New widget bp-recent-topics do it. It shows custom options: author topic, freshness author, date, excerpt, avatars, group, group avatar.
I just edited a reply to a forum topic, as opposed to an initial post/topic and the original time of creation was preserved in the activity stream. I’ll report back when I next edit a initial post. Maybe it was a one-off glitch that I experienced before.
Hi bollocks187-
I was just a little confused how groups was intended for use within WordPress/BuddyPress. To give you some insight as far as where I’m coming from, I’m moving from a Groupsite environment. In that environment, you can have ‘x’ number of groups. The groups can by hidden just like in WP/BP, but can have their very own content exclusive to them, which is hidden from non-members of that group (as expected). Likewise, members of a given group can communicate freely between each other. I was looking for a feature set within WP/BP that mimicks that behavior. The other thing missing is a peer recognition feature- kind of like a way for one user to endorse another. (another Groupsite feature). Think of this as a kind of letter of recognition from one user to another, so anyone visiting the endorsed member’s profile would see a senior member/administrator endorses/vouches for/recommends that user. I’ve been working with a messload of different plugins with varying levels of success/failure (far more failures than successes) and was getting a little frustrated -iterative testing to ensure a new plugin doesn’t break existing working plugins and trying to determine the UI for a new plugin since it’s often a sorely overlooked feature for so many developers.
I’m now looking into the possibility of using groups forums to address some of what I want to do, but am hoping that by doing so, it won’t confuse end users by having them try to contend with two separate types of forums – one open and public, and the other being ‘x’ number of private instances, one for each hidden group.
Yep, there it is. Right in Plugins. Duh. THANKS.
Yeah, basic Forum functions! What a concept! 
If you go to plugins in wp-admin – it will tell you your BP version number.
Basic search functions, subscribe to topics – what kind of a forum do you think this?
I agree. Not having a Search function to see previous Q&As doesn’t make much sense. How hard could it be, eh, Mods?
An explanation from a Group Mod would be nice.
I don’t want to ask a newbie question without first doing a thorough search. I guess google search it is for now.
see https://codex.buddypress.org/theme-development/wordpress-to-buddypress-theme/
There are great volunteers on this forum. When they have the time, I am sure they will assist you.
Just jumping in out of the blue.
Why would you need “yet” another Plugin for Groups when you already have a groups feature in buddypress out of the box. Even if you can disable the “group forums” feature that kind defeats the purpose of having a group in the first place.
Unless of course itthinx is not happy with the Buddpress Groups capabilities hence the “groups” plugin. Also why would the Buddypress team want to accommodate an interact with a feature they already have – especially a plug in that has a few thousand downloads. Just askin 1
Well, at least now I don’t feel crazy!
Thanks Paul-
Okay, so that begs the question- what are groups used for within WordPress/BuddyPress? If you deactivate forums, there’s not much left. You can’t contact just the people in that group. And I’m still looking for a good plugin to handle making content pages exclusive to certain groups. I’ve tried ‘Groups’ by itthinx, but there is a big disconnect between the actual BuddyPress groups and the groups within the ‘Groups’ plugin. So if I have a pre-existing group, the ‘Groups’ plugin doesn’t recognize it. If I name an existing group within the ‘Groups’ plugin, there is no members associated with it (since it is treated as a new group, but that can only be accessed via the plugin) so security doesn’t really apply. Any light you can shed on this would be appreciated.
Thanks
Group Forums, using the latest version of BuddyPress.
bbPress 1 or 2 (aka group forums or site wide forums)?
My understanding is that there is no working search function – not sure why the search box is there!
You need to ask about this in theme’s support forum http://www.studiopress.com/support/
Hi. Thanks for the response. I checked and I have only Group Forums installed (not Sitewide Forums). Should I install both? Since I only have one installed there is no conflict with the slug used.
Hey! Sorry for the long reply but I’ve been WAY TOO BUSY lately!
Thanks very much! It worked and your easy to ready instructions made it go so smoothly!
Thanks! Now I just need to work out how to effect the layout of a buddypress forum and my site is SET! 
Mercime-many thanks again for your reply.
I still cannot get the hang of running BuddyPress group & sitewide forums together on my blog.
So for now I have disabled BuddyPress Group forums and am using bbPress forums. I even made a child theme of my BuddyPress enabled WP theme anIMass and use bbPress 2010 forum style with it-see my post today on my blog at http://richard-dickinson.com/2012/06/25/buddypress-and-bbpress-blog-update/
I will keep trying with BuddyPress but for the moment am using bbPress forum! Many thanks
For that, you’re best to ask on the http://bbpress.org forums.
I did that, as well as deactivating the plugin and reactivating everything. No change.
Are there any plugins which allow attachments and an editor on the sitewide?
Your best bet is to ask on bbpress.org or search for bbPress plugins on the WordPress.org directory.
Go to the Components screen, and disable the Forums component.
I too am noticing this behaviour, specifically with apostrophes – I haven’t tested other special characters.
I am using latest versions (WordPress 3.4, Buddypress 1.5.6 and BuddyPress Group Email Subscription 3.1.2)
So the solution for anyone who is reading is that as Paul said, to use do_action (‘bbpress_init’) within the function that has the bb_ function you are trying to call!! It does not work setting it to the whole file. ( I tried it). It only has to be called once per function.
Also an example of it is : https://buddypress.org/community/groups/creating-extending/forum/topic/add-custom-metadata-to-forum-topics-for-sorting-purposes/
Hope this helps someone else!
