The users table has been pared down to include only core user information. Additional information about each user can be stored in the new usermeta table. Accessing the information is just as easy as it always was; both the core and the meta information are included in the good ol’ $user object.

For anyone out there twisting their installs around to see what bbPress can do, you only need to know two things:

  1. update_usermeta( $user_id, $meta_key, $meta_value );
  2. Don’t add to $user_cache manually; always use bb_get_user( $user_id );

Sorry about all the technical whatnot, but it’s a big, exciting change!