[annathea]

_ck_, there was no misconception – I tested bbPress thoroughly with MU before I decided it was the right move for us. I would expect any other user to do the same. And I’ll just chime in and say that the bbPress site and forums made it very clear to me before I began that bbPress and WordPress are two different applications and would need manual integration.

Prior to bbPress, I tried integrating PunBB directly with our WordPress install, and while I wouldn’t call it difficult exactly, it was unnecessary: the features that separate PunBB from bbPress went largely unused by our community, so why not use forum software that uses a similar table structure, takes advantage of the wp_users table, and is supported by the same community of interested users that brought us WordPress?

I’ll admit my needs are very specific, and that the alternative to using open source software is writing it myself, which means I can get pretty excited that bbPress ONLY requires a certain amount of integration. Also, as specific as my needs are, I posted the conversion script I used for the one or two other people who find themselves in the same position. I don’t know that it’s a common request, and I imagine that anyone who’s in the position of converting already has a bbPress install they’re happy with, whether it’s integrated with WordPress or not.

[annathea]

_ck_ : Our PunBB forum dates from the inception of our site, and the nature of our community has sort of moved the interaction out of the forums and throughout the rest of the site. So I wanted to be able to incorporate our past discussions into the latest version of the site and have a little finer control over the data (relating archived forum discussions to archived blog entries and such). Since I am expecting that participation in the forums may continue shifting more toward the blog comments, I am trying to merge the old and the new and a PunBB -> bbPress -> WordPress path has fit perfectly so far.