How do I give my subscribers their own private area?
You want one room of your forum kept for the people who pay you. Bernard sets it up from your contacts, so you never manage members inside the forum.
The prompt
“In my forum, make [room] for my [tag] subscribers only. Show me who will be able to see it before you change anything.”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
The four steps, in one conversation
- Tag your subscribers. In your contacts, give everyone who should be in the room the same tag. The room’s own name works well as the tag, for example “NOBLEART DISCUSSION GROUP”. Bernard can tag a list of people for you.
- Link the tag to the room’s group. Each private room has one group, named after the room. Bernard links your tag to it. Before anything changes, he shows you how many contacts carry the tag, how many are already forum members and join now, and how many are not forum members yet.
- Keep the room to that group. Bernard sets the room so only the group can see it. Everyone else, including your other members, no longer sees the room at all.
- Check. Ask who can see the room, or which rooms one person is in.
If some of the tagged people are not forum members yet, Bernard offers to let them all in at once: see How do I let my whole member list into the forum at once?.
From then on
The room follows your contacts. Tag a new subscriber and they are in the room within a minute. Remove the tag and they lose the room; their posts stay. A person who has been let in but has not signed in yet joins their rooms the first time they sign in.
When someone stops paying
Removing their tag takes them out of the private room. If you would rather they keep reading, give them a second tag (for example “Lapsed members”), link it to its own group, and ask Bernard to let that group read the room but not post. Their earlier posts stay either way.
Checking it worked
“Which rooms is [email protected] in?” gives the rooms Jane can see, and why: open to every member, public, or in a private group because of a tag. Can some areas of my forum be public and others for paying members only? explains the three kinds of room, and Can each of my courses have its own discussion room? does the same for course students.
Questions people ask
- Do I manage people in the forum or in my contacts?
- In your contacts. Tag a new subscriber and they are in the room within a minute. Remove the tag and they lose the room. Nobody can put themselves into a private room.
- Can a room be filled straight from my membership or a course?
- Not yet. For now, tag the people. When filling a room from a membership or a course arrives, the room will not need setting up again.
- Is an email sent when I link a tag to a room?
- No. Linking a tag sends nothing. Letting new people into the forum can send each of them one sign-in email, and Bernard asks for your approval before it sends any.
- What happens to someone’s posts when they leave the room?
- Their posts stay where they are. Leaving a room never deletes anything.