Best way to create Member Discussion Groups System?

TownFish

I'm looking for the best way to create a group system on my forum where members can choose from a list of predefined groups created by admin, or even create their own member groups (public and private). When members view the discussion list in a group they can see which other members belong to the group. They can also search for other groups, ideally by postcode as I'd like to be able to title tag all groups with a postcode.

Would it be best to develop as a custom Group plugin or is there a current or easier way to do this?

R_J

At least for the groups and membership part there is already an infrastructure:

http://vanillaforums.org/addon/groups-plugin
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/memberships-plugin

Maybe looking at a fork of them is helpful:

https://github.com/lifeisfoo/Groups
https://github.com/lifeisfoo/Memberships

TownFish

Thanks @R_J I had noticed those plugins but also noticed they were added in 2011 so wasn't sure if they were too dated?

Would these work on 2.1 or will they need updating?

R_J

I don't know. Look here for an answer: http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/26703/plugins-themes-that-work-and-dont-work-in-vanilla-2-1
If you can't find them there, try them and add your insights to that discussion