eMember – Difference between WordPress Users and eMember Users

[fmarcwebpres]

I am not very familiar with WordPress as a whole. I understand that there are WordPress users (with their own table in the database) and there are eMember users (with their own table in the database, and a separate table for custom fields). I am pretty familiar with SQL and databases (and editing tables). I am less familiar with PHP, but I can write some code here and there.

What I am not understanding is:

Why would somebody need (or not need) to be a WordPress user versus an eMember user?

What can you do as a WordPress user that you can’t do as an eMember user?

What can you do as an eMember user that you can’t do as a WordPress user?

Is there an example of when it would be appropriate to create one type of user, but not the other?

[admin]

First of all, writing code or understanding SQL database is not necessary for you to use the plugin.

Most of our users prefer to have a clean site where they are not creating WP User entries. They don’t want the plugin to change/update core WordPress tables. For example, I like to have a site where I ONLY have one admin user as my WP user entry which is used for doing the admin activity of my site. I don’t want the membership functionality to also be tied to WP users. eMember does its own thing which doesn’t have any association with WP User entries. Everything emember does is contained within the plugin. Members accounts are created within the plugin. Members can log in from the front-end using eMember’s login form then get access to protected content. eMember’s content protection is based on the configuration you set for the membership level. It doesn’t touch other parts of WordPress or change/update WordPress’s core tables. If I was to delete the emember plugin and its tables then I will be left with a clean WordPress install that was exactly the same before I installed the plugin.

There are times when you want to associate memberships with WP user entries because you want to integrate with another plugin which uses WP users (for example if you were integrating the bbpress plugin). If you are setting up a site where you need that kind of functionality then you enable the following feature and emember handles that too:

https://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-membership/using-emember-with-another-plugin-that-uses-the-wordpress-user-roles-350

[fmarcwebpres]

You say “Members can log in from the front-end using eMember’s login form”…

Is there a difference between the eMember front-end and the WordPress front-end? (i.e., are they two distinctly separate things?)

If there is a difference:

Let’s say a user has an eMember account, but not a WordPress account. (Using the WordPress Integration Settings), would it be possible for a user to type their information into the WordPress front-end and be logged into eMember, even though they don’t have a WordPress user account?

Is eMember strictly for consuming content? For example, let’s say I had somebody that had an eMember user account but not a WordPress user account. Could that person be allowed to edit certain pages?

I guess I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around how there can be an “alternate” user list that seems to be “side-loaded” besides the “main/official” WordPress user list… unless you actually need a WordPress user account to actually do anything “inside” WordPress, and eMember is just for content control? That would make more sense…

[wzp]

Is eMember strictly for consuming content? For example, let’s say I had somebody that had an eMember user account but not a WordPress user account. Could that person be allowed to edit certain pages?

I guess I’m just having a hard time wrapping my head around how there can be an “alternate” user list that seems to be “side-loaded” besides the “main/official” WordPress user list… unless you actually need a WordPress user account to actually do anything “inside” WordPress, and eMember is just for content control? That would make more sense…

From the eMember product description…

https://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-emember-easy-to-use-wordpress-membership-plugin-1706?ap_id=TheAssurer

WordPress Membership Plugin – WP eMember

WP eMember lets you selectively protect articles by creating various membership levels (example: Free, Basic, Premium, Ultimate etc.) and protect the content (posts, pages, comments etc) of your site. The plugin manages all the membership management side of things.

So…

1. WP eMember is a WordPress “plugin.” That means it “sits on top of” the core WP system; adding functionality to it that previously didn’t exist.

    

2. The added functionality is the ability to protect content, with a finer granularity, than what can be achieved using the “regular” WP User/Role/Capabilities system.

    

Users versus Members:

1. WordPress Users, are people who actually use the site to perform duties; based on their assigned Roles & Capabilities.

    

2. eMember Members, are people who subscribe to the site’s content; based on the Membership Level they have subscribed to, or were assigned to.

    

3. Think of a print magazine. The inside Contents page lists the names of all the editors, authors, and contributors. This is analogous to the WP User list. The readers who subscribe to the magazine get their names printed on the mailing labels. This is analogous to the eMember Membership list. The 2 lists are separate, because they serve different purposes.

    

Does that clarify things more for you?

[admin]

eMember is just for content control.

[huotg01]

Thanks for this explanation, and “bravo” for your support forum functionalities.

I am a eMember newbie, and I had the exact same “question”. I then decided to write down in the forum a new topic about that question.

When filling the object of my question, I was suggested a few topics already answered, in particular this one…No more need to post a new topic…

Just what I needed!

Thanks.

[Author]

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