BuddyPress.org

Get this plugin:

https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/add-users-sidebar-widget/

@jeffsayre @jackreichert @deltina etc.

Can I just counterpoint?

Chiming in here. I’m waiting for @apeatling to also talk more about this issue. Somebody mentioned DiSo. As I understood it, DiSo was more than just trying to systemically build distributed social networking out of WordPress or BuddyPress, but trying to do so through the establishment of more widely accepted protocols, i.e., the “social stack,” which included things like OpenID, OAuth, PortableContacts, and so forth. (“Social stack” is less of a buzz word today, but that was part of the beginning.)

I partly agree with the sentiment about WordPress needing implicit ground-up structural changes for the implementation of better social protocols, however, part of the problem @ the time actually had more to do with a lack of experience as well the protocols were still being nailed down. For example, we’re entering a second phase in all of this, as OAuth 2.0 is in the process of being released as a spec, and a 2nd iteration of OpenID will be issued as OpenID Connect — part of the problem also in the first place was these two protocols weren’t designed at the same time, so they didn’t work together conjunctively as well, but phase two here has the benefit of a foundation, so they can now build off each other. (See http://openidconnect.com/ and http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/05/new-openid-connect-proposal-could-solve-many-of-the-social-webs-woes/ )

There were also several other issues in flux, a major one being discovery. XAuth is providing a temporary solution for this going forward. Other less-known, but increasingly important protocols matured or are maturing rather rapidly: Salmon, PubSubHubbub, Activity Streams, to name a few.

That said, I think @Jeff_Sayre has been a little bit of a voice in the wilderness on all these matters. I just read this blog post of his http://jeffsayre.com/2010/05/15/repackaging-the-promise-of-the-social-semantic-web/ and it hit the nail ON THE HEAD for what’s staring everyone in the face. Sometimes things are so obvious that it’s hard to perceive them, you know?

That being said, can I just make one plea? Sometimes I hear a lot of the main BuddyPress developers intimate that they don’t really like the protocols being developed toward this end…the technology is wrong, etc., etc., and then there’s sometimes talk of how to do it right or how to do it better than the social stack.

I don’t involve myself *too much* in development here @ BuddyPress central, but I’ve been following development from the beginning, perhaps most especially with an eye toward distributing the social network beyond just one BuddyPress silo, and I do have a fairly solid view of the history of both the social stack and BuddyPress.

Can I just offer that we try and go with the flow of the protocols already being worked on in other arenas? The Internet Identity Workshop is taking place tomorrow (Mon. – Wed), it’s 10th session in just five years, and so much has happened and will continue to happen — just look at what’s on the agenda: http://iiw.idcommons.net/Proposed_Topics_IIW10 (Main site is here: http://www.internetidentityworkshop.com/ ) It’s true that these tend to be a lot of big players, i.e., Google, Facebook, MySpace, and so forth. But a lot of the people @ this particular workshop started out working small (like on DiSo), and have the interest of the open source community in mind. I sort of feel like I’m preaching to the choir, but I do think it’s really important that we all not forget the work that has already been done towards establishing solid protocols. In other words, instead of bitching about how to do things right, I think we ought to come to the IIW table, so to speak. These new internet standards have come a long way since then, and we still have a long way to go, so lets help make that happen.

#1) Try https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-registration-options/

“What access if any does wordpress.com give to plugins.”Was a somewhat rhetorical question

“None whatsoever.”

Unless you’re a wordpress.com VIP member and then there’s some room to negotiate. Although, I’d be very surprised if they let even VIP members run BP on it.

Your second, third and fourth requests can be taken care of by making sure the groups are set as Private. That means that they don’t show up in public listings, and their contents are only visible to members of the group.

In order to make sure that people can only be part of a single group, you’ll want to hide the Send Invite screen for all users, or at least for non-admins. You could either do this through CSS, or by modifying/reproducing the functionality defined at bp-groups.php groups_setup_nav().

As for the first question, there are WP plugins that allow you to restrict membership to invited members. A ten-second Google search turned up this: https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-invites/, for example. I imagine that this would work fine for BP as well. The most straightforward way to populate groups would then be for the admin to use a plugin like BP Group Management http://teleogistic.net/code/buddypress/bp-group-management/, which allows admins to place people manually in groups, bypassing the invitation process.

