Private Professional Forum (UK - Discourse

Purpose
A private, invitation-only discussion forum for UK healthcare professionals (~120–200 users) to discuss professional topics, share anonymised clinical reflections, and access shared resources.

2. Platform
Preferred: Discourse (self-hosted)
Alternative: NodeBB (if justified)

3. Hosting Requirements
● VPS hosting (Linux-based)
● Minimum 2–4 GB RAM
● Domain connected with SSL (HTTPS required)
● Automated or semi-automated backups

4. Access Control
● No public browsing of content
● Registration disabled or invitation-only
● Manual admin approval required for all users
● User roles:
● Administrator (full control)
● Moderator (content moderation tools)
● Member (standard access)

5. Core Features
5.1 Discussion System
● Categories and subcategories
● Topic creation and replies
● Threaded discussions
● Tagging system (optional)
5.2 Notifications
● Email notifications required for:
● New topics in watched categories
● Replies to watched topics
● Replies to user’s posts
● Digest emails (daily/weekly configurable)
● Optional real-time notifications (if supported)
5.3 User Profiles
Fields required:
● Name
● Job title
● Organisation
● Professional background (dropdown)
● Region
● Biography
● Profile image
5.4 Member Directory
● Searchable by:
● Profession
● Region
● Organisation
5.5 Resources Section
● Admin upload of:
● PDFs
● Word documents
● Guidance documents
● Organised in categories

6. Moderation & Governance
● Users can report posts
● Moderators can:
● Edit posts
● Delete posts
● Suspend users
● Audit trail of moderation actions (preferred)
● Terms of use and confidentiality agreement enforced at signup

7. Security & Compliance
● HTTPS enforced
● GDPR-conscious configuration
● Regular backups
● No public indexing (robots blocked)
● Data stored in UK/EU preferred hosting location

8. Email System
Integration with:
● Mailgun or Brevo
Requirements:
● Reliable transactional email delivery
● Low spam rate
● Configured DKIM/SPF

9. Branding
● Custom logo
● Custom colour scheme
● Simple professional UI

10. Handover Requirements
● Admin access provided
● Short written guide (basic operations)
● Explanation of backup and update process