I’ve no idea what it was. For the third time, I deleted everything, all the way down to deleting the subdomain, then re-created the subdomain and reinstalled everything. Forums are finally working. Sanity is restored. Thanks!
WP 3.3.1 and BP 1.5.3.1 — Check
WP and BP installed at domain root — Check, sub-domain root
Changed to bp-default theme / deactivated all plugins — Check
Linux server
Re: group/stand-alone — I installed stand-alone so that I could get some data for the DB. I thought if I just imported some existing data it might change something. I installed bbPress stand alone, created a topic or two with a post or two, exported all the data to a SQL file, changed then prefixes of the tables, and inserted it into the buddyPress/bbPress tables, then deleted the stand-alone installation. Through phpMyAdmin, there were clearly records in the tables; buddypress still said there were no forums, and I was still unable to create any forum post. I’ve since also deleted all records from the wp_bb_XXX tables.
Current forum setup: “Forums for Groups” installed (under “Forums” tab at buddypress admin); Sitewide forums NOT installed; NO other plugins; default theme; everything is as Plain Jane as humanly possible. Still, same errors on submitting new forum topic: either: “This group doesn’t have a forum set up yet.” or “Please pick the group forum where you would like to post this topic” (which of course I did).
In short: I can’t get forums working. Nothing I’ve tried works, not even suggestions (rather, the suggestion — thanks @mercime) here. It’s a rather fundamental element that is not working, and I’m about to give up on it and go look for alternatives.
I just went to another directory, installed stand-alone bbPress but configured it to use the same DB as by bbPress installation. I pulled all the data from the stand alone tables and dumped it into the wp_bb tables. Still, even when browsing tables, buddyPress says there’s no forum.
The DB password was different in the bb-config file. I commented out the old one, put the one from the wp-config file in and there was no change. I’ve since commented out the second password and returned it to the original that the installation created in bb-config.
All seven tables are there. I even manually inserted info into the DB under forums and it doesn’t see a forum exists.
@mercime It’s a new buddypress install on a new WP install: http://social.ourenglishclass.net. The admin pages say everything’s set up fine, but I can’t create a forum through the groups page or through the main forum page. I always get this message:
