[lincme.co.uk]

@peterverkooijen; Ok, I came across sarcastic back there. Apologies. Discussion is always useful, but not when we let ego get in the way.

Your comment about “Mushy holistic talk” made me smile. Where did those terms creep in? Perhaps “New Age Software: it does nothing, but it feels good!” might be the key here, umm..? Actually, while I do have a ‘holistic’ side to me, I’m a software developer who began using computers 28 years ago. I’ve lead projects in the Banking and Avionics industries, and trained post-graduate software engineers for some time. The avionics software we created was superb, cost millions, and is used by major avionics firms to build aircraft and helicopters you might have flown in. The best bit is that not one of them fell out of the sky due to engineering software errors (yay for us), and a major helicopter company put on a personal display for us to show that it all worked. Scary, but fun!

So yes, I know huge software projects inside out, and you can take it from me that my comments on things here are not just the ramblings of a wannabe.

BuddyPress should have been designed, in my experience, from the user up. In other words, first create the user and his/her data, and provide basic functions. Next, think about what the user might want to do. So, provide groups of users, activity streams, etc., and let the user decide what they show and don’t show. That’s just basic reality modelling. If you want forums and other such freestyle public groups, then provide those too. But it all comes down to the basic user, and what he/she wishes to be public.

Regarding your points about what social networks are or aren’t, I think you’re letting your own definitions become over-important. The USER decides what the social network is to THEM by specifying their profile and posting privileges. After all, don’t you decide in the real world what you share with people, and when, and under what particular circumstances? Same thing online. If not, then real world people may shun your social network.