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Experimented with different CMSs, including the 2 WP installs someone mentions (tour + member)
The best solution I found is ONE SINGLE WP install, for both member and guest.
It works this way:
1. All the content is behind .htaccess
2. Guests see the whole content available, except they can't download anything (and they see a join button instead of the download link - this is done with a custom script)
3. when you join, instead of the join button you see the "download" link. You also logged for the .htaccess protected area, behind the scenes.
4. it does not rely on the the WP login. i.e. members never see a wp login window, they only see a .htaccess (standard) login box - the one people are used to see on their browser. The custom script knows that if you are logged in to the .htaccess dir, then you are a member and you should be treated as such (no join button, welcome header with your member name etc, etc)
the advantages of this approach are:
1. transparent to the user. they know what they'll get before they join. /we have almost no chargebacks, probably also because of this.
2. moves away from a tired standard tour/join thingy, which I find very boring (probably many surfers too)
3. we leave comments on, for everybody. Community interaction even before you become a member.
4. your content is still all behind .htaccess.
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