BuddyPress.org

This is the code for the right bar:

<div id="right-column">

<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar')

|| !dynamic_sidebar('right-column') ) : ?>



<div class="widget-error">

<?php _e( 'Please log in and add widgets to this column.', 'buddypress' ) ?> <a href="<?php echo get_option('siteurl') ?>/wp-admin/widgets.php?s=&show=&sidebar=sidebar-3"><?php _e( 'Add Widgets', 'buddypress' ) ?></a>

</div>



<?php endif; ?>

</div>

This is the code for the left bar:

<div id="left-column">

<?php if ( !function_exists('dynamic_sidebar')

|| !dynamic_sidebar('left-column') ) : ?>



<div class="widget-error">

<?php _e( 'Please log in and add widgets to this column.', 'buddypress' ) ?> <a href="<?php echo get_option('siteurl') ?>/wp-admin/widgets.php?s=&show=&sidebar=sidebar-1"><?php _e( 'Add Widgets', 'buddypress' ) ?></a>

</div>



<?php endif; ?>

</div>

This code is taking from the bphome theme…I believe it should work in your member theme, but haven’t tested it.

Also check out the bp-dev widget plugin which adds new widget areas for your member theme:

http://bp-dev.org/download/

You only need the bp-dev core and bp-dev widget from that list though. I hope that helps get you in the right direction.

Thanks for that Jeff. Disclaimers noted

p.s. I got the server in a clearance sale… so the RAM was pretty low and there wasn’t an option to upgrade anything (as-is sale). It’s only $29/month though! Hard to beat for a dedicated box. And more than sufficient for the sites I’m hosting (so far). I don’t have unlimited disk space. All I have is what’s in the box… no upgrade options. That could be a concern if the WPMU users start uploading media files… but we’ll see. My freelance work may go full time within the year… so if that happens I’d bite the bullet and upgrade to a newer box anyway… and my client base would cover the costs.

Also, Automattic’s VIP hosting is provided to just a very few, select, large clients. It is not something you can simply decide to purchase.

So, my guess is that, yes, Automattic will offer BuddyPress installs to their very few VIP clients, but it will not be available to the vast majority of users.

http://en.wordpress.com/vip-hosting/

I downloaded the zip file in March 2009. It’s 1.0 by the look of it.

Actually, you are using a pre-release version of 1.0. In fact, you are using the first release candidate (RC1). Before version 1.0 was officially released, there was even an RC2. So, you are five versions behind. There have been significant changes in the BP codebase since then.

As DJPaul states, do a backup of your Database (DB). Your MySQL DB files are stored in a different place than where you have WPMU and BuddyPress installed.

Also as Paul states, you will need to switch from /mu-plugins/ to /plugins. This is not an option.

Here are some detailed instructions. I would read these just so you know how things have changed since RC1.

https://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-buddypress/upgrading-from-rc-1/

https://buddypress.org/forums/topic/how-to-upgrade-from-rc2-to-10

https://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/upgrading-from-10x/

David-

As you say:

I know this is all very hypothetical and hard to judge…

So, given that as a premise, this is just my opinion. It seems to me that your current setup should be fine for what you’ve described. The physical memory seems low for a dedicated server, but you more than likely have sufficient virtual memory allocated to help alleviate some of that inadequacy.

The server’s physical HD space is not an issue since I assume that you have unlimited storage space with your dedicated hosting account. After all, hard drive space should be cheap.

When WPMU sites get to 1000 active users or so (or fewer very active users), many people find that they need a dedicate VPS or even dedicate server to handle just that single site. But, as I’ve said above, it depends on too many variables to accurately provide a detailed set of guidelines. One site may have little issues with several thousand users whereas another has issues at 500 users.

A custom loop is the most direct way, instead of a widget

https://buddypress.org/forums/topic/custom-loops-for-forum-topics#post-17240

Okay… so what might be some example of server recommendations for different installations? For instance… I have a dedicated server but it’s not exactly high-powered. The specs are:

– 3.06 Ghz Celeron

– 80GB HDD

– 512 MB RAM

– 1000 GB Traffic

– 10Mbps uplink

Nothing fancy! But I’m only serving half a dozen small blog sites now with very low traffic. Mostly just small personal sites. It’s awesome for that and being dedicated allows me total control and I don’t have to worry about my ‘neighbours’ getting my IP blacklisted… etc.

Now… let’s say I launch a public BuddyPress site with 250 registered users, pretty low traffic from non-registered users, the bpPicture plugin, chat plugin, bbPress and NO personal blogs allowed (just the main blog). Is it gonna go boom? This client can probably afford to pay more for hosting if needed.

