[Austin Nichols]

When it comes to debating what features go into the core of BP there are those that want to keep it as basic as possible and there are those that want everything but the kitchen sink.

Why not have an official BP Plugin Pack like Jetpack by WordPress.com? Take some of the most popular BP Plugins and have them officially developed and maintained by BP. Not being directly in the core users can decide if they want to install them or not. More importantly users won’t have to worry about pulgins they depend on being abandoned.

[Boone Gorges]

It’s a nice idea in theory. The problem is that Jetpack is developed and maintained by a couple of people who get paid to devote large amounts of time to the project. BuddyPress is almost entirely developed by volunteers, who have their hands full enough trying to keep up with development on BP core. The economics are tricky

[Austin Nichols]

Well that raises the bigger question. When is Automattic going to take Buddypress seriously?

[Hugo Ashmore]

How do you mean seriously? they are not obliged to do anything really , they already provide hosting for the site and trac/svn they designate one of their team to work – I think exclusively – on .org sites, BuddyPress, and bbPress. They are not strictly obliged to do any of this remember

[Austin Nichols]

Of course no one is obliged to do anything, that’s not the point. BP could be a huge benefit for Automattic. As Tumblr continues to grow in popularity WP needs to look to the future. As Web 3.0 continues to develop readers are going to want move interactivity and there will be a growing demand by site owners to have a community platform. Currently BP is the best platform there is, but at some point they need to realize its full potential.