Re: bunch of ideas….
andrea_r – there is a way to hook BP up to an existing bbPress install, but I think rspowers is talking about phpbb. If you’ve got a lot of activity in an existing phpbb forum community, you really have two options:
1) Build a bridge between phpbb and bp (which will make them share users, group info, and activity data) and skin them to look alike
2) Find a script that will translate phpbb threads into bbpress compatible ones (like https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/a-phpbb-to-bbpress-database-converter) and then do a normal bbpress install inside of BP
(2) seems way, way easier, especially in the long run. The only downside is that the BP-native version of bbPress isn’t as feature-rich as dedicated forum software like phpbb.
