BuddyPress.org

Create one group that is hidden (maybe call it “Private Meetings”), this group will not show up on the site. Then invite those you want to have private discussions with. You can add and remove members for different discussions.

I don’t know an easy way to do this at the moment, but it’s a reasonable enhancement request. At the very least, we could provide a filter that would allow plugins to modify which group types are permitted. http://trac.buddypress.org

Not to sound crass but isn’t that what private messages is for?

Log into the BuddyPress demo site http://testbp.org/ and send a private message with a username and password to your site
http://testbp.org/members/mercime/

i’m trying to do this, too! great idea! if anyone comes up with any solutions, that’d be killer

Either a bug with the code or a bug with the description.

if you want to modify that behavior you can edit the theme files which i did for my community. users browsing the page don’t see anything unless they register. i used the wordpress-function is_user_logged_in()
files to consider:
/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-themes/bp-default/activity/activity-loop.php
and to hide the rss-button (private groups still in rss if you know the link or browse the source code – but users not logged using the site don’t see anything):
/wp-content/plugins/buddypress/bp-themes/bp-default/activity/index.php

Private is basically read- and invite- only. https://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/group-settings-and-roles/

standard feature in other community software solutions – sometimes you have to manage members/trolls/issues via which the site admins needs to verify the context.

@etivite Then you better throw away your privacy agreement first.

it would make a good wp-admin plugin to view all member PMs. if someone has done that – is different question

Everythings possible, you could always see the data in the database..

No,

Join Group will only appear with groups that you have set up as “Public”. Private Groups will have a “Request Membership” button, and hidden groups will appear for you as an admin, and for users that are already members, but will otherwise not appear.

As the Admin/Creator of the group, you won’t see any of these buttons. Try logging in as a reg subscriber.

You can limit access to forums by putting them behind private groups. By default, your members have the ability to post on the activity stream, but limiting access to groups, either by setting the Buddypress Admin panel to only allow Admins to create groups, or by using the Limit Group Creation plugin, you can keep your users out of certain forums.

Currently there is no out-of-the-box way to allow read-only access to a buddypress install; but given that it’s a SOCIAL network, it isn’t really a logical functionality to have: seems anti-social.

When you say “make a post on the site” are you talking about a Blog post in a WordPress Multisite install, or an Activity Stream update? A blog post from a user will create a hyperlink on the Activity Stream that will go directly to that blog, but very much like on this site, if you click directly on the avatar of the user in question, you should be taken to their profile page, on which you will see a “Friend” button, a “Private Message” button etc.

Ensure that you have activated all of these items in the Network Admin/Buddypress Panel. It is possible that you have friend connections; private messages; profiles; etc turned off. Here’s a nice tutorial on setting up Buddypress 1.5 http://wpmu.org/the-illustrated-guide-to-installing-and-setting-up-buddypress-1-5/comment-page-1/

I think that this is a decent candidate for a patch. Feel free to work it up as one and attach it to that ticket.