I’m haveing exactly the same issue when I updated WPMU from 2.7.1 to 2.8.1.
I’ve tried to install another buddypress by using newly installed 2.8.1 and the same problem appears.
More precisery, all the text fields from welcome message to “how many xxs do you want to have” fields retains only one letter in a field.
I haven’t touched the core files of neither WPMU nor Buddypress. I’ve just put them on the server and installed/activated.
However, when activating Buddypress on 2.8.1, I’ve got an error massage saying that Buddypress could not be activated, although it IS activted in the plugin list (and working fine, except this widget issue.)
