Isn't s2Member useless without RSS blocking?

[crowden]

I'm having some definite trouble with the concept here. I've set up my site and blocked particular categories. But it's the work of an instant to go to google.com/reader, ask to subscribe to the site, and get all the content that's protected "within" the site but not, apparently, from google. I can't see anything to block this in the software. Am I missing it or is this just a huge hole in the whole program?
Thanks
Crowden

[Jason Caldwell]

Hi Crowden. Thanks for reporting this.
No, you're not missing anything. However, s2Member does NOT protect feeds (yet), because I'm still looking into the best possible way of handling this. Most sites are designed to release "excerpts" within their feeds, and under most circumstances, it is NOT desirable to block access to any feed, because that would prevent spiders/bots/crawlers from gaining access to your feeds ( like Google for instance ).

So long as you're releasing "exceprts" and not the whole article, s2Member's protections are fine, because the Post/Page that is being released in a feed ( in excerpt format ), is still protected through its Permalink on-site.

However, I do realize this is a potential security hole, and depending on how you're releasing your feeds, and on what you're restricting access to exactly, it can either be a tiny hole, or a huge hole.

I'm open to suggestions. Please chime in here if you have an opinion.
I'll try to address this in the very next release.

[gwc_wd]

I'm open to suggestions. Please chime in here if you have an opinion.

Blocking feeds is very important to one of my key projects. But I wouldn't want work on it to distract from other core objectives you've settled on.

Right now I'm using function.php edits from BP support forums:

Code: Select all

function bp_remove_feeds() {
   remove_action( 'wp', 'bp_activity_action_sitewide_feed', 3 );
   remove_action( 'wp', 'bp_activity_action_personal_feed', 3 );
   remove_action( 'wp', 'bp_activity_action_friends_feed', 3 );
   remove_action( 'wp', 'bp_activity_action_my_groups_feed', 3 );
   remove_action( 'wp', 'bp_activity_action_mentions_feed', 3 );
   remove_action( 'wp', 'bp_activity_action_favorites_feed', 3 );
   remove_action( 'wp', 'groups_action_group_feed', 3 );
}
add_action('init', 'bp_remove_feeds');

As you know very well now <big smile> I'm no coder, but maybe similar code could be added as part of s2Member as a config option? It would save re-editing after upgrades.

FWIW, I've already found s2Member to be of enormous value without the rss feature. The biggest value-challenge I face with it is controlling my imagination with the all the possible applications. It's my "shiny object syndrome" that makes it tough to stick with the task at hand because a shiny new idea to use s2M occurs to me.

If people really need ideas on how to use it, I can fill a few pages of this forum with suggestions that most forum members would probably find terribly obvious <laugh>. So how useful it is might be rather more a reflection of the craftsman than the tool.

I just love this piece of work.

[Jason Caldwell]

Thank you VERY much for the kudos! As I said before, I'm very open to all ideas. I have some initial work completed on this topic, and I'm in hopes it will be ready in the next release. I'll definitely consider your example before we release the final work. ~Again, thank you very much!

[Jason Caldwell]

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.
Please take a look at s2Member v3.2.3+.

= 3.2.3+ =
* New Feature - "Alternative View Protection".
Check your Dashboard: `s2Member -> General Options -> Alternative View Protection`.
This new feature deals with some long awaited (protection) for things like: search results, RSS/XML feeds, and custom queries; where excerpts of protected content may slip through, depending on your theme. This feature is NEW, and still in an experimental state. It is disabled by default, but we encourage you to try it with different settings, and report back to us through the support forums for s2Member.

[Deyson]

Is there a way to remove the shortcodes from the RSS feed?

Thank you !