Tough Wordpress 3.0 MS for the experts...

I've also sent this to the helpdesk, but my tickets are not showing up for some reason so I am also posting it here just in case -- am also seeing if there are any other experts out here who can help us figure this out:

We are in the middle of launching a national network of sports sites using WP multisite and the majority of these sites will charge for subscriptions. I've been exploring a variety of solutions/plug-ins to handle this and this one looks promising. I do have some questions that I hope can be answered, though:

Throughout network, each site will have three sub levels:

Free/Basic
Premium
VIP
(Plus each site's forums will have a subset that only allows paid members of that specific site to get in)

1) Since we are a network of sites using multi-site, is it possible for members who pay for a subscription to site A can also get access to all the other sites on the network EXCEPT certain areas restricted for site members only? I.e. Site A has a private set of forums only for Site A members so that everyone else can't read them. The rest of the forums on Site A are open to all though.

2) Can each site have their own processor? Some of us use PayPal. Some use Authorize.net, etc. Is it possible to let each site handle their own this way but still provide access throughout the network?

3) In lieu of #2 above, maybe I need to expound a bit further -- it's our goal to have an national network of sites as in a co-op fashion where each site has their own subscription responsibilities i.e. merchant/processor, but ties into the network system so that customers at site A can access site B (except private forums as explained in #1). Is this possible?

Thanks!
Ray

This is a side issue and not really related to aMember, but I was wondering if any experts have any thoughts on the best forum integration to use with the above. I was looking at bbPress since it seems to fit right in with WP and would be easy to use.

We've used vBulletin for years and actually would prefer to keep that if it can be worked out as far as allowing each site to have their own subforums via a main national forum. Make sense?

Ray

Well we are using the subdomain set up on the multisite install. Ie. Site1.domain.com. Site2.domain.com. Would that be a problem?

Also each site has to be responsible for their own members etc so it might make more sense for them to each hav their own amember but it still ties into network?

Ray

The bbPress solution is not necessarily the best way to go. Go read the forums and you will see a house in disarray. The story is way too long to chronicle here, but there many issues that must be resolved before I would commit to this solution.

It is very likely that WordPress will offer a bbPress-like forum as a core plug-in at some point in the future. When that happens, and it is apparent that the plug-in will be supported, it would be a viable option.

You could theme a vBulletin installation to match the WordPress theme and it would be a reasonably transparent jump from one to another. A good example of this is the StudioPress site. It is a WordPress-powered site with the support forums powered by vBulletin.

With most WordPress sites, vBulletin and even SimplePress are just too "busy" and don't blend in with the site.

There may be a simple, clean solution in the very near future from a well respected WP coder, Justin Tadlock, He has become frustrated over the bbPress debacle and is building a forum plug-in that uses built-in WordPress features. You can follow the progress of this project at this link.

It sounds like vB can't handle a large amount of load anyway from what I've read. Our forums alone see an average of 2-4,000 new posts daily and now imagine several other sites piled upon that in a network install of Wordpress.

That's why I am taking a serious look at bbpress because it's lightweight and it does work with WP quite well. I know there's issues right now with the development of it but it does seem to be the best alternative in the short term... That can handle a large amount of traffic at the outset.

Ray