Creating A Multi-Writer Blog

Using native WordPress functiuonality it is very easy to create a controlled environment where multiple writers can add and publish posts on your blog.

Roles

The main technology behind this are WordPress roles.  As you add users to your blog, assign them to roles and this then controls if they can write blog posts and more importantly if they can publish them without your intervention.

Roles are available at users -> authors and users from yoru dashboard.

The Admin – I am the media moghul

This is the main user that is created when you install wordpress. it can do everything, from creating posts , publishing posts to doing technical tasks on the blog, we are note really interested in admins for multi writer purposes.

The Editor – Damn it, just write it up

This is the boss of your blog writers, this role shouts stop the press (or don’t click the publish button) can add content, publish it, delete it and have compelte editorial control of blog posts and pages.  They can delete old posts from anyone.

What the editor cannot do it effect technical aspects of your sitem ad plugins change themes that type of thing.

The Author – I cannot reveal my source

This role could be thought of as a staff writer on a national newspaper.  Your typical hack, cigarette out of the corner of his mouth, ringing his contacts, chasing the story dreaming of the Pulitzer, hang on did I just go off on one there.

This is someone you trust to write on your blog, they have writing and publishing permissions, the editor can cut them off at the knees with one swift unpublish click, but there stuff will go live without editorial intervention.

The Contributor – I write therefore I am

This is your lowest level of writer,  think of them as a freelancer on a newspaper, they write their piece and send it in to the editor for publication.  Contributors can login and write their blog posts and submit them for review, that is it.  they cannot delete their old posts that have been published or publish new posts.

If you have occasional guest posters, this may be the role for them, they add a post, then you review and decide if it is ready for publication.

The Subscriber – it must be true I read it on a blog

For completeness I thought I would add subscriber, this is the end reader with a twist, this is someone who has created an account on your site, think of this as someone who has a magazine regularly delivered, they have a little more access to your site than a casual purchaser of a magazine.  They cannot create posts.

Further reading

Here is a detailed description of the various WordPress roles in WordPress Roles Explained