“What access if any does wordpress.com give to plugins.”

None whatsoever.

@21cdb (“The only thing is missing is the ability to choose if you want to post an “Update” or an “Discussion” (or Forum Post, or whatever you want to name it).”)

You could achieve that using categories and some if/else PHP. I did something like that in my P2 group blogs, that I use instead of forums. WordPress 3.0 will apparently have custom post types that will make this easier.

BP-FBConnect plugin has not been upgraded to work with WP 2.9.2 or the BP 1.2.x series. This is why you’re having issues. See the requirements section on the right: https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-fbconnect/

Contact the plugin author and ask when this plugin will be updated.

It’s possible that someday WordPress.com will provide their users with an option to install BuddyPress on their blogs (for an additional fee, I imagine). But until that happens, your only choice is as @hnla has stated–running your own copy of BP on a self-hosted WP install.

Clarify that question please. If you want to run Buddypress you’ll need your own server – shared hosting at a pinch – as it’s a little more than a simple plugin nothing else that I’m aware of comes anywhere near the functionality that BP adds. What access if any does wordpress.com give to plugins.

You can’t. You will have to run a standalone copy of WP

Thanks for quick reply @boonebgorges , but I’ve tried all the permalink options. A couple of things that might help to identify the problem: 1) If I create a link http://www.mysite.com/wp-content/activity/, this finds the BP activity index page but subsequent links within that page revert to 404’s e.g. http://www.mysite.com/members or any other. This seems to indicate that BP is in the wrong directory? and 2) When I use /%year%/%monthnum%/%postname%/ permalinks, I get http://www.mysite.com/2010/05/members..which returns a 404. Please note that with all other pages and links generated via WordPress Dashboard works fine with or without BP installed. I use Siteground (www.siteground.com) who I am sure have rewrite mods enabled. Do you think I should copy BP files into a higher directory away from my theme directory? Should I load a BP functions file into the root directory like the Forum component (e.g. public_html/bb-config.php)?
One other thing : when I copied from my home PC using FIlezilla, I copied into the www directory, not into the public_html directory. I am not sure what the www directory does? Does it replicate whatever is in the public_html? Hope you cn help.

@Joey hey man I just figured out that there’s instructions on this page: you simply upload the .php file you download here to the /mu-plugins/ folder. And viola it works!

https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/registered-users-only-2/

@jackreichert-

If you are asking where to start in helping turn WP / BP into a distributed social networking platform, I cannot say. That is currently not in the works. It would require a major rewriting of WordPress’ foundational core. If you are asking about the project I reference in my post, then it’s best to email me separately as that is beyond scope for the BuddyPress forums.

But, there may be a middle ground. A few of us are in the beginning stages of thinking about semantifying BuddyPress with the possible goal of enabling BP to use WebIDs as an alternative to OpenID, and to encode other semantic markup to enable BP networks to join the growing number of Linked Data applications.

I find it a bit annoying that the developers are so hesitant to speak on the matter, as it’s clearly a reappearing debate. Should that be interpreted as indecision, still?

Last I heard, bbPress was going to be rewritten into a native WordPress plug-in, taking advantage of custom pages and all that jazz. mmMMMm, smooth. Probably a year away though?

In my comments on this subject I tend to be a tad too negative towards BuddyPress. In truth, it provides me with all the *essentials* right here and now, I just feel it could be quite a bit better, without all too much effort.

interesting:

2) How do spammers find BP communities?
Using Google.
Example: http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=%2B”is+proudly+powered+by+WordPress+and+BuddyPress”; (front page of every BP site on the net)
Example: http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=inurl:%22/community/members/%22+%2Bbuddypress (members page of every BP site on the net)

I have two open test BP installs (one wp_user linked to my blog domain) and changed the standard footer. Not a single spam sign-up (just hashcash installed)

It sounds like a permalink issue. @malik, you said that when you switched your WP permalinks to something other than the default, WP stopped working. It’s probably the case that your provider is missing mod_rewrite or otherwise does not have the correct server configuration to support WP permalinks (which are, in turn, required for BP). Here is the page on permalinks from the WP Codex; there are technical details in the second part of the page: https://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks