BuddyPress.org

@boonebgorges Your point about plugin development is exactly why I felt a little reticent in expressing my feelings. Plugin development is part of the intrinsic nature of WP and it’s sibling/child modules (I still have a problem refering to BP as a plugin , it’s nearly a standalone app?) and to ask any developers to shift focus from that to the core app is a difficult one. Obviously billing for core development is next to impossible and we all know that – if we’re honest developers – we don’t bill clients for the testing of work or for cross browser conformance or for implementing 17 different image galleries because we want to find a new cool one for clients site etc.

All that none withstanding I do have this impression that there is a lot of plugin development and that this development slightly fractures the strong focus that BP might need?

I also still feel that many plugins – your ‘Invite Anyone’ is a prime example – should really be core modules or extensions much as we have BP ‘Components Setup’ as these plugins enhance and improve part of the core that already exists or add components that one might expect to be core in a social network app.

I would like to see, perhaps?, something along the lines of a Trac milestone when a pretty stable BP is reached (1.4?) that sets out a process for identifying and bringing in certain plugins to the core , but this is probably something better discussed in a dev chat and is looking quite far forward; I also see an issue where the author has put substantial time and effort into development of the plugin and would hope there was some means of recompense given that the plugin would effectively cease to exist as downloadable and donateable