BuddyPress.org

If you really want to take this where the root of the issue is, the underlying problem is that BuddyPress is actually a theme that has been jammed into the plugin directory and then tightly coupled to what should be multiple plugins (aka components) in one massive package.

I am starting to feel like the only way to restore any kind of reasonable extensiblity of the BP interface it to split it into a theme, and the components into plugins which all adhere to a very strict API defined by the THEME, not a “core” plugin.

Of course this would break every existing install. It would have to be an internal fork that was deemed to be the new way forward.