[Darryl]

I’m looking at the latest update being over 2 years ago, maybe one of the example sites listed are even running WP at all.

Is bbPress still a viable solution for a WP forum?

[nathan13]

Reply*test

[Robin W]

I am just a moderator here, and not a bbpress author.

The authors tend to release updates every few years, rather than more frequently.

My personal view is that you should consider bbpress to be a ‘mature’ product, ie any releases will be to fix issues rather than add functionality.

bbpress is written really well, and has loads of hooks. There are no show stopper bugs in it, it may throw a few deprecation notices (and these are very few at the moment), but WordPress recommends that you should not show error messages in live sites.

I currently have my test site running 8.1 with no issues.

The only major issue with bbpress at the moment is that it does not work well with FSE themes.

However my bbp style pack plugin has fixes for this

bbp style pack

as well as block versions of the widgets and a ton of styling and functionality add-ons.

All plugins are subject to the authors commitment, and I would not count on ANY plugin having a 10 year support timescale, so other options offer the same amount of certainty.

As @terresquall says the main WordPress support forums use bbpress, and it would be mega work to move those over to some other product.

But yes, with open software you make your choices….

[tronn]

which latest releases?

I’ve tried both from here https://bbpress.org/download/

In the meantime I have switched from Elementor to Avada (largest WP template), same issue. The index is fine but viewing a forum or topic the root dir setup is gone, i.e. forum stretches the entire content area and no sidebar or containers.

Since the bbPress install was 9 years ago also used the tools to reset everything.

The problem appears to be that bbPress (or the latest WordPress 6.2.2) is not considering the root dir setup.

May be related https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/58366

[Robin W]

which latest releases?

[tronn]

With the latest releases when navigating to a forum (not the forum index), any Elementor code is gone. Same when using just a sidebar or blocks.

I found an old advice here https://kriesi.at/support/topic/bbpres-no-sidebar-in-topics/ but unclear where the mentioned sidebar.php is located (perhaps theme specific).

Other things I’ve tried
• Configured to use the same forum slug (forum, no root)
• Disabled the main theme, use the latest WordPress default theme.
• Disabled a redirection add-on.

[grownow]

bbPress is a popular forum software that is designed to integrate seamlessly with WordPress. While it is primarily intended to be used as a WordPress plugin, it is technically possible to install bbPress without WordPress. However, this is not a recommended or officially supported use case.

bbPress relies on various WordPress functions, libraries, and database tables to function properly. Therefore, attempting to install bbPress as a standalone application without WordPress may lead to compatibility issues and limited functionality.

Regarding the documentation for setting up bbPress without WordPress, it’s important to note that the official bbPress documentation primarily focuses on its usage as a WordPress plugin. Since installing bbPress without WordPress is not the recommended approach, there may not be official documentation specifically addressing this scenario.

If you still want to proceed with installing bbPress without WordPress, you can try the following general steps:

Download bbPress: Visit the official bbPress website (https://bbpress.org/) and download the latest version of bbPress.

Set up a web server: Install and configure a web server (such as Apache or Nginx) on your server or local machine.

Set up PHP: Install PHP and configure it to work with your web server.

Set up a MySQL database: Install and configure a MySQL database server. You will need to create a new database for bbPress and a user with appropriate privileges.

Create the necessary directories: Create a directory on your server or local machine where you want to install bbPress.

Extract bbPress: Extract the contents of the bbPress download package into the directory you created.

Configure bbPress: Open the config.php file located in the bbPress directory and modify the database connection settings to match your MySQL setup.

Set up the necessary tables: bbPress requires specific database tables to function correctly. You may need to manually create these tables using MySQL commands or import an existing schema if available.

Configure your web server: Set up the necessary configuration directives in your web server to point to the bbPress installation directory.

Access bbPress: Once you’ve completed the above steps, you should be able to access bbPress by visiting the appropriate URL in your web browser.

It’s important to note that this process may require advanced technical knowledge and troubleshooting skills. Since this is not the intended use case for bbPress, you may encounter various compatibility issues or limitations along the way.

If you’re looking to create a standalone forum application, there are other forum software options available that are specifically designed to work independently without relying on WordPress, such as phpBB or Discourse. It may be more suitable to explore those alternatives for your needs.

