Is there a way to make Discourse open to unregistered visitors and Google for basic content, while requiring users to log in to access premium content—ideally with a visual difference between free and premium content?
Yes, just stick the premium content in secured Categories.
You can use, for example, the Subscriptions Plugin to place people in the premium Groups and only permission those Groups to see those Categories.
On the topic of look & feel, many Theme Components allow you to tailor their appearance by Category, and you can create bespoke ones to your taste.
5 Likes
Via categories, of course.
2 Likes