Easier Communities by Andrew Hill
Run a community with discussion spaces, courses, events, member profiles, points and paid memberships at an address on your WordPress site.
Paid plugin; a valid Freemius licence is required.
Install and configure
Upload and activate the plugin and activate its Freemius licence. In Settings → Permalinks, use a structure other than Plain. Open Community to choose the community name, address, logo and colour. Save, then visit the community address. Its own layout is designed to work independently of the theme.
In Community → Settings, the Site-wide tab can make the community the whole site. Use Community → Communities to create another community at its own address. Members keep one WordPress login and can switch between communities they have joined. Back up before upgrading from version 1; its community becomes the first community and retains its address.
Create spaces and joining rules
Open Manage in the community and create your discussion spaces. Choose public, members-only or hidden visibility as appropriate. Set joining to open, approval-required or closed and decide whether a member’s first post needs moderation. Test with a separate ordinary member account: administrator access can conceal mistakes in access rules.
Use space groups to organise topics. Create invite links and joining questions when appropriate. Each community has its own content, memberships and moderators; test access separately for each one.
Post and participate
Members can write formatted posts, upload images, embed supported YouTube/Vimeo videos and mention other members. Comments support one level of replies, likes and moderation controls. Pin useful announcements and lock discussions when replies should stop. Use search and latest/newest/most-liked sorting to find content.
Version 2 also supports polls, file attachments, uploaded video and scheduled posts. Members can follow or block others. Private messages can be switched off. Administrators can read all conversations in wp-admin, and members are informed of this; explain this clearly in your own privacy notice.
Build the classroom
Create courses, split them into modules and lessons, and add video and text. Choose membership restrictions or a points-level requirement when access should be limited. Log in as a test member to check the course is visible to the intended audience and that lesson completion updates progress.
Lessons can include downloads, discussion and quizzes with a pass mark. Configure drip release for a number of days after joining and completion certificates where required. Verify timing and completion using a test member.
Events and points
Create an event with its date, time and joining details. Member-only joining links should be checked while signed out as well as signed in. Members can add events to their calendars. Likes on posts and comments contribute points; customise the nine level names and review the 7-day, 30-day and all-time leaderboards.
Events can repeat weekly, fortnightly or monthly, support RSVPs and send an email reminder. Configure badges manually or with the available activity, points, level, course or membership-duration rules.
Memberships and Stripe
Create free, monthly, yearly or one-off memberships. Use Community → Payments for the built-in Stripe setup guide. Add the correct keys, configure the webhook shown by the plugin, enter its signing secret and set up the customer billing portal. Use Check Stripe connection. Test purchases, restricted content and portal cancellation in Stripe’s test environment before enabling real payments. The plugin licence and your members’ paid memberships are separate things.
Version 2 additionally offers weekly, quarterly and six-monthly billing, fixed-length access, trials and promo codes. Restrict WordPress posts, pages, categories or tags when required. Follow Community → Settings → Payments for the current Stripe instructions. Test webhook delivery and membership cancellation before taking live payments.
Manage and moderate members
Community → Members supports search, approval, membership access and member editing. Moderators can review reports and pending content. Muting makes a member read-only; suspension blocks community access. Set an end date and reason where appropriate. Hiding removes a member from public lists while retaining membership. Removal and content deletion have different consequences: read the confirmation before acting. Administrators can assign member/moderator roles; moderators cannot change other moderators. Review the Moderation log for actions and expiry events.
Community → Reports shows revenue and membership activity. Export members and payments to CSV, or import members from CSV after checking a small sample. Webhooks can connect supported membership and payment events to other services; keep any webhook secrets private.
Privacy, backups and troubleshooting
Member photos and community records are stored on your site; payments use Stripe. The plugin integrates with WordPress personal-data export and erasure tools. Back up the database and uploads before updating. If the community URL returns 404, save Permalinks and review the configured address. If paid access fails, inspect the Stripe connection and webhook results. Deleting the plugin normally retains data; the RSC_DELETE_DATA developer setting deliberately enables removal and should not be used during a rename.
Email addresses and phone numbers are blocked in community content and private messages; suspicious contact requests and outside links may be flagged for review. Review your installed analytics and cookie-banner plugins separately, since they can still run within the community.