Hi Barry, it sounds like you’re not clear on what bbPress and BuddyPress are exactly. So let me try to clarify it for you.
bbPress is a plugin for wordpress which provides you with forum functionality. And because it comes from the same folks who created wordpress, it works great with wordpress and other WP plugins.
BuddyPress is a plugin for wordpress which provides you with a social network functionality. What does that mean? Well, imagine facebook, myspace, or any other social media platform – they have profiles, people can create and fill in their userpages, people can message other people privately, they have an activity page which shows their activity on the site, etc.
bbPress and BuddyPress are two totally different plugins but they work together and can be integrated with one another. But if you want to use just one of them, you can. You do not need to run both.
I’ve tracked down the video I think you refer to:
http://labsecrets.com/buddypress-and-bbpress-forums-made-easy/
And I can clarify that for you as well. BuddyPress used to have its own way of creating forums, called “BuddyPress Group Forums”. But that functionality is deprecated because the developers decided to rely on bbPress rather than duplicate it within BuddyPress. So the latest version of BuddyPress doesn’t have group forums but instead relies on bbPress.
It all depends on what you are trying to do. What you are seeing in “the two forum apps merging to become one” is simply a deep integration between them so IF people want to use both, they can do so with ease and get the fullest functionality out of that combination use.
It sounds like you want a forum. If that is the case, forget about BuddyPress and just use bbPress.
Hope that helps!
One more thing, you’ll notice that the labsecrets video link is from early 2012 (about 2 years ago) and at that time BuddyPress did have the ability to create its own forums.
Thanks for replying. š
I like the idea of integrating Social media into the base forum. So, bbpress is the workhorse and takes care of the forum. This would include user groups, permissions, roles and all the other wonderful things associated with forums. While BuddyPress takes care of the social media aspects ala Facebook and Twitter. I’m sure there’s more to it.
It sounds like Simple:Press is a relative indicator of what those two apps are becoming. Here’s my problem. I need an interface that organizes all the forum related tasks. I’m finding the setup with BuddyPress & bbpress to be a little intimidating.
I hope the LabZip guys come out with a more current video. I was wanting him to go into better details on all the options for setting up roles, permissions and etc.
I need an interface that organizes all the forum related tasks. Iām finding the setup with BuddyPress & bbpress to be a little intimidating.
It sounds like you just need a forum, which would be bbPress. The reason bbPress and BuddyPress are separate plugins is that this allows people to pick and choose according to their needs. What you need to figure out first is, what do you want and need?
To learn more about how to use bbPress, check out the official guides here: https://codex.bbpress.org/
There are also plugins specifically to add functionality to bbPress, such as spam control and other neat things:
Plugins
Hope that helps.
sIt sounds like you just need a forum, which would be bbPress. The reason bbPress and BuddyPress are separate plugins is that this allows people to pick and choose according to their needs.
What you need to figure out first is, what do you want and need?
This is precisely where my mind was, yesterday. š Thank for the directed question and the link mentioned by mercime. I’m getting a better picture of two things.
The document provided clarity on the difference between a sitewide forum and the group forum. I needed this; regardless of app. Here’s the plan:
I want to create two distinct group forums. The first is “Shore Classified”. I want this to be a private group forum and not open to the public. This is where I’ll have individual forums dealing with specific topics relating to that forum. Ex. Business forum handle businesses in the Shore area. Another forum is Help Wanted.
I was planning to open this to a specific group of people. I am initially thinking the people in my church and others in the Jersey Shore area. Right now, I’m questioning what should be in that type of forum; as I am concerned with safety. So, I am open to alternative to what type of forum. I’d also like a forum where blog writers can share new stories they’ve written.
The second group forum is PUBLIC. This group forum is where I want people to go. This will need further developing. My initial thoughts is to create forums for popular area of interest. I did see a plugin that will create topics from my sites blog posts.
