WordPress MU

There doesn't seem to be a plugin for this, so I'm open to other options, including ideas for how to write this as my own plugin.

What I want to do is create a new group in Wordpress Mu, and then make it so only members of this group can view each other's blogs. I'm managing a bunch of students' blogs and the instructor wants to ensure that only members of his class can view each other's blogs and no one else can. I figured the best (and easiest) way to do this would be to utilize Wordpress Mu groups, but groups doesn't have this functionality (what's the point of a group, anyway?).

Does this even make sense? It's early and I need another cup of coffee ...

There's actually a plugin over on wpmudev for privacy selections. (At least there used to be) Can't use it for groups but you can set it to only allow those assigned to the blog (ie subscribers and above) to view it. All the rest will see the login box if they're not logged in or if they are logged in but not assigned to the blog in question.

Not a perfect fix but it's close.

That's exactly what I was going to suggest. It's called "more privacy options".

Nail on the head. Exactly how/why I use/maintain the plugin.
http://wpmudevorg.wordpress.com/project/More-Privacy-Options

I was considering this plugin, but it means I'd have to add everyone as a subscriber to everyone's blog by hand, correct? This is actually what I was trying to avoid. I was kind of hoping for a more automated way to do this.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

@dsader

What about "Community visible only to registered users/blogs owners" option? Which means that all blogs would be accessible only trough log-in form. "Community hidden for all users/blogs owners and visitors except top admin" option would also be nice. Well at least that's what I need.

"I would like my blog to be visible only to registered users from blog community" - any logged in Sitewide users sees the blog
"I would like my blog to be visible only to registered members of this blog" - must add users to blog as subscribers/contribs/authors/editor.
"I would like my blog to be visible only to administrators" - only SiteAdmin and Blog Admin see blog.(Boonika, if Blog Admin == SiteAdmin, you are done)

Lunsh, a place to start would be adding a piece of usermeta to each user that categorizes users(in the same way as DeannaS's plugin categorizes blogs by topic). Once users have the extra usermeta flag, it would be doable to add additional options to the privacy page. Tagging each user isn't automagic, either though, and in a school SiteAdmin would have to do that manually anyway. Maybe there is a sitewide groups plugin, I haven't looked.

Boonika, good idea to globally turn entire site into Users Only. I'll add the Option to the SiteAdmin-->Options page. Probably needs and "except Main blog" option, too.

Oh, I'm glad You like the idea. Btw, about this second option I've mentioned. I think it would be useful while Top WPMU Admin (or anyone else who is in charge) is upgrading whole (+ adding some core hacks) site. In that case, even the blog owners wouldn't be able to enter their blogs. Keep on rockin.

EDIT:
Hey D. On your site, part of the sentence bellow blog title "Emergency Medical Hologram" appears bellow that blue line, that is, on the white background above #content. In other words, almost invisible. I'm using Firefox 2 on my home PC.

I have a custom plugin that I have spent a lot of time developing that will do almost exactly what you need and can be modified.

However, it isn't free. If you are interested leave your email

boonika, added option for SiteAdmin-->Options: 'Site can be viewed by registered users of this community only. ' Download update zip.

Maintenance mode option isn't possible for me, if SiteAdmin logs out while option is in Maintenance mode . . . . major pain to recover. Maintenance mode is easier to manage by adding a custom index.html to root instead.

Thanks a lot dsader. I'll test it and let you know how it goes.

Works great. Amazing. Thanks.

I don't have the reason to do this right now.. but i think it's a great application Dsader!

I know this thread has turned to other things, but for the benefit of those who may ever have my problem, I'm just posting to say I found the solution. :) I ended up using dsader's plugin (which works fantastically, by the way), and then manually adding everyone to a group. From there, you can add the group as a subscriber, which will allow everyone in the group and only everyone in the group to view the particular blog.

To add a group as a subscriber, you need to go to each Dashboard. Click Users > Groups and add the group name.

What did you end up using to create the groups?