[magnus]

Originally Posted by annieb

They should be able to add something in to the <CC Processor's name> script that
adds/removes the user to vbulletin as needed. It's more than just an
.htaccess though -- the user has to be added to the vbulletin database,
account confirmed, and all that. It should be fairly trivial for someone
who works with it regularly though.

Ok, good. So you do have access to manually manipulate the script yourself. As stated, this wouldn't be a huge undertaking to do what you're asking.

Originally Posted by annieb

That was the response from my hosting company. Frankly, I am worried about altering those scripts very much which is why I thought that my second solution - that somehow a mirror image of the board complete except with posting disabled - could be written from the members' area to the free area every few hours. This would solve the problem completely without the critical members' scripts ever needing to be touched. If the member's account is current he/she can get into the members area and post. If their account is canceled or declined, they can't get in.

This is a pretty convoluted way to do something that could be done much easier, IMHO. But, it all really boils down to what you want to do. Although, you would be required to have and maintain 2 vBulletin licenses to, legally, accomplish this.

Originally Posted by annieb

Also, I have a large and fully featured members' area, which includes art, movie clips, lots of things. I don't really see how it could be managed just through vbulletin...?

Easy. vBulletin is a PHP/MySQL based solution. It can, literally, do anything. There are already options, such as PhotoPost PHP which seamlessly integrates into vBulletin -- giving you the power to provide conditional access based upon vBulletin usergroups. Also, with vBulletin's template engine you can design things to look however you want. The only limit is your imagination, really.