[peterverkooijen]

Buddypress has no privacy/security controls whatsoever. There is also no built-in way to consistently use real names and let people register with first and last name on sign-up, which will probably become a problem for a school application.

Buddypress is basically an evolving hobby project by PHP programmers. You may have more luck with a more user-focused semi-commercial script like Social Engine: http://www.socialengine.net/

[peterverkooijen]

Sure, that is one place. But I still get different times in Sitewide Activity, a jQuery FullCalendar script that works fine in WordPress site without BP, etc.

I am on customized BP 1.1.3 + WP 3.0, but judging from hnla’s comment the issue has not been fully fixed in the latest versions. Anyway I’m trying to figure out where to fix it, where in the code, where in the database.

[peterverkooijen]

Where is the timezone set? Where in wp-admin? Where in the code? Where in the database? Is there no “master time” setting anywhere that overrides whereever else timezone may be set?

[peterverkooijen]

Why isn’t Automattic doing anything?! Privacy/security should have been a core feature.

[peterverkooijen]

I’d like to know if this is possible as well.

Would it be theoretically possible to write a plugin that synchronizes member databases between two sites? Or would copying the password from one to the other never work because of different encoding on different installations? Also security issues I guess…

[peterverkooijen]

@bennadler, I think that issue was fixed here.

Probably old news to you by now…

[peterverkooijen]

@ronia, yes, the latest version is 1.2.5, as far as I know, and 1.3 will officially support WP 3.0. So if you upgrade you have nothing to worry about. My problem is that I want to stay on BP 1.1.3, trying to get that to work on 3.0.

The key to solve that is here. Putting this in bp-custom.php worked for me:

define( ‘BP_AVATAR_URL’, ‘http://’ . $_SERVER . ‘/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files’ );
define( ‘BP_AVATAR_UPLOAD_PATH’, $_SERVER . ‘/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files’);

Still have to copy more avatar code from 1.2.5 to get everything to work in 1.1.3…

[peterverkooijen]

Beau Lebens indispensible email login plugin!

[peterverkooijen]

@lincme.co.uk, I think we basically agree, but your remark sounded similar to the standard defense of BP, that it is so great because you can do absolutely anything with it. My counter-argument to that unavoidably sounds rigid and over-important.

[peterverkooijen]

Thanks hnla. So I’m not missing anything then?

I thought it could be a problem because I’m also missing the ‘Uploading Files’ section under Settings > Media, where you can set upload paths. I saw in the code that only shows up when multisite is active. Upload path is relevant for avatar upload, which is the only thing (so far…) that I can’t get to work in BP 1.1.3 on WP 3.0.

The clean test install of 1.2.5 + 3.0 did have the ‘Uploading Files’ section with or without WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE, so that may not have anything to do with it after all. Confused…

[peterverkooijen]

I have copied the the new bp_core_avatar_upload_path() and bp_core_avatar_url() functions from BP 1.2.5 into my customized BP 1.1.3. Avatars show up fine, but I can’t get avatar upload to work. It works in a clean install of BP 1.2.5 on WP 3.0. The working avatar upload form has this:

I can’t figure out how this form works. Action empty?! Where does the form go when I click ‘Upload image’? In my customized version it apparently can’t find something it needs. Any suggestions how to troubleshoot this?

Would this still have something to do with upload_path settings? Would the form page just refresh without doing anything if it can’t find the upload folder? Where can I check/change those settings?

[peterverkooijen]

@alanchrishughes (“you keep talking about privacy”)

To develop a real social network you want to encourage people to share their real identity, real name, post a picture, some personal information, etc. They will happily do that provided there is some basic privacy protection in place; only members can see their profiles, only friends can see certain data, etc. The whole point of social networks is to provide an online environment where you can interact with other people online with the same amount of control and trust you have in the offline world. See Facebook and LinkedIn. Privacy/security control is fatally underdeveloped in Buddypress. That may be OK for a forum that revolves around topics, but not for a social network that is supposed to revolve around personal profiles.

I’m not the only one pointing this out…:

Individual Privacy settings for group areas
Members only?
Members only site

Just a few from the first page today…

[peterverkooijen]

@alanchrishughes (“I’ve never understood the whole privacy freak out problem …”)

That has nothing whatsoever to do with what I said.

@lincme.co.uk (“Ah Peter, without visionaries such as yourself, how would we ever have got to where we are..?! Growing out of rigid definitions into new flexibility is where the virtual world is heading, like it or not. Everything you see online now will be long dead in five years, and all the concepts you hold dear buried deep. Might as well get used to it.”)

Mushy holistic talk won’t get us there. I favor modular systems with well-defined components that can work together in many different configurations. Buddypress is a kitchen-sink mess that tries to be all things to all people.

