Answers.Body: <p>YES! - Having read your clarifying response to my previous comments, CiviCRM can absolutely do what you require.</p>
  
  <p>To restrict who can access which other users (i.e. when they search etc) you would need to do a (small amount) of custom work. Drupal might be a better platform for you that WordPress or Joomla! Future First is an example of a charity that has a custom "client portal" that allows a range of clients to search and send messages through CiviCRM (in their case CiviCRM is hidden from the user, although it does the majority of the leg work), although there are many others.</p>
  
  <p>As it sounds like you need some custom work done, my suggestion is that you contact one of the excellent CiviCRM Partner Organisations that can be found here: <a href="https://civicrm.org/partners-contributors" rel="nofollow">https://civicrm.org/partners-contributors</a>. They will also be able to help you arrange hosting, training, and do the minimum amount of customisation that your organisation needs.</p>
  
  <p>(I'd like to make clear that I am not a CiviCRM Partner Organisation nor do I get a commission :P)</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T19:11:47.080Z
Answers.Text: thanks for your guidance. We dont want to go to Drupal though, and Im not sure that we would need to restrict who can access other members for searches.
  So effectively CiviCRM can handle the access authentication for the whole site via wordpress / joomla, without needing separate login details for wordpress / joomla .. ?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Will
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T19:42:41.287Z
Answers.Text: and if we added a forum extension for example, would the authentication carry through to that to enable posting on bulletin boards etc ?
Answers.UserDisplayName: Will
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T20:33:16.730Z
Answers.Text: Civi wouldn't touch that. So if you went with WordPress, used BBPress for the forum, that would be independent of CiviCRM - so it would work fine, Civi would not be involved in that process.
  
  On the other hand, if you wanted their forum posts to appear in CiviCRM then you'd need a small customisation - which any of the partner organisations would be happy to provide and then share with the rest of  the world should they want it :)
Answers.UserDisplayName: JohnFF
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T21:37:40.740Z
Answers.Text: Im confused - so Civi data would not authenticate users in an attached forum extension to wordpress. 
  Im not clear on the log in authentication process - where is the validation taking place ...
  We want to have a single login to the site that will enable access to Civi and any other wordpress extension using user data from Civi - is that possible ?
  We dont want forum posts to appear in Civi :)
Answers.UserDisplayName: Will
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T23:02:12.740Z
Answers.Text: The difference here is between the CMS (WordPress) and the CRM (Civi): CMS (WordPress) handles content (i.e. blog posts, website pages, and forum content) and authentication (logging in and out, and what you can view with different permissions when you are logged in). CRM (Civi) handles contact groups (not to do with logging in), mailings (emails and SMS), membership statuses, event registrations and attendance, reports, contributions (donations etc), and storing other contact data like date of birth, email address, phone number, postal address, etc.
Answers.UserDisplayName: JohnFF
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-06T08:18:03.833Z
Answers.Text: I understand that aspect of it, but its the logging in experience I am confused about. I cant be explaining myself very well but ill try again ....  
  If I create a log in for myself to the site (CMS) and then subscribe as a member to the club (CRM) and then want to post on the forum with my club ID - how many user IDs and Logins do I need ...
Answers.UserDisplayName: Will
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-06T11:49:10.297Z
Answers.Text: Just the one - the one for your CMS. That will grant you whatever CiviCRM permissions are configured. There's no such thing as a Civi specific login.
Answers.UserDisplayName: JohnFF
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-06T15:04:54.980Z
Answers.Text: OK thanks for your help apologies for going around the houses :) 
  Ive contacted Circle Interactive
Answers.UserDisplayName: Will
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-06T16:38:55.787Z
Answers.Text: Not at all :) But if you could tick this answer as accepted that will help our points system. Good luck with the Civi install, post back here if you need anything!
Answers.UserDisplayName: JohnFF
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T17:23:40.040Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-04-05T17:23:40.040Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: JohnFF
Answers.Body: <p>Yes, CiviCRM can do all of these things.  It is also a very flexible system with a number of extensions that provide additional functionality that you may need in future.</p>
  
  <p>To get a better idea of what CiviCRM can do I would suggest that you read the <a href="http://docs.civicrm.org/user/en/4.6/" rel="nofollow">user guide</a> and try the one of the <a href="https://civicrm.org/demo" rel="nofollow">demo sites</a>.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T13:42:11.947Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-04-05T13:42:11.947Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: William Mortada
Answers.Body: <p>Agree with William, and on top of that you might also check some of the YouTube videos here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjSU7YfE0E03DWaWNTLemvtQR30PzcB_o" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjSU7YfE0E03DWaWNTLemvtQR30PzcB_o</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T15:03:52.373Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-04-05T15:03:52.373Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: ErikH - CiviCooP
Body: <p>Im a board member of an online social group. We are looking at updating our website and backend IT systems to include online registration, subscription management, member database, self managing profiles, event booking and payment and member interaction. Plus marketing options and email distributions.</p>
  
  <p>Is this what CiviCRM can help with ?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks for responses - am going through book.civicrm now.<br>
  I guess we are particularly interested to know if logging in to the wordpress or joomla based website via CiviCRM will authenticate access to other components like a forum, messaging and restricted / controlled page views etc. In other words can CiviCRM validate the whole site ?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T16:48:03.850Z
Comments.Text: Hi - welcome aboard! 
  
  I was hoping that you could clarify what you mean by "validate the whole site". You don't "log in" to CiviCRM - you log in to Joomla! or WordPress, which themselves have CiviCRM. CiviCRM can then be configured to allow access to bits of CiviCRM to certain levels of Joomla! or WordPress user (administrator, subscriber, etc).
  