I have another potential BP project which would probably also be a low traffic site… but where the client wants users to be able to create blogs. It will be a true community site. It could have… let’s say 20-30 blogs. It would also have forums, photos and chat. This client is a friend. It’s a simple pro bono thing with no custom theming or coding. Problem is, she has no money for more ‘iron’. Not a cent.

I know this is all very hypothetical and hard to judge… but even a rough idea of server recommendations for a few different scenarios would be extremely helpful.

When you are installing Buddypress, the only plugin you want in your /plugins folder is buddypress itself. Nothing in /mu-plugins either. Your plugins which run on buddypress are causing this error.

I have a few plug-ins running, but without the admin back end working, I can’t deactivate them. Can I place them in a separate folder temporarily without causing even more havoc? i.e. welcome pack, monty spam, wp ban, limited log in attempts, askimet, etc.

Email is probably going to get you a quicker answer. Only a couple of Automattic employees lurk here afaik.

Just go to http://ww2.toksta.com and create an account and setup your chat the way you want it and click ‘Create Script’ and choose ‘WordPress’, upload it to the /wp-content/plugins dir and follow the readme file directions. It does work because I have it working on my site right now.

http://jjunltd.com

The plug-in does not working any more.

Which version of BuddyPress are you running? Where did you find those instructions?

I don’t think BP has been installed in /mu-plugins/, and has been referenced that way in the readme.txt file, for over four months. I just looked back at 1.0.1, 1.0.2, and 1.0.3 and all three of those versions have in their readme.txt file what I excerpted above.

Always read the readme.txt file that comes with the installation package.

Here’s the readme.txt file from v1.0.1: https://trac.buddypress.org/browser/trunk/readme.txt?rev=1621

Here’s the one from v1.0.3: https://trac.buddypress.org/browser/tags/1.0.3/readme.txt?rev=1614

Here’s the installation directions located in the BuddyPress codex.

There is more overhead with WPMU, but the biggest issue is whether a site allows its members the option to create blogs and how many active blogs the site has. So, running single-version WP could help reduce the load in theory.

But, BuddyPress can also be a bandwidth, memory, and harddrive-space intensive plugin suite. It all depends on a site’s user activity and what additional BP-dependent plugins a site installs and activates.

For instance, if a site uses a media plugin that allows users to upload photos, mp3, and video files, then a low-powered hosting account could get swamped even if it is “just” running single-version WP.

I liked this idea, so I implemented it on my BP install.

I decided to do step #2.

Here’s what I added to my /wp-content/plugins/bp-custom.php:

function bp_send_message_to_friend_button() {

global $bp;



if ( bp_is_home() || !is_user_logged_in() || !friends_check_friendship($bp->loggedin_user->id,$bp->displayed_user->id) )

return false;



$ud = get_userdata( $bp->displayed_user->id );

?>

<div class="generic-button">

<a class="send-message" title="<?php _e( 'Send Message', 'buddypress' ) ?>" href="<?php echo $bp->loggedin_user->domain . $bp->messages->slug ?>/compose/?r=<?php echo $ud->user_login ?>"><?php _e( 'Send Message', 'buddypress' ) ?></a>

</div>

<?php

}

Then I edited the template files mentioned above with the new function call – bp_send_message_to_friend_button().

Now, the “Send Message” button only shows up if you are a friend of said user.

I’ve added a trac ticket about this issue as an enhancement, so maybe the above change will be built into the bp_send_message_button() function in the next BP release instead of having to add your own function.

—

There’s still the autocomplete feature in the “My Messages > Compose” area, as well as the wire and group wire to worry about though… one step at a time!

How much of a difference should we expect to get when using WP single user (when this is an option in future)?

And if it is significant, why is this the case? And is it also true for WPMU with a single blog, or is the difference that people are expecting a WPMU installation to have multiple blogs?

Is this a bot or a manual signup who manually sends messages to the users?

Anyway, the way I see it, there are two ways to combat this problem in the interim:

1) do a check to see if the logged-in user is a friend of that user, if so run the bp_send_message_button() function

2) code own function based on bp_send_message_button() and do the check within this function

Either option will require modifying the Buddypress member theme template in three places:

* /bp-themes/bpmember/activity/just-me.php

* /bp-themes/bpmember/wire/latest.php

* /bp-themes/bpmember/profile/index.php

(I’m using the default BP member theme as an example)

This is only for the “Send message” button though… how did the person spam your users?