I suppose, I am getting you all now. If I want to build a community, then BP is obviously the first choice. For diverse content a forum will do.
If I am not wrong, BP is suitable where there is already a huge group following, or blog readers with a common passion. A forum is for engaging myriad sectors.
By the way, I want to test the complete functionality of BP on localhost before deploying. Any pointers for that?
Of course BP is one of the best social network plugin and its quickly evolving into separate entity, but I am bit skeptic about the user engagement a forum offers vis-a-vis BP . So between, forum vs BuddyPress, who wins?