[rich! @ etiviti]

quickly note some of the important things

1) documentation, examples, and more documentation – from plug-ins to core. it is very difficult to ramp up and extend the functionality of bbPress when you have to spend considerable time researching how to hook into things. php is not my first language but i’d be more enticed to extend if there is something to fall back upon.

2) cohesiveness of technologies used in other automattic products – bring bbPress into the fold and create a common experience; UI. why do we have a scaled down editor in bbPress for example. IMHO, it should be the same as WP – if i’m using another automattic product, i’d like the same experience as those are the reasons why i use it. …i understand the lightweight approach (which i like) but its also important to consider the expectations.

2a) IntenseDebate – to me this is just a forum add-on to a blog post (topic). frankly the feature subset of ID is what a lot of forum administrators like (Comment Threading, Reply-By-Email, Email Notifications, Moderation/Blacklisting, Reputation Points & Comment Voting, +openid/etc login). again, just common experience of automattic.

3) the whole standalone, bbpress => wp, bbpress <= => wp thing (if i want bbpress and wp to talk to each other, this should be a core level thing instead of a plug-in to cross pollinate content – sometimes it is just easier to shy away from bbpress and opt for ID – in this instance buddypress is too much for a small community) but i need another cup of coffee before i can touch further on this subject