I've been hired to build a site for a large group of hobbyists who want a community site for their shared past time. While discussing the specifics and requests for their community, I've identified a number of specifics I need to clarify before I go forward with SquareSpace. I love the Squarespace system, but I'm hesitant that either v5 or v6 can serve my purpose and until I get some input from you wise folks I'm going to be considering my options.
I can't say what the hobby is or who the group is as they are planning a big launch for this community once the site is ready to go. NDAs have been signed and are enforced so I'm tightlipped at this point. However, I can say that there are thousands, possibly even 10,000 or greater numbers, of members. These members are split into groups, or 'teams' if you will, and they compete quite fiercely for status, innovation, awards, etc. etc. This is where my questions about Squarespace come into play. The general site design is no problem, but the control and access of individual member accounts to ONLY the pages they are allowed to edit/update/moderate is the cornerstone of this entire project.
So, to lay it out plainly....
Each team would be given a profile on the site, which would be made up of 3-5 pages, depending on the final design and input from the heads of their organization. One person on each team would be assigned as the profile moderator. This person would have the ability to change photos, update team info, update a calendar I'm building into each profile, add to their team blog, and so on and so on. No one else on their team would have the ability to edit the team profile (at least at this point). This profile moderator would have the ability to edit and update their profile pages only, and no other pages of any other teams, members, or the general site pages.
This is where my concern comes in about Squarespace. I have access to old v5 accounts that I rarely use anymore and can wipe the old site off to start with a fresh slate. The membership features in v5 are significantly more robust than v6 up to this point. However, even those features are limited to some structural rules that I have not found a way to move past yet. I'm stuck on the question of would I need to purchase an additional audience for each team so I could control their access to their profile pages or is that not necessary? Remember, I'm working with potentially thousands of teams, and the cost of having to purchase an additional audience for each of them would eliminate the Squarespace system from my choices in a heartbeat. If I'm able to lump large numbers of teams into an audience and still limit the pages that a team profile moderator can do anything on then Squarespace will be my system of choice.
If I were to try to do the same thing on the v6 system, I'm not certain that's possible. Are there more granular controls I have not yet located that would allow me to control an editor/moderator account so they can only edit the pages of their team profile, or is this simply not something v6 can handle in its current phase?
I have more thoughts and questions about this but I will start with this. I thank you for any advice, instruction, or direction you can provide in advance!
