Hi folks,
I need forum-like features on my current EE (2.1.3) site, and wondering if the EE Forum Module would be the right fit, how much of the below features come out-of-the-box, and how much i would need to customize.
My site is a trade portal. The forum-like section would enable homeowners (non-members) to ask questions of the tradespeople (members)
Features needed:
1. enable non-members (homeowners) to add new forum topics (moderated, of course). Require Country, State, Zip-code, First-name, Captcha, agree-to-terms.
2. when a new forum topic is submitted, an auto-email is sent to members (tradespeople) in Country and State.
3. members can sign-on to post to non-members (homeowner) forum topics
4. when members post, an auto-email is sent to non-member (homeowner) who originated the topic.
5. non-members (homeowners) can return to same topic to add posts via special URL that is sent via email after new topic is entered.
If I use the EE forum module, i would need to hide lots of functionality - to simplify it. But on the other hand, i may need to add some customizations. Could you help me gauge the pain factor here? Am I better off writing a custom module to do all this? I’ve written custom modules before.
Thanks much for your help,
Ron