http://buddydev.com/join

Ive tried to join this site for help with the cosmic buddy theme. However when I try join it gives an error :

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ‘,’ or ‘;’ in /home/bpdev/public_html/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-core/bp-core-signup.php(104) : runtime-created function on line 1

Warning: call_user_func_array() [function.call-user-func-array]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback, ” was given in /home/bpdev/public_html/wp-includes/plugin.php on line 395

With regards to my site, The problem Im looking for help with is this :

On the group page, there is no text box to post activity into :

http://www.community.real-whitby.co.uk/groups/whitby-whites/

[@chouf1 Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

Brajesh Singh

[@whitbyglennk Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

how do we get the message to him that his site isnt working at the moment.

[@sbrajesh Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

@whitbyglennk
I am working on the site at the moment. So you may not be able to register and It will be working fine by today evening.

For your issue, Cosmic Buddy does not allows posting to group activity stream.

[@whitbyglennk Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

So what do I need to do to get it working ?

[@rogercoathup Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

@whitbyglennk

If you post this on the job board on here, you should be able to hire a developer who’ll rework the Cosmic Buddy theme for you

[@whitbyglennk Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

Is there no way I can do this myself ?

Failing that though I will go to the job board, a good suggestion, thankyou.

[@hnla Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

If you ask Brajesh nicely when his site is back up and running he may help you with the theme, even though it’s a free theme. however as Roger says any more detailed adjustments customisations may be best handed to a developer to carry out for you.

[@whitbyglennk Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

Is it really difficult to do this type of thing ? I dont mind opening files and adding code. I guess if you dont try you dont learn but I just need some guidance.

[@whitbyglennk Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

Anybody help ?

[@hnla Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

You need to address this to the author of the theme.

[@whitbyglennk Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

I spent all day yesterday installing this theme and making it look nice on the home page, I then browsed around to find that inside the theme there is a lack of functionality such as no activity streams in group, poor css making pages look messy, no new topic buttons in the forums. Then you start to look for assistance and its hard to get, then you find the theme author offers a premium version of the theme and a membership group with ongoing subscriptions. If I had known this before I started I wouldnt have bothered.

Is it just me or are others finding it a little annoying that buddypress seems to be not in the keeping of the wordpress ethos of free software for all. Everyone seems to want to make money from it, which is fair enough at the right price, but monthly subscriptions have you by the balls.

Is there anyone out there who makes a nice free theme or a premium theme with upgrades at one off fee or an acceptable yearly fee ?

[@rogercoathup Participant 14 years, 2 months ago]

Glenn… there is nothing new in charging for premium themes, it’s not a BuddyPress phenomenon… there are hundreds of people selling premium themes for WordPress (e.g. WooThemes, ThemeForest, …), and even more sites that are completely bespoke developments costing many thousands of pounds.

If you don’t like what people are providing you for free, you don’t have to use their work. If you don’t like the price of their paid for work, don’t buy them. You can take the bp-default theme for free and extend it as you want.

As I explained in one of your other threads about availability of themes, BuddyPress is extremely difficult to create distinctive generic themes for – it’s no wonder that some people charge a few pounds for their themes.

[@anonymized-96400 Inactive 14 years, 2 months ago]

@whitbyglennk
There is no WP ethos of free software for all. With all the licensing discussions going on, most people have completely misunderstood what it was all about. Free (as in the GPL software license) only means that any further development of GPL software has to be published under the same license (if the software is being released) and that, once you have the software, you can do whatever you please with it. Free does not mean, though, that you can get access to this software without paying. It’s perfectly ok to charge for GPL software.

Most developers, who charge for a plugin or premium themes, still give back to the community by answering questions in forums or uploading other plugins and themes to the WP repository. For some plugins 50+ hours have been spent on development. That’s a lot of money and time right there, but people still expect not to pay anything.

I guess we’ll be seeing more and more paid plugins and themes crop up over the next year. It’s not a bad thing, it’ll give users more choice (there usually is a free alternative around somewhere) and if someone buys a plugin/theme, then afterwards you can expect great support, which does not always happen with a free plugin.

Just me 2 cents