[codejp3]

@tealcfr – what Robin W suggested is probably your best bet if you need it done immediately.

Considering that there are plenty of other topics on this very same thing and there’s been a 9 year old ticket for this very thing (https://bbpress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/2605), your options are limited. A simple and logical approach without any code like Robin suggested above, or custom queries and perhaps some custom code like I suggested before that.

I’ve taken a look at /includes/converters/bbPress1.php and /includes/classes/class-bbp-converter-base and I think it’s realistic to make a bbPress2.php converter to use within the default bbPress importer (and would also solve the outstanding ticket #2605). If you don’t have the skills to do that, I’d consider doing it as an addition to the bbPress community, but I’d want you (and others) to test it before it gets submitted as a patch. I could have it ready for testing within a week or two. Not a good option if you’re in a rush.

[codejp3]

Follow-up:

Apparently this is only a problem on some sites with misconfiguration/other issues, and also for certain browsers.

I am able to get the TinyMCE editor control buttons to display properly on a fresh test site, and it works well on every common browser.

The issue at hand is on a specific site with specific issues that need to be dug into a little deeper. It is not an overall bbPress/TinyMCE issue. You can ignore this topic and not post any suggestions (unless you really want to).

[Robin W]

ok, no one else is reporting this, and I cannot replicate this error.

This suggests it is site specific.

If you are happy that you are getting this on a reply from you where you have definitely only hit the submit button once, then I can only suggest you do the standard fault finding

it could be a theme or plugin issue

Themes

As a test switch to a default theme such as twentytwenty, and see if this fixes.

Plugins

If that doesn’t work, also deactivate all plugins apart from bbpress and see if this fixes. if it does, re-enable one at a time to see which is causing the error.

If you cannot do this to your site (say because it is live) then use the ‘troubleshooting’ features of this plugin to let you test without affecting other users

Health Check & Troubleshooting

Then come back

Otherwise maybe talk to your hosting provider about site speed

[david8mali]

Hello, is there any shortcode or other way to display exactly the same profile data on another subpage? I have created a subpage with some information on it, before it I want to put the profile of the user who logs in. His profile will be displayed

currently i have it at this address /members/test_user. I want this data to be displayed elsewhere

[Robin W]

bbpress has not had a release since November 2021, so what do you mean by ‘has lately’ – if after that, then suspect something else is now making that not work.

You suggested cause (‘I suspect the code doing this is non-standard’) may be correct and something else is now causing this to show or it may not be bbpress causing this. Maybe look at what else has changed – wordpress, php versions, other plugins etc.

Without knowing your set up or indeed your technical ability (although from you post this seems to be good!) I’d also initially suggest the standard fault finding :

it could be a theme or plugin issue

Themes

As a test switch to a default theme such as twentytwenty, and see if this fixes.

Plugins

If that doesn’t work, also deactivate all plugins apart from bbpress and see if this fixes. if it does, re-enable one at a time to see which is causing the error.

If you cannot do this to your site (say because it is live) then use the ‘troubleshooting’ features of this plugin to let you test without affecting other users

Health Check & Troubleshooting

Then come back

[loftus49]

I finished populating the forum with topics and now (after typing finger therapy) need to know the following.

1. How to insure the forum can only be added to or modified by “registered” users.
2. How to facilitate user registration from the website and sign-in after they have been registered. Can someone who has previously registered be recognized thereby having to sign-in not necessary.
3. Insure new topics and info entered via the website are added to the forum (Registry).
4. How to transfer the bbpress database (and files ?) from the test.loftusweb.com to the final loftusweb.com site.

I would also like to know the upcoming lotto numbers, but won’t ask for that now.

[Robin W]

that’s an interesting point.

On email addresses, users do not know each others email addresses from the website, and emails addresses are not shown (unless you are using them as usernames). It is possible that registered user George with email abc@def.com wants to post an anonymous comment alongside his real one. He can post with a username of say Fred, but must enter an email address in the form, so does he use his real one (abc@def.com) or must he enter a made up one? And if you don’t permit a real one from a registered user being used, then as an anonymous poster if I try an email address and it rejects, I know that the user with that email address is already on the site. That user might not want it know that he uses the site, but by testing and telling people that email address exists you are publicizing who is using the site. It’s almost certainly doable, but might have undesired consequences.