[peterverkooijen]

“Peter, this is info that you could get in trac as easily as Paul”

I’m not a programmer, so I wouldn’t know where to start with trac. Thanks for the pointer!

I’ve replaced some functions in my custom 1.1.3 mess with code from 1.2.5 and have some partial success. Uploading avatars still does nothing though. Has everything been fixed in the latest BP? It works on a clean install, but do I need to manually update settings for upload_path or other things in an upgraded installation? Create an uploads folder? Other things to check?

[peterverkooijen]

Thanks mercime! Good starting point.

[peterverkooijen]

“What’s wrong with creating the user before the activation email is sent?”

Because the (spam) account is still there, listed everywhere, even if it will never be used.

[peterverkooijen]

You can’t. It’s a design decision by Andy Peatling/Automattic not to support firstname and lastname, because it would offend international users. And most of the BP users community love anonymous usernames, because they use Buddypress primarily as an old-fashioned forum. You’ll have to custom code something. Good luck!

[peterverkooijen]

So you basically want to force Buddypress to work like a regular messageboard…

[peterverkooijen]

“I wanted a messageboard potentially with subjects divided into specific groups”

Sounds like you need a traditional forum script, perhaps with a bit of customization. Why do you use Buddypress?

[peterverkooijen]

Perhaps you have to make a manual edit in .htaccess?

[peterverkooijen]

“… just because buddypress or wordpress or whoever develop new features for an application doesn’t mean you are forced to use the new features. You don’t have to install the forums …”

The topic of this thread was about removing groups from forum. Groups imho are a natural part of a social networking architecture. Forums not so much. Most of the questions on this board these days are about forums/bbpress. That seems also where most of the developers attention is going, while there is almost no progress on what should be the core of a social network script for WordPress; member management, privacy/security, making BP WordPress 3.0-ready, etc.

Talk about “dropping rigidity and opening up to an amazing new flexibility and power” is pure nonsense. I’m not a programmer myself, but have you looked under the hood? Have you looked into the database? Do you know how BP is structured? Software can’t be all things to all people. It will never make you ice cream sundaes. Sure it’s nice to have built-in features, but there is always a trade-off. In Buddypress’ case it is growing structural confusion. Where would you draw the line?

I’d prefer a leaner core, a script that only adds social networking to WordPress and does it well. Integration with bbpress should go via WordPress, not as bolt-on to BP. Ideally WordPress would have an API that would make the members database just as easy to integrate with PunBB or phpBB if I wanted to.

[peterverkooijen]

“Personally, I see nothing wrong with a social network which allows unregistered users to comment with CAPTCHA …”

I’m sorry, but the whole point of a social network is that it is not anonymous. You can’t have unregistered users on a social network. The point of a social network is to allow members to interact with eachother in a trusted environment like they would in the offline world; you introduce yourself, it has your picture and some basic personal information, you can make friends, etc. Mixing in anonymous “users” destroys that purpose.

Anonymous comments are fine on a forum, which is about topics. I go to forum to find answers to PHP questions; I don’t care who posts a coding solution.

“I really like the idea of them all being mixed together, if nothing else just to see what can be done, breaking down boundaries …”

Sure there will be many use cases where you would like to mix social network with a forum, with Twitter-like microblogging, with event management, with galleries, etc. But why cram everything into Buddypress?

I needed a simple, flexible social networking script with a solid reliable core that I could combine with other PHP scripts for whatever else I might need. Since bbpress forums started taking over Buddypress has become useless to me.

[peterverkooijen]

“… but I think non-techies are thrown off by having to register for websites and checking their email, verifying, password, etc. they don’t care enough and just leave.”

You can’t have a social network without verification of identity. You should just build your site in bbpress, punbb, joomla or drupal. Or Moodle.

[peterverkooijen]

“What is the idea even behind this “groups” concept? I have been trying to understand it and figure out a way to just work with it, but it just doesn’t make sense, it’s backwards.”

“It’s like facebook fan pages. Why do people find this concept so strange?”

This is again the clash between forum and social network. They are NOT the same thing! They are different ways to structure a community. Mixing them is a recipe for disaster. Buddypress is pulled in two directions. The old-fashioned forum structure (bbpress) is winning.

A social network is organized around members. Member profiles are the main home pages, usually including a wire or blog. Members can friend or follow eachother and form groups and share content.

A forum is organized around topics. Members are secundary and are usually identified by anonymous usernames. Topics are arranged linearly, with main topics and sub-topics.

Because member management is horribly underdeveloped in Buddypress and the old BBpress users now set the tone in the developers community, Buddypress is turning into a confused forum script.

[peterverkooijen]

No, they’re not possible. Xprofile is an underdeveloped mess with low priority in the roadmap. There is also zero privacy/security in Buddypress, so storing social security numbers is asking for trouble.