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-   -   Subscription Application and Control Plugin Needed (http://forum.bytesforall.com/showthread.php?t=6727)

Tim-Beckwith Apr 14, 2010 08:37 PM

Subscription Application and Control Plugin Needed
 
I'm using Wordpress to support two websites. One is a personal opinions blog and the other supports and publicizes the activities of a non-profit advocacy group. I'm retired and building and operating these sites is largely a hobby for me. I'm definitely not out to make any real money out of these sites. Both sites are largely aimed at Californians; and not expected to be of any interest to people outside the U.S.

Given that background I'm really curious about the motives of visitors from outside the USA who try to register as a subscriber at either of my sites. Many of these attempts are clearly from would-be spammers who obviously have no interest in my content. Those are fairly easy to identify with anti-spammer tools I have installed.

But I realize not all foreign would-be subscribers have evil intentions. I, for example, am interested in motorcycles which can be driven by a person in a wheelchair (I'm an electric wheelchair pilot). One of the more interesting ones I've found is made in the UK. So I'm interested in keeping up on its development. And it just might be that someone in China is interested in a native's views on California politics.

For now I have disabled the ability of site visitors to subscribe to my sites. What I would like to find is a plugin which would present a person trying to subscribe with a questionnaire about why they want to. Based on my satisfaction with the answers received I could then decide whether or not I welcomed my new subscriber or kindly declined their subscription. I haven't been able to find such a plugin. Does anybody have any suggestions or ideas?

acommonreader Apr 15, 2010 12:50 AM

I think what you're asking for (a pre-subscription questionnaire) is probably going to be a rather unique requirement and I would be very surprised if any of the existing plugins provide that functionality.

I'm not too sure why you want to be so selective about your subscribers anyway - they don't cost you anything, and unless your site is private, they could just enrol for the RSS feed anyway - so you're not exactly blocking them by refusing to let them subscribe.

I've run subscribe2 for some time and I don't see how it serves the interest of spammers to subscribe to my site. Subscribe2 makes new people check their inbox and click on a link before their subscription is validated and bulk spammers would not be interested in doing that.

I'd be inclined to use a good plugin like subscribe2 which gives you total control over your subscribers and put your curiosity to one side - I suspect many of your potential subscribers wouldn't want to fill in a questionnaire anyway.

Tom
www.acommonreader.org

Tim-Beckwith Apr 15, 2010 12:41 PM

Tom --
Your points are well taken and I really appreciate you taking the time to share them. But I don't think it's unreasonable to ask people WHY they want to be a subscriber to my site. Is there something there that particularly appeals to them? If so, what is it? Perhaps it's something I should do more of. And if they can get a regular feed of my postings without becoming a subscriber (and I'm not sure if that is so, I guess I'm missing something here), then why become a subscriber?
I have visited sites where I had to complete a questionnaire before I could become a subscriber/commenter. So it's not so alien to me. But, no, it was not a Wordpress site but a hand-crafted HTML political site.
Before I leave, though, I really need to compliment you on your Wordpress Atahualpa site! I really like it. The content, the layout, the whole presentation! I've bookmarked it so I can come back often. And I can see why yours would have more of a universal appeal then mine. I find your site (http://acommonreader.org/ ) to be a true inspiration to those of us who are just sort of starting out. Good job!


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