[Shazar]

Hello – please advise if BP will be a suitable platform to establish a social network group which can be joined without an invitation from a member. Also we want to make a website/blog that can be posted to by any member – the topic is to be Unity in Diversity – and many of the members are likely to be very computer illiterate so the ability to post a blog post by them needs to be as simple as possible.
I have searched a lot in the forum, but so far not been able to make this decision and I am loathe to create the blog and then find that I may have to change platforms! Thanks for your help.

[pcwriter]

@Shazar

Joining a site running Buddypress can be as simple or as convoluted as you want to make it for potential members. There are quite a few plugins that can be implemented for captchas; authentification via other networks like Facebook, Google, etc; profile synchronization with other networks; custom login pages and much more. An example of the basic BP account creation process can be found on one of my sites here: http://buddylite.com/register/

The only thing I’ve added to the default registration process on BuddyLite is a simple math captcha called Buddypress Humanity: https://buddypress.org/community/groups/buddypress-humanity/
You can see a working example of one front-end post solution called TDO-Mini-Forms on the same site here: http://buddylite.com/buddybuilder-style-submission/ and the end results here: http://buddylite.com/category/custom-buddybuilder-styles/
You’ll need to login as a test user to see the form though… user = buzzer / pass = hellobirdie

On another site I’m currently working on, you can see an example of another front-end post form called Quick Post Widget: https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/quick-post-widget/
See it here: http://kwitterz.com/share-your-thoughts-with-all-kwitterz/
Again, you’ll need to login… user = pjohn / pass = gollysarge

Hope this helps to get you started!

[Shazar]

thanks SO much for your advice.. will check out the examples you gave.. its a minefield that I so easily get lost in .. looking for the best solutions especially when you are going to have members who are not experienced in any of this stuff. Many thanks again.. will take a good look at what you have done. Best wishes to you.