BuddyPress.org

Ilya is correct about not having the ability to delegate.admin powers to a moderator. This is a very crucial issue. In a large community, people come and go. Their interests and time change. So say someone creates a group. They by default become an administrator. That means they are the only one to have the following powers in a group:

• Group Settings
  Group Avatar
  Manage Members (i.e. bump them to moderators)
  Delete Group

So if we play out this scenario, and the administrator has fallen off the radar, the group settings from public to private to hidden cannot be changed except by the Buddypress site admin. The Buddypress site admin can elevate members to moderators but they CANNOT add an adminstrator, as far as I can determine. The Buddypress site admin can delete the group but the only way to “delegate” administrator powers would be to follow this scenario:
Appoint a moderator willing to take over. Have them create a new group, and then do a mass invite to join that new group via a news post or a friends invite.

Can a administrator be changed at the db level? Not sure.

What about asking the group administrator to exercise their option to ‘leave a group?’ I have no idea what that would do to the db and the Buddypress system. I’m hoping Andy or Jeff might chime in here on this odd possible outcome.

Cheers,
Brian