BuddyPress.org

It does not work to use a standalone forum because then you lose all the group making aspects of Buddypress.

• BBpress does not skin to match Buddypress easily or well

• They do not integrate together deeply.

• You end up with two admin backends.

• Plugins do not work across the board etc.

In short, the skin approach is just faking it. It is not real. It is just a facade. I know because I have done it for years and it goes against my sense of integrity. It looks like a real website but it isn’t. And it is just all held by rubber bands behind the scenes.