On usernames, it is equally possible for one anonymous user to pose as another anonymous user, so it is not just registered users who can get spoofed. Now you could add a test for registered users, and reject these, and that might be sensible, but it is beyond free help, as it would be a chunk of work to do.

If interested in email or username checking, contact me via

http://www.rewweb.co.uk/contact-me/ with a link bacjk to this thread.

[kemmieg]

I’ve tested the plugin and it had no affect on the forum.

[Robin W]

Thanks.

I’d suggest as as a test switch to a default theme such as twentytwenty or twentytwentyone (don’t use 2022 or 2023), and see if this fixes.

If so, then you’ll need to raise it with the theme breakdance as it is a paid product

[Robin W]

ok, it could be a theme or plugin issue

Themes

As a test switch to a default theme such as twentytwenty, and see if this fixes.

Plugins

If that doesn’t work, also deactivate all plugins apart from bbpress and see if this fixes. if it does, re-enable one at a time to see which is causing the error.

If you cannot do this to your site (say because it is live) then use the ‘troubleshooting’ features of this plugin to let you test without affecting other users

Health Check & Troubleshooting

Then come back

[jorgenbrandt]

Bread Crumps are not showing in the forums (and they have NOT been disabled in bbp Style Pack)

Using latest update of forum/stylepack
WP 6.2.2, Style 5.5.5, Forum 2.6.9

What do I do wrong?

[webdes44]

I’m using the latest version of WP, bbPress, and Hello by Elementor.

I created topics and replies with my admin profile and fake users, and when I click on the links of the users, it says the page cannot be found. In fact, the whole sidebar that I see here titled Topic Info doesn’t show up as well.

I see others have had this problem in the past: https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/user-profile-link-giving-a-404-error/ I wondered if this issue was resolved. But my fake user’s username is just one word, so it’s not a spacing issue.

Here’s a link to my forum page: https://www.referralgroup.b2bopps.com/forums/forum/general-forum/

[Robin W]

fixed in latest release

[frenchalps]

Quick update as of Wednesday May 17th 2023, WordPress Support confirmed a JetPack fix has been pushed, I tested it this morning and it works. If you enable:

JetPack > Settings > Performance > Enable Site Accelerator > Speed up image load times, then bbPress Forum posts will no longer be missing and Site Accelerator will work normally as before.

[frenchalps]

Quick update as of Wednesday May 17th 2023, WordPress Support confirmed a JetPack fix has been pushed, I tested it this morning and it works. If you enable

JetPack > Settings > Performance > Enable Site Accelerator > Speed up image load times, then bbPress Forum posts will no longer be missing and Site Accelerator will work normally as before.

[Robin W]

I have done some initial testing.

On the test site that is running slow, it seems to be related to subscriptions and emailing.

I’d like confirmation that this is indeed the issue for you both as well before I spend time investigating further.

If you are able to help can you go to

bbpress test

and download a small testing plugin.

Then in your site, go to dashboard>plugins>add new and upload the plugin you just downloaded.

When activated, this plugin will stop emails on new topics, which is what I want to prove is the issue. So you’ll need to activate, do the test and then deactivate. During the period when it is activated subscribers will not get emails for new topics, so you may want to time your tests to a quiet time on your site.

So when you are ready activate this plugin, then create a new topic and see if it runs back to the usual speed.

Once you have tested, immediately deactivate this plugin, or your users will not get any new topic emails.

At the moment this is only testing new topics not replies, so no point in testing replies yet !!

[hannajor]

Hello, I work for a software development company that specializes in web and mobile solutions. I have some experience with bbPress and I agree that it can be slow sometimes. One thing that helped me to improve the performance was to update the bbPress plugin and WordPress core to the latest versions. You can also disable any plugins that you don’t need or that are not compatible with bbPress. You can also try to use a lightweight theme that is optimized for speed. I hope this helps you to solve your problem. Cheers!

[Robin W]

@kemmieg – no offence from you. Has it previously been ok ? One of my test sites is looking slow on topics but not replies, but I’ll need to dig into what is happening and it may be a few days.