BuddyPress.org

Lately I have been running some local (WAMP) tests to learn more about WordPress Network and BuddyPress. For instance how to install BuddyPress on a secondary blog, which worked out swimmingly, so thanks for that!

One thing still mystifies me about BuddyPress on a Network: Upon network activation (I don’t see any other way, so I assume this is how I’m supposed to do it) there’s suddenly a top-level black menu added to every site across my network. Magic! I don’t mind it at all, it’s just rather mystifying is all.

I would like to kindly request either an addition to “before installing“, or a new page all together, like “installing BuddyPress on WordPress Network”, that explains the how-to’s and mind-you’s of the process. I didn’t mind seeing the BP menu pop up everywhere, but some questions came to mind:
– Where is the code? Is it replicated, or pulled from a single location?
– Should I be worried about the load?
– Can I keep it from loading on select sites?
– Can my messing about with BuddyPress somehow affect my other sites?
I think these type of questions ought to be answered in an official doc somewhere.

It also took me a while to realize how exactly user registrations on a WordPress Network work (ugh), especially in accord with BuddyPress, but that might be more of a WPN-specific topic.