Hi I have a WP/BuddyPress installation that I have just added bbPress to. Unfortunately I couldn’t migrate bbpress to buddypress and so deleted bbpress (and my buddypress forums) to go for a fresh install.

My issue is that when I navigate to the root forum directory it returns my WP archives page!

I had a related (probably) issue with my blog a while back, where the blog would return a 404, so I had to rename the root of my blog to not match my category base!

I do appreciate that this is probably a WP issue but I have had no luck getting a response on the WP support forums.

I’ve tried refreshing permalinks, changing themes, deactivating plugins (incl supercache) etc but to no avail.

The site I’m managing is for a worthy non-profit and I have little resources to pay anyone to assist me with this – I’m pulling my hair out on this one.

Please help if you have any suggestions on either of these issues.

Many thanks,

Antony

Here’s an excerpt from my old WP support post…

“My website has developed an issue with the pagination, and/or archives depending on setup, which causes 404 errors (not sure when this first developed).

All works fine when my blog url is different to my category base e.g.
blog = ‘cfmblog’ (url = http://mywebsite/cfmblog/page/2/)
category base = ‘blog’ (url = http://mywebsite/blog/articles/environment/)

When I set both to ‘blog’ (which is ideally what I would like to keep) I get 404 errors when navigating to page 2 of the blog. When this occurs the archives work fine.”

[@mercime Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

Unfortunately I couldn’t migrate bbpress to buddypress and so deleted bbpress (and my buddypress forums) to go for a fresh install.

No migration needed, both plugins work together https://codex.buddypress.org/getting-started/installing-group-and-sitewide-forums/

My issue is that when I navigate to the root forum directory it returns my WP archives page!

If you followed instructions from link above, what slug do you have for your forum archive? Did you create a page specifically with that slug for your forum index and added shortcodes to show all forums and/or topics

[@antonyc Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

Hi @mercime thank you so much for your speedy reply.
I went through the steps in the link and have managed to get a sitewide forum working <<BUT>> with the same issue I outlined above (which I think is a core issue with my WP) in that I can get a forum index page working if its slug is different to the Forum Root Slug in the settings page. This works until the breadcrumb slug is clicked on (which is defined by the Root slug) and slips back to my blog archive page!! If, as in my initial post, the Root Slug is the same as my index page slug it, displays my blog archive!
Any thoughts on what seems to be a core post-type/permalink kind of issue?
Many thanks,
Antony

[@mercime Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

if its slug is different to the Forum Root Slug in the settings page

What exactly is your forum archive slug – Forums or Discussions? Not sure how could it have the same slug as archive page unless you named the forum root “Archive”.
– try creating a new page named Discussions and publish
– go to Settings > bbPress and set the forum archive slug to discussions
– now go edit Discussions page and add the bbPress shortcode
– open up the page e.g. example.com/discussions/

[@antonyc Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

Hi, I’ve done all you suggested.

OK, so with all plugins disabled…
–When I first switch to WP 2013 theme…
—-my blog functions fine
—-the root forum url works fine BUT…
—-clicking on any forum, topic etc returns a 404 Error.
–Then, when I refresh the permalinks…
—-my blog page 2 returns a 404 error.
—-all bbpress urls seem to be fine.

–When I switch back to my Theme…
—-my blog functions fine (using the ‘blog’ slug)
—-the root forum url works fine BUT…
—-clicking on any forum, topic etc returns a 404 Error.
–Then, when I refresh the permalinks…
—-my blog page 2 returns a 404 error.
—-the bbpress root forum now returns my blog Archive (which isn’t formatted correctly).
—-refreshing open pages for forums and topics etc now work fine.

You can view the pages at…
http://thechildrensfiremovement.com/discussion/
and http://thechildrensfiremovement.com/discussion/topic/test-topic-for-first-test-forum/

If I were to now change the slug of the root forum to ‘cfm-discussions’ (so it’s different to the forum index page slug) it would then function correctly until someone clicks on the breadcrumb taking them to the ‘cfm-discussion’ slug – this would return the blog Archive!) – hope you can follow this!

So, it’s nothing to do with my plugins, and, although it does return slightly different results depending on the theme it still doesn’t function correctly and does seem to be somthing more core with WP – what do you think?

Appreciating your support in this,

Antony.

[@antonyc Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

PS: I also deleted my .htaccess to start afresh when doing the above.

[@mercime Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

@antonyc Disable all plugins except BuddyPress and bbPress and keep it on Twenty Twelve/Thirteen. If you’re going to change forum archive slug and create a new Page with the same new forums archives slug, you would have to re-run Permalinks again.

[@antonyc Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

Hi, I’m not sure what you mean by forum archive slug – I don’t see that in the settings page. Also, I can’t leave my site on twenty twelve – it’s live and uses a different theme. Whenever I make a change I have been refreshing permalinks.
Cheers,
Antony

[@antonyc Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

Also, I’ve found this thread regarding the same issue…

How do I use the [bbp-single-forum id=$forum_id] shortcode in a template file?

It’s a longstanding issue with bbpress (over a year now) which many folk are also having as well as me! Any suggestions regarding this?

[@antonyc Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

sry – the archive slug is the root forum slug isn’t it?

[@antonyc Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

Hi, Sorry to bombard you with posts here. Latest update…

On a different install of WP-2013 theme with bbpress and buddypress, everything works – blog, buddypress and forums!!

When I then activate my theme all works but the bbpress forum root – this again resolves as my blog archive, which is the same issue as reported in the thread link I posted earlier.

Not sure where to go from here.

Cheers, Antony

[@mercime Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

When I then activate my theme all works but the bbpress forum root – this again resolves as my blog archive, which is the same issue as reported in the thread link I posted earlier.

@antonyc it’s a theme issue then. Are you sure that you have the latest version of your Dynamix theme that’s supposed to be compatible with BP 1.8.1? If not, then you would have to update your theme. If you have an updated theme, then contact theme author or post in theme’s forums to resolve the issue.

[@antonyc Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

Hi @mercime, you are right. Sorry I haven’t replied sooner as have been away.
My theme designer had a couple of forum template pages (archive-forum.php and forum.php) that I added to my buddypress child theme – it’s fixed both my forum issues and my blog.
Really appreciated your support with this one – a big thank you!
Cheers,
Antony

[@mercime Participant 11 years, 2 months ago]

@antonyc Thank you for coming back and posting how the issue was resolved.
Marking this as resolved 🙂