connect, e.g., some WordPress membership manager to Discourse groups via the API.
I think that what you want to do is to try out one of those and then you can make plans about moving forward with figuring out the Membership stuff.
Another option for a free trial would be to use the $10 free Digital Ocean referral link on my discourse install page and follow the INSTALL-cloud instructions.
The Patreon plugin isn’t included in any of the discourse.org hosting plans yet, but as soon as its passed the in-progress trial-by-fire, it is, I believe, intended that it’ll be available on all our hosting plans.