i think you may be talking about the buddy bar which was depreciated as of 1.6 there is (or least there was) a way to re-enable it using the bp-custom file code looks like this:
<?php
// hacks and mods will go here
add_filter( 'bp_use_wp_admin_bar', '__return_false' );
?>
i think the key to creating a successful community site is engagement so as long as you take the time to encourage that, if there is interest you will find it.
well if your theme says its buddypress compatible that means it was probably compatible before the universal compatibility was part of buddypress so to answer your question no you should not have to change anything, however i would check with your dev to ensure its been updated to work with 1.7 because there are some changes from 1.6 to 1.7 that could effect the legacy compatibility (at least there was for our theme).
it shouldn’t matter the order you install (i don’t think) but personally i would install buddypress first. i used the button to install bbpress from inside buddypress actually. But that was a while ago and i think i read somewhere thats not actually the best way to do it though. maybe someone else can chime in here who knows more then me.
your link is a 404, however i think you’d want tot report that to the theme developer rather then here since they are using custom bp styling. also your question should probably be directed towards the dev since any fixes would benefit all of his/her other customers as well.
bbpress only handles the forum aspects of your site, so if you only want forums but none of the other social network components there’s no need to install buddypress at all. Likewise if you do not want a forum but you still want the other stuff then bbpress is not required. Obviously if you want everything then you want both.
the problem is that the capabilities do not actually exist like they do for bbpress and wordpress maybe you should try to ask your questions after the next devchat. @jjj mentioned that they do want to add them at some point in the future perhaps you can pitch in if you are eager to make it happen.
not really super knowledgable about the exact structure of how buddypress is built but i suspect that may also be relatively difficult both capabilities are typically only available to super admins in a multisite environment so at least in that situation you would be granting your editors access to the network admin.
<?php
//hide superadmin
add_action("plugins_loaded","bpdev_init_sm_mode");
function bpdev_init_sm_mode(){
if(is_site_admin())
remove_action("wp_head","bp_core_record_activity"); //id SM is on, remove the record activity hook
}
?>
