Overview
MHC Alumni Portal is a private community for the alumni of Mahfel Huq & Co. I built it at alumni.mahfelhuq.com as a place where former colleagues can share news, ask questions, follow each other and stay in touch. It is closed to the public: posts can only be seen by signed-in members, and accounts are created by an administrator, so there is no open sign-up.
What members can do:
- Post their thoughts, questions or news, and edit or delete their own posts
- Comment on posts, reply to comments and like posts
- Follow people whose posts help them, and get a bell notification for their new posts and for replies to their comments
- Search the member directory by name, partner, company or blood group, and open member profiles
- Keep a profile with a photo, designation, partner, ICAB number, registration period and blood group, and add company, position and address once their CC is complete
- Report any post that breaks the rules, so the administrators can review it
Only administrators can attach pictures and files (PDF, Word and Excel) to posts. A short set of community rules is shown to every member: respect each other, no spam or advertising, and no sharing of other people’s private details.
The Challenge
An alumni network only works if people feel safe sharing in it. The portal had to be private, simple enough for members who are not technical, and easy for a few administrators to manage and moderate.
Keeping it private. Posts are hidden from anyone who is not signed in. Every sign-in is checked twice: with the email and password first, then with a one-time code sent by email. The site also asks search engines not to index it.
Keeping it simple. The features follow what people already know from social networks: posts, comments, likes, follows and notifications. A plain welcome post explains each one in a few lines.
Keeping it well moderated. Members can report a post with one click, only administrators can attach files, and the community rules are visible to everyone.
What I Did
- Planned the member journey, from the sign-in page to the feed and the profile
- Built the complete portal as a custom community on WordPress, using Claude (AI) as a development partner
- Added the private sign-in with email, password and a one-time email code, and administrator-created accounts
- Built the feed with posts, comments, replies and likes
- Added follows with bell notifications
- Built member profiles and the searchable member directory
- Added post reporting and administrator controls
- Wrote the welcome post that explains the features and the community rules
The portal is private, so the community itself needs an account. You can see its sign-in page at forum.mahfelhuq.com.