Answers.Body: <p>tl;dr: start by <a href="http://book.civicrm.org/" rel="nofollow">reading the book</a> :)</p>
  
  <p>I think the most important thing for you to know at this point is that Civi is a <em>tool</em> not a complete <em>solution</em>. You'll get out of it what you put into it.</p>
  
  <p>It's certainly possible to do those things by combining CiviCRM with other tools (namely Drupal or Wordpress + plug-ins), and if you do your homework and put in the time to craft the final product it could be perfect. Or if you don't, it could be a mess.</p>
  
  <p>Here's an analogy to your requirement:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>I want to purchase a blender that can make healthy, delicious smoothies full of organic fruit, yoghurt or non-dairy milk (depending on the user's preference) and supplemental protein and/or vegetable powders. I want to be able to serve these beverages in tall, ice cold glasses to about a dozen friends on a weekly basis.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Well, if you know what you're doing, get the right ingredients, assemble it correctly (important: <em>put the lid on!</em>), and combine the final product with the right serving containers, yes your blender can do that (although one might argue that <em>you</em> are making the smoothies, not the blender). If you don't, it'll probably just make a mess all over your kitchen floor and ceiling.</p>
  
  <p>But I digress about blenders. From your description it sounds like you are wanting to build a basic social networking site. CiviCRM doesn't do that at all. But if you use Drupal or WP to build a site with the social networking features you need, plugging CiviCRM into it can give you some additional features like mailing lists, fundraising tools, paid membership management, among others. If you don't need those things and just want a basic social networking site, then you probably don't need CiviCRM.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-11-19T17:00:44.027Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-11-19T22:10:13.733Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2015-11-19T22:10:13.733Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Coleman
Answers.Body: <p>The demo has been down for most of the day today (11/19/15). And if you really want to test CiviCRM functionality you should create a sandbox (testing instance) for your self. <a href="https://bitnami.com/stack/civicrm" rel="nofollow">Bitnami's CiviCRM</a> installer is an easy and fast way to get started.</p>
  
  <p>I think the biggest hurdle you're going to face, is to control what your users can do, for example allowing a user to manage their own events only and not allow them to edit other users' events. I suggest reading this <a href="https://civicrm.org/blogs/mizi/the-salvation-army-echelon-managing-multiple-chapters-within-one-site" rel="nofollow">case study</a>. Getting this sort of functionality is not going to be out-of-the-box and you will need a significant amount of help.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-11-19T22:57:06.303Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-11-19T22:57:06.303Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Sanjay Jain
Answers.Body: <p>You also might want to consider something like the Organic Groups module that integrates with Drupal (<a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/og" rel="nofollow">https://www.drupal.org/project/og</a>). It is very flexible, but needs some work and knowledge to set it up for your individuals needs.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-11-24T19:50:08.853Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-11-24T19:50:08.853Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: desierto
Body: <p>A friend of mine recommended CiviCRM to me as I am looking for a simple solution that helps me create an online platform able to inspire, initiate, facilitate and implement social bottom-up change. </p>
  
  <p>I am looking fo a space that allows me to create a community in which every member is able to initiate their own projects, connect with members, invite members to join projects, create events etc. </p>
  
  <p>I was trying to check out the demo of the system but could not enter and only got an error. Is there a chance to maybe find a introduction video, a different link to a demo or somebody who could maybe explain better to me what the system you have can do and how I could use it for the creation of the platform?</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2015-11-19T18:41:43.467Z
Comments.Text: What would a 'project' look like or consist of?
Comments.UserDisplayName: petednz - fuzion
Tags: <wordpress><installation>
Title: I am a bit lost on CiviCRM's functionality
ThreadText: # I am a bit lost on CiviCRM's functionality
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-11-19)
  
  A friend of mine recommended CiviCRM to me as I am looking for a simple solution that helps me create an online platform able to inspire, initiate, facilitate and implement social bottom-up change.
  
  I am looking fo a space that allows me to create a community in which every member is able to initiate their own projects, connect with members, invite members to join projects, create events etc.
  
  I was trying to check out the demo of the system but could not enter and only got an error. Is there a chance to maybe find a introduction video, a different link to a demo or somebody who could maybe explain better to me what the system you have can do and how I could use it for the creation of the platform?
  
  **Tags:** wordpress, installation
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: What would a 'project' look like or consist of?  
  
  ---
  
  ## 3 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2015-11-19. Score: 2
  
  tl;dr: start by [reading the book](http://book.civicrm.org/) :)
  
  I think the most important thing for you to know at this point is that Civi is a *tool* not a complete *solution*. You'll get out of it what you put into it.
  
  It's certainly possible to do those things by combining CiviCRM with other tools (namely Drupal or Wordpress + plug-ins), and if you do your homework and put in the time to craft the final product it could be perfect. Or if you don't, it could be a mess.
  
  Here's an analogy to your requirement:
  
  > I want to purchase a blender that can make healthy, delicious smoothies full of organic fruit, yoghurt or non-dairy milk (depending on the user's preference) and supplemental protein and/or vegetable powders. I want to be able to serve these beverages in tall, ice cold glasses to about a dozen friends on a weekly basis.
  
  Well, if you know what you're doing, get the right ingredients, assemble it correctly (important: *put the lid on!*), and combine the final product with the right serving containers, yes your blender can do that (although one might argue that *you* are making the smoothies, not the blender). If you don't, it'll probably just make a mess all over your kitchen floor and ceiling.
  
  But I digress about blenders. From your description it sounds like you are wanting to build a basic social networking site. CiviCRM doesn't do that at all. But if you use Drupal or WP to build a site with the social networking features you need, plugging CiviCRM into it can give you some additional features like mailing lists, fundraising tools, paid membership management, among others. If you don't need those things and just want a basic social networking site, then you probably don't need CiviCRM.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2015-11-19. Score: 1
  
  The demo has been down for most of the day today (11/19/15). And if you really want to test CiviCRM functionality you should create a sandbox (testing instance) for your self. [Bitnami's CiviCRM](https://bitnami.com/stack/civicrm) installer is an easy and fast way to get started.
  
  I think the biggest hurdle you're going to face, is to control what your users can do, for example allowing a user to manage their own events only and not allow them to edit other users' events. I suggest reading this [case study](https://civicrm.org/blogs/mizi/the-salvation-army-echelon-managing-multiple-chapters-within-one-site). Getting this sort of functionality is not going to be out-of-the-box and you will need a significant amount of help.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2015-11-24. Score: 1
  
  You also might want to consider something like the Organic Groups module that integrates with Drupal (<https://www.drupal.org/project/og>). It is very flexible, but needs some work and knowledge to set it up for your individuals needs.
  
  
  ---
  
  