BuddyPress.org

This is how I allowed more HTML tags in my BP forums. Probably there are better ways, but this works for me. Hope it may help someone.

Problem:
Per default BP runs the content of forum topics through a filtering function, bp_forums_filter_kses( ) found in bp-forums/bp-forums-filters.php. This function adds some HTML tags to the _few_ allowed by wp_kses( ).

Effect:
Formatting, such as lists, are not displayed. The set of allowed HTML tags in forum topics is much smaller than in ordinary WP posts.

Solution:
In the functions.php of your theme, perhaps wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-themes/bp-default, add a function similar to the default one.
`function my_forums_filter_kses( $content ){

$forums_allowedtags = array(
‘a’ => array(
‘href’ => true,
‘id’ => true,
‘title’ => true,
‘rel’ => true,
‘rev’ => true,
‘name’ => true,
‘target’ => true,
),
‘abbr’ => array(
‘title’ => true,
),
…. and so on to your hearts contend
);
$forums_allowedtags = apply_filters( ‘bp_forums_allowed_tags’, $forums_allowedtags );
return wp_kses( $content, $forums_allowedtags );
}
remove_filter( ‘bp_get_the_topic_post_content’, ‘bp_forums_filter_kses’, 1 );
add_filter( ‘bp_get_the_topic_post_content’, ‘my_forums_filter_kses’, 1 );`

The last to lines removes the default, overly restrictive, filtering of forum topic posts, the second adds your own.

Disclaimer:
By defining your own set of allowed HTML tags you may be opening up for unwanted code being posted to your forums. Be conscious about what tags you allow.

Cheers
Mort3n