[note: If you rate this plugin 3 stars or less, please also take time to leave a comment explaining why. I want to further document or clarify the interface where needed. If it won't activate or you get php errors, maybe there is a plugin or theme conflict that your feedback could help me resolve. Let's be a mutually supportive community.]

Role Scoper is a comprehensive drop-in enrichment for WordPress content permissions. Broaden or narrow reading, editing or administrative access to selected users or groups on a page-specific, category-specific or other content-specific basis.

Scoped Role Columns in Manage Posts

Existing WordPress roles and anonymous reading capabilities are honored by default, but with Role Scoper can be:

  • supplemented with content-specific role assignment
  • disregarded if a section (category) or object (page/post) is marked exclusive

Scoped role requirements and assignments are reflected in every aspect of the WordPress interface, from front end content and navigation to administrative post and comment totals. Content administrators control who can view/edit/administer specified content, and what content anonymous users see.

Section and object roles can be set to propagate to child sections/objects. Create User Groups and assign roles to them. Choose whether unqualified front-end content is hidden or replaced with a customizable teaser. The object role assignment UI (a new tab in the Post/Page edit form) indicates where users have a role implicitly applied through another blog, section or object role assignment.

RSS output and XML-RPC editing also follow your scoped role assignments and requirements. Template functions are available to allow themes to format exclusive content and teasers distinctively. An extensive plugin API allows other plugins to define their own data sources, sections, capabilities and roles.

Role Scoper had its first public release on May 15th and has recently passed 1100 downloads. In these 2 months, the plugin has benefited greatly from an enthusiastic early core of users whose feedback has allowed me to flush out lots of bugs through 18 beta revisions. Role Scoper is not an easily documented set of useful new features, but a new layer underlying all your content editing and delivery. Some have found all the new knobs a little overwhelming. But if you really want to push for sophisticated access control or collaborative editing, there are some early success stories that might persuade you to take the plunge.

More screenshots, description, support forum and download on agapetry.net

note: Plugin WAS e-mailed to official address on 11:53 PM ET July 10th. - 11th hour debugging; sacrificing my sanity for yours :)