@DJPaul writing a check now! LOL
Downloading and testing plug in 
oh and this statement:
“I think BuddyPress will be different things to different people… including the developers”
Is very true as bp is a a plug in architecture
@derekbolden
when you create a Blog as a user, then you are being send into the WPMU-Dashboard-interface.
At least at my installation…….is it different at yours ?
The way I see it is that the blogs are the icing on the cake you get with a social network built on wp and bp. I don’t see the sense in a quick blog post form in the frontend. If you only want to write a quick note then use the activity stream. The wp backend is one of the best I have seen and I’ve worked with a lot of different systems. Why take all those goodies away from your users by restricting them to only use a few of the available features through a form on the frontend?
I mean, I would never use the QuickPress widget on the dashboard for the same reason. If you think your users will have problems with the backend interface (not likely, let em play around for an hour and they’ll be pros), then half a dozen short introductory screencasts about the various features are the way to go. Easy to make and once your users get the hang of it, they won’t want to go back. The wp backend is the most intuitive out there and it’s not gonna change anytime soon. Why should it?
With all that said I do agree that a unified look can only be beneficial to your community, so if you want to go that extra mile, then get someone to build an admin theme that mirrors the look of your site (or do it yourself).
I’ll be modifying the backend just a bit, I think. Change some colors around, add my own logo and then there’ll be a help page full with screencasts highlighting the features of both the front and the backend.
I agree that buddypress should have a front-end dashboard for the normal users. Actually the only big obstacle is to move the posts wysiwyg to the front-end. Some plugins allready do this, but none work “superb” yet.
Beside the blog posts the users wouldn’t need access to the admin panel.
@Travel-Junkie
totally agree with you.
An “Admin-Theme” which mirrors the current testbp.org default-theme would be great.
BTW: thanks a lot for your great and professional support to get my website up and running !
@Erich73 In my opinion a BudyPress site works best if there are blog creators/writers and subscribers. Hopefully if things go well the majority should be Subscribers. Those folks will rarely if ever see the backend. I for one WANT my bloggers to have almost full access to the backend and all of it’s features. You have to give them that level of control to ensure their buy in. To me the best example of a really great BuddyPress site is a group of a half dozen or so rocking awesome blogs and a community that develops around them, NOT a community where 100 users have 100 play blogs where “test” becomes the prevailing blog title. You add some additional discussion related features like groups, forums, and events and i think you have a great formula for a thriving community.
I HOPE that BuddyPress does not become a member aggregation site where, the more people, the more successful a site is “perceived” to be. That to me is the game that Ning is playing. Why in the world woulu Buddypress want to be another Ning?
@derek
I think you have hit the nail on the head with this post. I don’t think that it is necessarily a long term assessment, but it describes what BuddyPress is best at right now. I think more advances are necessary to take it beyond this where users can contribute more content without having to be a full invested writer/blogger.
I am not saying everyone will want those features, but it seems like a lot of people do want to use BuddyPress as a content aggregator, not just a publication.
I have a network of web entrepreneurs. It’s hard enough to get them to create blogs and actually use them. OK, that’s not only BP’s fault of course, but “full invested writer/bloggers” will set up their own blogs – I’m also a journalist, I would never write/blog in someone else’s network.
I think more advances are necessary to take it beyond this where users can contribute more content without having to be a full invested writer/blogger.
That’s why I need to come up with an external blog feed-in solution. Currently stuck in upgrading my theme… I also like the microblogging suggestions.
And Groups has limitless and unique opportunities; dynamic groups with lots of content within a private social network/community.
My worry:
Will Buddypress eventually target schools, companies, trade associations, sports clubs, etc.? Or even become enterprise ready? Or will it stay a more limited play thing for insider groups of dedicated blogging geeks with a lot of free time on their hands?
I HOPE that BuddyPress does not become a member aggregation site where, the more people, the more successful a site is “perceived” to be. That to me is the game that Ning is playing. Why in the world woulu Buddypress want to be another Ning?
I agree. That model is dead. I believe the concept of “private social networks” is different. Jeff’s privacy component is essential – haven’t had the chance to test it yet.
But there should be opportunities for low threshold content creation and communication and I would develop them around (micro)blogging. Again, I have mixed feelings about the addition of old-fashioned forums.
Wow!! I wish this post had a different title because it hits on some really core issues that I hope everyone chimes in on. I was searching on how to let users “post” without giving them a full-blown blog/website and all the hassles that comes with. Mr. Maz crystallized it for me:
What it does best is create an instant social network around a community of bloggers. Since there are so few good looking options out there for out-of-the-box social network software, I think some people want BuddyPress to be more than it is.
Hammer meet nail!!! I’m one of those people.
However, with the merge coming, BP will be exposed to greater millions who have NO interest in creating a community of bloggers, but just a community for a new or pre-existing site. The pre-existing site is primary and the community is secondary. As software officially “adopted” by Automattic and arguably best of breed, Automattic will have to deal with this.
I chose WP/BP for a niche site where I want to build significant user interaction functionality because:
- I believe WP is growing and development in core and plugins will surpass others for some time
- Its ease of use for the developer with some php/mysql background (me)
- I found BP later, but it is still has a brighter future than the competitors I’ve seen and the merge will only multiply that (but, there are alternatives https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mingle/ , https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/alkivia/)
- There are so many people trying to solve the same problems, I trust they’ll get it fixed – eventually
All that said, I think I’ll start another post on how to make BP work for sites that just want to use BP as a foundation for social interaction and not as a blogging network.
