Dual Authentication Issue before buying - Please advise!

[b00tsauce]

Hey guys,

First off, I would just like to say AWESOME JOB for vB. I really really dig the potential power this whole thing has and I think this is what I REALLY needed in order to get my project up and running.

However, I have a pretty big question. Hopefully, Ill get through to someone over here with my post. Everyone seems to know what they're talking about. I just need some direction and confirmation to see if vB can do the things I want it to do for me.

Well, I started using vBulletin back in April 2003 and I started to fuss around with 2.2.9. I saw the potential in all of these hacks that were floating around in the msgboards on vb.org, I got hooked...also, at the same time, I got the paralysis of analysis for an upcoming big redesign+launch in the near future. Im considering using vBulletin as my core 'platform' for this website, with a LOT of modifications of course.

Basically, this website will feature a premium members login (paying membership) where these members can view a wide variety of instructional videos and insights (these will only be viewed by premium members). Keep in mind that the instructional videos will be handled with vB as well. So like when there's a new video or lesson that is to be posted, it will be posted with the vB interface...which basically comes back to the fact that I stated in a beginning of this post that the whole site will run on vBulletin/vBhome, etc. It isn't too important to talk about WHAT the site is about...the only thing that's important is the fact that there's a paying section.

Now since these instructional videos were meant to be coded with their own frontend and backend to the site, I decided to integrate vB users with the premium members (when they sign up). I wanted to make this so that I can show who are premium members and who are regular members. When a user signs up and pays the fee for the member's area, they will then get some kind of avatar of some sort that show that they are a premium member of this site (which also gives them access to videos and such).

Now my REAL question is:

How can I make vB interact and include my premium members along with all the msgboard members? In other words, can I make 2 different sets of users for the site? Premium members will go thru a signup process OTHER than vB (I think) so that they can input their credit card information with the credit card processor, etc etc. How would all of that work to make a premium member at the same time being a msgboard member? I hope I was clear enough on this one.

Maybe there's an example somewhere that I can check out...? Im sure a lot of you have seen some websites like this...?

Also, should I wait for the next release before buying this? Or does the membership work otherwise?

I'm ready to start on this right away, but I really really need to make sure about my questions above before I continue.

Cheers!