BuddyPress.org

I feel very much like a kid who’s been misplaced at the zoo. Everything looks kinda familiar but I don’t recognize anyone and I’m starting to panic and stress out with all the strange aloneness.

(And, yes, I’ve studied and studied the BP Custom Post Types plugin which has no UI and was written for “developers” and not given “for dummies” instructions. )

I have created a custom post type — Bookmarks — with custom taxonomies — url, story_author, genre, tropes, characters, etc. — and fields — fav_flag, rec_flag, and to_read_flag. I’m utilizing the_excerpt as the summary/desc field and the_content as the rec/review field. I want to make the post format always be link.

What I can’t seem to figure out is

1. How to display the posts anywhere. They do not show up under activity. They do not show up on the home page.

2. Once I do get them to show up, how can I get them to format correctly? With the post title hyperlinked with the url and the poster’s summary (the_excerpt), maybe some of the taxonomies, if any of the flags are true, and the permalink to the rest?

3. How do I list the posts based on the custom fields, which are basically flags — ie. list a person’s to read list or list of rec’d bookmarks, etc.?

When I started working on this a little over a month ago, this seemed like it should be such an easy thing to do, but now it makes me want to cry. Please, please help me.

J.