  CiviCRM is a hugely flexible system, and will provide amazing, robust, scalable functionality for whatever you choose to embed with it. Post back here with any specific questions!
Comments.UserDisplayName: JohnFF
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2016-04-05T17:15:04.893Z
Comments.Text: Im not clear on which bit validates which! I want members of the club to be able to log in to our site and access events, search other members, make payments, access forums etc from one logon which is associated with their CRM profile and requires no additional admin overhead apart from group settings which would be part of their subscription level.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Will
Tags: <wordpress><acl><evaluating-civicrm><validation>
Title: Suitable for online social group?
ThreadText: # Suitable for online social group?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-05)
  
  Im a board member of an online social group. We are looking at updating our website and backend IT systems to include online registration, subscription management, member database, self managing profiles, event booking and payment and member interaction. Plus marketing options and email distributions.
  
  Is this what CiviCRM can help with ?
  
  Thanks for responses - am going through book.civicrm now.  
  I guess we are particularly interested to know if logging in to the wordpress or joomla based website via CiviCRM username_0 authenticate access to other components like a forum, messaging and restricted / controlled page views etc. In other words can CiviCRM validate the whole site ?
  
  **Tags:** wordpress, acl, evaluating-civicrm, validation
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Hi - welcome aboard!   I was hoping that you could clarify what you mean by "validate the whole site". You don't "log in" to CiviCRM - you log in to Joomla! or WordPress, which themselves have CiviCRM. CiviCRM can then be configured to allow access to bits of CiviCRM to certain levels of Joomla! or WordPress user (administrator, subscriber, etc).  CiviCRM is a hugely flexible system, and username_0 provide amazing, robust, scalable functionality for whatever you choose to embed with it. Post back here with any specific questions!  
  > **username_0**: Im not clear on which bit validates which! I want members of the club to be able to log in to our site and access events, search other members, make payments, access forums etc from one logon which is associated with their CRM profile and requires no additional admin overhead apart from group settings which would be part of their subscription level.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2016-04-05. Score: 1 | Accepted answer
  
  YES! - Having read your clarifying response to my previous comments, CiviCRM can absolutely do what you require.
  
  To restrict who can access which other users (i.e. when they search etc) you would need to do a (small amount) of custom work. Drupal might be a better platform for you that WordPress or Joomla! Future First is an example of a charity that has a custom "client portal" that allows a range of clients to search and send messages through CiviCRM (in their case CiviCRM is hidden from the user, although it does the majority of the leg work), although there are many others.
  
  As it sounds like you need some custom work done, my suggestion is that you contact one of the excellent CiviCRM Partner Organisations that can be found here: <https://civicrm.org/partners-contributors>. They username_0 also be able to help you arrange hosting, training, and do the minimum amount of customisation that your organisation needs.
  
  (I'd like to make clear that I am not a CiviCRM Partner Organisation nor do I get a commission :P)
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: thanks for your guidance. We dont want to go to Drupal though, and Im not sure that we would need to restrict who can access other members for searches. So effectively CiviCRM can handle the access authentication for the whole site via wordpress / joomla, without needing separate login details for wordpress / joomla .. ?  
  > **username_0**: and if we added a forum extension for example, would the authentication carry through to that to enable posting on bulletin boards etc ?  
  > **username_1**: Civi wouldn't touch that. So if you went with WordPress, used BBPress for the forum, that would be independent of CiviCRM - so it would work fine, Civi would not be involved in that process.  On the other hand, if you wanted their forum posts to appear in CiviCRM then you'd need a small customisation - which any of the partner organisations would be happy to provide and then share with the rest of  the world should they want it :)  
  > **username_0**: Im confused - so Civi data would not authenticate users in an attached forum extension to wordpress.  Im not clear on the log in authentication process - where is the validation taking place ... We want to have a single login to the site that username_0 enable access to Civi and any other wordpress extension using user data from Civi - is that possible ? We dont want forum posts to appear in Civi :)  
  > **username_1**: The difference here is between the CMS (WordPress) and the CRM (Civi): CMS (WordPress) handles content (i.e. blog posts, website pages, and forum content) and authentication (logging in and out, and what you can view with different permissions when you are logged in). CRM (Civi) handles contact groups (not to do with logging in), mailings (emails and SMS), membership statuses, event registrations and attendance, reports, contributions (donations etc), and storing other contact data like date of birth, email address, phone number, postal address, etc.  
  > **username_0**: I understand that aspect of it, but its the logging in experience I am confused about. I cant be explaining myself very well but ill try again ....   If I create a log in for myself to the site (CMS) and then subscribe as a member to the club (CRM) and then want to post on the forum with my club ID - how many user IDs and Logins do I need ...  
  > **username_1**: Just the one - the one for your CMS. That username_0 grant you whatever CiviCRM permissions are configured. There's no such thing as a Civi specific login.  
  > **username_0**: OK thanks for your help apologies for going around the houses :)  Ive contacted Circle Interactive  
  > **username_1**: Not at all :) But if you could tick this answer as accepted that username_0 help our points system. Good luck with the Civi install, post back here if you need anything!  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2016-04-05. Score: 4
  
  Yes, CiviCRM can do all of these things. It is also a very flexible system with a number of extensions that provide additional functionality that you may need in future.
  
  To get a better idea of what CiviCRM can do I would suggest that you read the [user guide](http://docs.civicrm.org/user/en/4.6/) and try the one of the [demo sites](https://civicrm.org/demo).
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2016-04-05. Score: 2
  
  Agree with username_2, and on top of that you might also check some of the YouTube videos here: <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjSU7YfE0E03DWaWNTLemvtQR30PzcB_o>
  
  
  ---
  
  