WordPress MU

Hey all,

I have a basic, primarily opinion-based question about whether I should use Wordpress or Wordpress Mu for my intended site. Not being flamed would be much appreciated =)

I'm looking to build a site akin to http://www.DailyKos.com

In particular, I'm interested in the "Recent Diaries" and Ratings-defined "Recommended Diaries" sections along the right sidebar of Daily Kos.

All it requires is that users be allowed to register, post their own blogs, and for those blogs to be fed into a block on the right sidebar. Above that block will be a "hot topics" block, which will port the highest-rated blogs from the users into that block.

If you're familiar with Scoop (http://scoop.kuro5hin.org/) or Soapblox (http://www.soapblox.net/blog/frontPage.do), that sort of user-generated content turnover is what I'm looking to achieve. I know that most of this functionality can be accomplished with PlugIns, and I know that a regular WordPress install that allows users to register can accomplish the non-individualized blogs.

My question is, which version would be best for this simplistic kind of aggregated user generated content? I prefer not to allow users to theme their own posts (as on DailyKos.com), and the site I'm launching (entertainment-based), will likely have hundreds of users on it.

Do I need WordPress Mu and all the extra functionality, even if I won't use it -- or will a single Wordpress install be able to handle the user load and feeds?

Thanks so much,
mark.

(p.s. I am very familiar with Wordpress, CSS, and such. I'm just wondering whether Mu is appropriate for a simplistic site.)

This is a totally reasonable question. If you're already familiar with WordPress as a "programming platform" then you'll find that MU is pretty comparable... After all, MU is essentially X instances of WordPress. The abstraction added by MU can be thought of as adding a meta layer of the "blog" object into your information hierarchy.

In wordpress, yes, you can have hundreds or thousands of "authors" on a single blog. Although I've never dug too deep into it, I believe that if you get your "roles" set up correctly, you could control the ability for those authors to only submit stories, or edit their own stories, or if you give them editor or admin control, manage other peoples stories as well. So, wordpress gives you some pretty detailed control over what some blog contributors can do vs what others can do.

The blog abstraction gives you the ability to bucketize posts and pages and authors into "groups". That group can be managed differently, it can have a different theme (you say you don't want this feature, ok), but it can also manage other administrative aspect differently.

So I guess my advice would be: think about how you administrate a blog... do you want to give that control to all of your contributors? If there is a clear line in your mind about what you want people to be able to control, and that matches the existing roles of wordpress, then I'd say you could use wordpress. But I think that you'd have more flexibility in the long run if you used MU.

You can always turn off the theme menus in MU.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for your reply Zappo.

In case anyone who reads this is curious, I have decided on Mu, for the reason of keeping the user roles simple and not bound to the "main" blog. I think if users just log into the "main" Wordpress install, which controls the entire site, they will be confused about what they can/should do -- especially if they're not allowed to do anything but author posts.

Also, on a purely philosophical note, the reason I'm turning off the ability for users to Theme their own blogs is, I believe that if their posts are the same style as the larger website, it fosters more of a sense of community, and they feel more like they're contributing to the whole, rather than just being on their own. Plus, I don't want non-authoring visitors to be confused if, when they click on a "Recommended Topic," the theme of the entire site changes.

I think the functionality of allowing users to theme their own blogs is fantastic, and what the WordPress community has done with Mu is amazing. But another option is to have the users author their posts "within" the larger site, so they feel like they're actually writing *for* the main website. This is also a great (and addictive) way to create a community. Just think about what your users will like the best, and give it to them!