BuddyPress.org

@saleaholic: Make sure that the pages exist, check that they’re selected in the BP Settings pane in wp-admin, and, finally, visit the WP Settings > Permalinks screen to make sure your permalink rules are up-to-date. Permalinks are the problem most of the time.

David

I wholly agree with the sentiments of the guy who posted this.

I think bbPress and BuddyPress are, frankly, appalling offerings to ordinary WordPress users.

They may well be excellent tools for developers, but they are the most user-unfriendly bits of software I have encountered in WordPress. Indeed, they make me wonder whether WordPress is for users anymore, rather than professional developers.

It simply should not be this complex, and dismally supported, to have a forum on WordPress.

I agree wholly with the view that there should be a premium paid-for service with a solution aimed at WordPress users – that is people who create editorial and run a site. Not the professional developers, who can look after themselves.

It does not surprise me that outfits like Wix are growing given this direction of WordPress. If it is for developers only – who hone their marketable skills doing this stuff – then fine.

For an ordinary user, who is not totally useless on WordPress, I have found this BBPress / BuddyPress combination utterly toxic and a waste of time.

We’ve used BuddyPress internally at my company and for client’s over the years and it has worked fine.
If you want a Good UI/UX, get a premium buddypress theme. Check the folk at BuddyBoss.

P.S Made WordPress Email Opt-in and User Registration & Profile plugins.

I completely Disagree! BuddyPress has served me well in over 250 projects. I only use 3 plugins on average and never use any pre-made themes. I have developed over 250 perfectly working and extremely customized communities and learning websites as well as intranet sites using BuddyPress and have never had any issues with it. I have never had any issues making it do just exactly what I want to to do “Well, there maybe one or 2 items I would change”.

Anyways, my point is, if you know how to work with WP’s flavor of messed up PHP, if you know how to use the codex, the extensive list of attributes and hooks, actions and filters that are listed all over the web, BuddyPress is a pretty puppy that can pretty much act, do or become anything you want without all the plugins.

As far as the help goes around here, Well, yes, It has a lot to be desired. When you post a question, you must realize that not everyone here can help. A lot of the members here are looking for help themselves. The guys who can help are often times bogged down trying to help others and along with having work of their own to complete for their jobs at the same time. So yes, the help here is sparse but no one ever said that this was the help desk or the help line. Its just a forum for people to ask questions and get replies from other members and sometime staff that will help out someone when we can.

And Finally……
Wordpress and BuddyPress are basically developers platforms. It just so happens that its simple enough that basically anyone who has a desire to learn or are at least brave enough to look into some files can make changes and even figure out how to make a theme if they want. No one ever said it was easy for everyone which is why a lot of people pay other people to do the work for them. If you fall into this category, please just pay someone to do the work and stop whining about not getting help because you dont know what your doing.