Using Discourse For Course Community

[mattpar]

Hello, I am considering using Discourse for my course community and was wondering if there was a way to segment free and paid users within Discourse.

For example, I’d like to have a free forum and then another private section of the forum that users only get access to when they buy my course. Is this possible using Discourse?

Also, I’ll be using Kajabi for my course and was wondering if Discourse and Kajabi can integrate so that when someone buys on Kajabi they also get automatic access to the private section of the Forum?

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

[Robert_Fay]

You can use groups and then set up certain categories so only the “Paid” group can see that category. It is under category security.

[mattpar]

Thanks so much! So that will require manual adding? I’m currently having to manually add people to a Facebook group anyways so it’s not a huge problem, but if I could automate it would amazing

[osioke (Osioke Itseuwa)]

After setting up the groups, you can also use bulk invites to add members to specific groups. This guide explains this process in detail:

Sending Bulk User Invites

For a simpler way to invite many users to your Discourse instance with a shared link, see Multiple Use Invite Links. This feature, added in version 2.5, allows for bulk sending invites with a single invite link and optionally adding users to a specific group. if you have SSO enabled, or have disabled local logins, invites cannot be sent as they would bypass parent site authentication. Invites only work if SSO is not enabled and local logins are enabled. So you want to in…

And if you want to better understand how to use groups for your specific use case, see this guide:

How to create private categories using category security settings

This video explains how you can use group permissions to create private categories (or private “forums”). Scroll down for written instructions. [How to create a group and add permissions to a category] The Security tab on the category edit page is used to control both the visibility of categories and what users can do in a category. This is done by defining an access list of groups that associate a group name with an access level. The default permission for a new category is that t…

[pfaffman (Jay Pfaffman)]

@mattpar

’ll be using Kajabi for my course and was wondering if Discourse and Kajabi can integrate so that when someone buys on Kajabi they also get automatic access to the private section of the Forum?

It should be possible, though it’ll take a custom plugin. If you have a budget and a clear description of the integration you desire you can post in #marketplace.

[Stephen]

There are lots of third party sign-in options with Kajabi, and it looks like you weren’t the first to ask about Discourse integration. Maybe hit up @joebuhlig:

SSO with Kajabi

Hey, Chris! I might be able to help out. Can you shoot me an email at hello@procourse.co? We can talk through the process and details from there.

[mattpar]

Thank you! Really appreciate it! I’ll take a look at those posts

[mattpar]

Thanks Jay! If I go with Discourse (which I’m leaning towards) then I’ll definitely leave a post in the marketplace for a custom plugin. I checked Zapier and while they do connect Discourse and Kajabi it doesn’t do it in the way I need.

[mattpar]

Thanks for referencing that post! I’ll reach out to him if I go with Discourse!