BuddyPress.org

Hi folks, new BuddyPress user here. (Using BP 3.1.0, WP 4.9.8, site in development)

I’m looking to use BP for the following specific functionality:

1) Allow our members to post updates on their own profile (privately) for their own reference (diary style), which they will be able to review themselves later, over time.
2) It would be great if the admin user(s) could post comments on their diary entries too.

First hurdle: I would like to know how to “hide” certain elements of BuddyPress. When I go to the Activity page for a test user, besides the activity entry box and feed, I see links to toggle between “All Users” and “Mentions”. Then there’s an RSS link, a “Search Activity” box (might keep that, sure), and a dropdown for ‘Everything’ and some other options.

My first question: How do I go about hiding / disabling the functionality I don’t want our members to see/use? Should I edit plugins/buddypress/bp-activity/bp-activity-template.php ? Is this a good idea? :-O

Second question: Changing references of “Activity” to, say, “Diary” — is this best done with a translate plugin (e.g. LocoTranslate)?

3rd question: How would I enable admins the ability to add comments within a member’s activity stream (e.g. respond to specific entries)? Does anyone have any ideas on that? Is there another plugin somewhere that enables such functionality, perhaps?

Thanks for advice/tips you can give!
David.