BuddyPress.org

interesting and fortunate that you’d be replying here Paul. in a text file, saved for another forum, i have the following about you closing a similar thread:

this is emotional, persona, and critical for me — so i also wrote and considered posting:

“it almost makes me cry to see a BuddyPress admin behave in such a fashion.”

the OP was asking about functionality. the OP was pointing out functionality that does not work. and you closed the thread on the person.

i’ve worked with ace programmers before, who sometimes need emotional and interpersonal assistance to understand what “normal people” want and need. i get that. i’ve been able to be the kind of person who can help a programmer relate to “the rest of the people on a project” or at a company. mostly because as a documentation and training professional, i am often the interface between the programming team and the user base.

it’s hard to see such a cool concept (BuddyPress) harming itself and its community through such interpersonally and professionally unfortunate behavior.

what i mean is: the users are here for functionality. why would you consider their seeking and asking about functionality rude?

for me, if i provide any product or service, paid or otherwise, discussion about the product’s performance itself is never ever rude. it cannot be. they actually need to use the product or service. it’s rude to say something “sucks” when you have not used it, for example.

from a user’s perspective, it can be seen as rude to “sell” someone on free software that is supposed to do particular stuff, and then upon install, it doesn’t. then, they are told they are rude if they ask questions that would lead them to be able to configure the software. and quite possibly, they are demeaned based on their programming ability. then they are told to go pay, but they simply can’t find anyone with the skill set to help them. and their posts asking for help or explanations are just closed on them. add to that that the support forum for the product itself does not function in a manner effective enough that one could use it for a live community. so, if i installed BuddyPress and it worked the way this forum does, i’d have to “fix” BuddyPress for my install. Fortunately, my current install works better than what we see here, but the current functionality of the live forum does not inspire confidence.

in the end, possibly thousands of peoples’ “neat ideas” of creating websites for tinnitus help, autism help, juggling, parenting, a hobby, something really important, something really fun, a business — well they DIE.

there is a very good chance that i may continue to use BuddyPress for a life saving website, but my response to

“Why wouldn’t you use BuddyPress for an important, life-saving website?”

is — because an admin over there not only closed this thread https://buddypress.org/community/groups/requests-feedback/forum/topic/what-is-up-with-buddypress-org/ but found it rude and “not constructive.”

my deal with documentation is as follows: show me how to do something, and i will show others via articles, videos, etc. but if i am not shown, then i might not be able to create the docs. sometimes i need a “code snippet,” and for some reason, the coders just won’t give up the code. paid, unpaid, does not matter. won’t share their code. it’s my ball and you can’t play with it and you are rude if you want the reply button to work properly. who are you to say what is proper? rudey-pants, go learn how to code.

but the person is just like “hey, man, i love you, i love this software, i just want the reply button to work and post the comments on the original post as well as in the activity stream”

i already improved buddypress documentation once. however, i am an end user advocate, and if i were buddypress, i would literally ask my users what sucks about buddypress. i would ferret out each and every pain and address the issues. i would create procedures that allow dedicated people to implement functional websites and i would understand that people get frustrated after 80 hours of working on making something work as promised.

also, i would make a clear free-line and rate-sheet distinction so that people can pay for stuff if needed.

so there would be more money flowing, excellent community functionality, and saying “this doesn’t work” would not be considered rude. ever.

i do not advocate the use of language like “this and this sucks…” and it was not the OP who began such discourse. i am the founder of http://www.verbalyoga.com (the site is not up yet), i have clear understanding of what is verbally abusive and what is not.

and well — with all of that being said — BuddyPress seems like a very emotionally volatile product and community. pressing “update” can take an entire site down, and if you seek help — you run the risk of being called “rude” and having your posts closed on you before being responded to courteously, before being offered a paid or unpaid solution, before being given an explanation.

that is not fair and it is dangerous for a life-saving website.

non-programmers are people too
people who don’t know their way around buddypress are people too
non-coders are people too

of course, structured correctly, i could help you guys make heaploads of money. but maybe you don’t need money and are way over $250/hour and it does not matter what anyone throws at you.

improving your free-line (the software, the forum, the documentation) is all essential. in my opinion, i highly recommend you look at how BuddyPress treats sincere business owners, web-concept developers, low to high level tech folks, etc., especially when you feel criticized.

that’s the best i can do for you right now, and it’s a lot.

sincerely,
dainis w michel

well, one thing is actually fielding the comments. i mean, hey, ya wanna call them “topics for conversation,” i’m more than happy to do so. just give me some lead in time and a few missed shots and i’ll come around. i’ll even run your community for you and educate your entire user population on the way the programming team likes to be communicated with. “bugs” “topics for conversation” “f-ups” “doinks” “things that aren’t my fault” “stuff that’s broken for whatever reason” — it does not matter.

the point is fielding the comments and having a healthy cycle of discourse and development. we have to understand: buddypress is not doing that now. it’s not a healthy environment for business owners, so we have to deal with it.

i’d love to see BuddyPress turn the corner on this issue. i’d love to use BuddyPress on my commercial sites. i don’t know how to replace the BuddyPress activity stream, and i’d appreciate it if there were a list of comparable plugins right here on this thread. but again, that may be perceived as threatening. but it’s not — not for healthy business people.

healthy business people go: here you go, here are our competitors, here is how we are different and better in these categories.

but this is “free” software and well, the community does seem very very sensitive. not just sensitive in an emotional way, but sensitive in a: how dare you want your site to work, you are rude, now your site is broken so what nah nah nah kind of way.

i really commend Paul Gibbs for asking the question “Why wouldn’t you use BuddyPress for an important, life-saving website?”

— it means he inquired. and now we are responding. not because we are rude, but because he asked. these are our best answers, and hey, it ain’t so bad is it?

i kind of feel like i’m trying to “rescue” buddypress or something, and in a sense i am, cuz i want buddypress to work properly, and i can’t find an alternative.

hey, thanks for this thread and for your participation