In brief, my client is a public library that offers ESL classes on Zoom, and they have been having a problem with out-of-district folks joining the classes.
They need a solution that ensures only residents with current library cards participate in these classes.
The current proposed solution is to use MemberPress to hide the Zoom links behind a LOGIN wall of the web site.
My concerns are:
1. The site is hosted on WordPress.com, and the MemberPress plugin is not listen in the ADD NEW section. (We can upload custom plugins, but its lack of presence on the official listing gives me pause.)
2. MemberPress is $200-400/yr, and as you may know, small local libraries have similarly small budgets.
3. Hiding the link on the WP site doesn’t prevent someone with the URL from sharing it. And then anyone with the link can then enter the Zoom chat.
So for the costs involved, this seems like a half-measure solution.
Before anyone asks, my suggestion for the simplest solution to the problem — that you just have the Zoom moderator ask everyone who joins to show their current library card, and if they can’t, they get booted — was rejected (for reasons undisclosed to me).
As I’m having misgivings, I thought I’d post here and ask for thoughts from the community.
– Is there a better way to solve this problem?
– And if not, is MemberPress the best solution, or is it too large an investment for this small-scale problem?