BuddyPress.org

Hi @stefwilliams

Enhancement suggestions can be made here:
https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/

There are lots of plugins dealing with newsletters
https://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=newsletter

There are quite a few plugins that will integrate mailchimp.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/search.php?q=mailchimp

You could just set up a group called “Idea Wall” and let the ideas flow there.

You could use this plugin to create mandatory groups that users can’t leave.

https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress-mandatory-groups/

The Group management functionality in the dashboard could help you sort users into the appropriate group.

Something like this would allow you to have users select groups when they are registering

https://wordpress.org/plugins/buddypress-registration-groups-1/

Other than “fix your theme”? Clearly something isn’t coded correctly. BP works in themes that have been vetted through the wordpress.org standards. If you stray from that path, you are bound to run into poorly coded themes that cause these kinds of headaches.

Can you reach out to the theme developer?

@aravere

Try upgrading to bp 1.9+ it has had some attention in the user name area: https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/5185 and https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4622

Cool. Good luck with it. Breaking up your questions also means that someone doesn’t look quickly at this thread and assume everything is solved. Hope it works out.

BTW: Found this that might help the other issue. Haven’t tested it but Brajesh is a brilliant dude so I assume it will probably work. Just follow along on the comment thread below the snippet: it’s hard to tell if he updated the code, or just suggested how to do so.

Prevent spaces in WordPress/BuddyPress Usernames

BP has @mentions built in, but I find adding this plugin https://github.com/paulgibbs/BP-Labs and enabling the @mention auto-complete makes figuring out usernames a whole lot easier. @modemlooper has a plugin called BuddyMobile available at http://taptappress.com that you should look at to make your site mobile friendly.

I couldn’t get this plugin to work for me (it’s not supported anymore, but if you have the chops, or can hire someone…) but it harvests activity from fb and posts it to your community. https://wordpress.org/plugins/bebop/

I think you are probably looking for something like this: https://wordpress.org/plugins/bp-multi-network/ which in tandem with the wp multi networks plugin list in the write-up, would allow you to create sub-networks across your school.

Alternatively, you could use the groups to separate this activity. Create three top level groups for primary, intermediate/senior, adults, and then create sub-groups underneath. You would need the Group Hierarchy plugin to pull this off.

https://wordpress.org/plugins/bp-group-hierarchy/

Plan B is the easier path.

You shouldn’t need to hack the core plugin files in order to do solve the spacing issue. It’s just going to cause heartache when you update the plugin, and have to make the changes all over again. I know you are embarking on a big learning journey with BP, WP, and PHP, but I would suggest it’s time to learn a little CSS now as well. If you use a tool like Mozilla’s Firebug, you can identify the CSS identifier and tweak the CSS in a child theme (https://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes)

For example, the profile field by default has a padding: 8px; in the template. If you increase that number, you will increase the spacing between the profile fields.

Regarding adding the profile info in your member directory, this tutorial will walk you through how to pull a file from the plugin and add it to your child theme, so you can update the BP plugin more easily. It explains how to place an item on the Profile, but I’m sure the same thing could be pulled off on the Member Directory with a few tweaks.

http://bp-tricks.com/snippets/displaying-certain-profile-fields-on-your-members-profile-page/

In the BuddyPress admin area, you need to assign a WordPress page (created in the Dashboard under Pages/New) with a BP component. This codex page explains in more detail

Configure BuddyPress

The difference is in the scale and the level of complexity.

buddypress + WordPress on a single site is relatively simple to setup
wheras Buddypress+ WordPress Multisite is more complex and requires additional hosting resources

The functionality difference is on a single site install your users will be posting to a single blog whereas on a multisite instaall each user would have their own blog to post to.

If you are just seting up the site then my advice would be keep it simple and go for a single site WordPress+Buddypress setup

I’m a great believer in keeping things simple,and WordPress Multisite creates an additional layer of complexity which you probably do not require in initially.

The problem here is the bp_has_message_threads() function itself. It comes with hardcoded checks to override the $box to sentbox or inbox based on the results of bp_is_current_action().

You could try something this, in lieu of bp_has_message_threads():

function bp_custom_has_message_threads( $args = '' ) {
	global $messages_template;

	$r = wp_parse_args( $args, array(
		'user_id'      => bp_loggedin_user_id(),
		'box'          => 'inbox',
		'per_page'     => 10,
		'max'          => false,
		'type'         => 'all',
		'search_terms' => isset( $_REQUEST['s'] ) ? stripslashes( $_REQUEST['s'] ) : '',
		'page_arg'     => 'mpage', // See https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/3679
	) );

	if ( bp_is_current_action( 'notices' ) && !bp_current_user_can( 'bp_moderate' ) ) {
		bp_core_redirect( bp_displayed_user_domain() );
	}

	$messages_template = new BP_Messages_Box_Template( $r['user_id'], $r['box'], $r['per_page'], $r['max'], $r['type'], $r['search_terms'], $r['page_arg'] );

	return apply_filters( 'bp_has_message_threads', $messages_template->has_threads(), $messages_template );
}