Sorry that I evidently didn’t provide enough info.
1. A single WP install with BuddyPress. Members add posts via a GravityForm on the front-end.
2. Deactivating the plugins (either individually or together) did not impact my ability to change the assigned author.
3. An entry created by the form can be assigned to a Moderator author via the form. But I cannot change the author of a post (new or existing) in the WP admin to a moderator author, only to other Admin authors. Moderators don’t show up in the authors dropdown.
How would I write a query filter so that the activity stream that I copied to the home page shows five items, while the main one shows the default twenty?