[fairfax]

Hi, I’m using VBulletin 3.8.4 and vBSEO 3.6.0 RC2. I recently added a new RSS feed to my forum, and I purge the old articles after a certain number of days. How can I exclude this particular group from being seen by the search engines? I used to remember how to do this, simply forgot.

[Lynq]

It does depend on the theme of course, but I will try my best. Also please remember that this involves editing the core and is not recommended (but I can’t see another way to achieve this?).

If you set the show_freshness_link to true and then add a freshness before of <td> and freshness_after of </td> this will add an extra td tag inside the template.

You will then need to add an extra <th> to the table heading, or it will break your table and you will have blank spaces inside the forum list.

If you are using a non table layout, then you just need to give it a class and deal with it in css like the reply count and post count data.

Inside loop-single-forum.php I changed my bbp_list_forums arguments to accept the changes inside the core function, for example…

array( 'show_freshness_link' => true, 'freshness_author_before' => '<div class="author-box">', 'freshness_author_after' => '</div>')

You can then change the freshness_author_before and the freshness_author_after values to change the html.

Good luck!

[Lemius]

Lynq: Thanks for sharing that. Incase there’s others like me who can play with the css and the html but don’t know knees from elbows about the php, can you maybe give a little advice on what would need to be customized in the theme to accommodate the changes you’ve made there?

I can’t readily tell what that code would effect. It’d be really appreciated.

[Lynq]

function bbp_list_forums( $args = '' ) {



// Define used variables

$output = $sub_forums = $topic_count = $reply_count = $counts = '';

$i = 0;

$count = array();



// Defaults and arguments

$defaults = array (

'before'              => '<ul class="bbp-forums">',

'after'               => '</ul>',

'link_before'         => '<li class="bbp-forum">',

'link_after'          => '</li>',

'count_before'        => ' (',

'count_after'         => ')',

'count_sep'           => ', ',

'separator'           => ', ',

'forum_id'            => '',

'show_topic_count'    => true,

'show_reply_count'    => true,

'freshness_before'    => '<td class="last-posted-box">',

'freshness_after'     => '</td>',

'show_freshness_link' => true,

'freshness_author_before'    => '<div class="author-box">',

'freshness_author_after'     => '</div>'

);

$r = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );

extract( $r, EXTR_SKIP );



// Bail if there are no subforums

if ( !bbp_get_forum_subforum_count( $forum_id ) )

return;



// Loop through forums and create a list

if ( $sub_forums = bbp_forum_get_subforums( $forum_id ) ) {



// Total count (for separator)

$total_subs = count( $sub_forums );

foreach ( $sub_forums as $sub_forum ) {

$i++; // Separator count



// Get forum details

$count     = array();

$show_sep  = $total_subs > $i ? $separator : '';

$permalink = bbp_get_forum_permalink( $sub_forum->ID );

$title     = bbp_get_forum_title( $sub_forum->ID );



// Show topic count

if ( !empty( $show_topic_count ) && !bbp_is_forum_category( $sub_forum->ID ) )

$count['topic'] = bbp_get_forum_topic_count( $sub_forum->ID );



// Show reply count

if ( !empty( $show_reply_count ) && !bbp_is_forum_category( $sub_forum->ID ) )

$count['reply'] = bbp_get_forum_reply_count( $sub_forum->ID );



// Counts to show

if ( !empty( $count ) )

$counts = $count_before . implode( $count_sep, $count ) . $count_after;



// Show topic count

if ( !empty( $show_freshness_link ) && !bbp_is_forum_category( $sub_forum->ID ) ) {

$freshness_link = bbp_get_forum_freshness_link( $sub_forum->ID );

$freshness_author = $freshness_author_before . bbp_get_author_link( array( 'post_id' => bbp_get_forum_last_active_id( $sub_forum->ID ), 'size' => 14 ) ) . $freshness_author_after;

$freshness_link = $freshness_before . $freshness_link . $freshness_author . $freshness_after;

}



// Build this sub forums link

$output .= $link_before . '<a href="' . $permalink . '" class="bbp-forum-link">' . $title . $counts . $freshness_link . '</a>' . $show_sep . $link_after;

}



// Output the list

echo $before . $output . $after;

}

}

This will give you more control over creating a theme which looks like Invision or PHPBB.

You will have to customize your theme as well to make sure it is compatible.

[Jarret]

Did you have a company convert over to bbPress from vBulletin or did you do it yourselves?

[Jarret]

Hard to say exactly, I see that you are using a caching plugin so that could cause potential issues. The fact that you also moved over from vBulletin could be causing another issue of course.

I can’t access your Cafe section due to it being private but I could access the test post that you made so I could see that at least. How soon after a new post would that old post show up again?

[JenniferNM]

In our cafe, newer posts will show up, then somehow it keeps reverting back to a post that’s 35 days old, by the same person!

I finally just added a test reply to her post, so it would stop.

It’s only happening in the forum.

We just ported the whole thing over from vBulletin to bbpress and are obviously still working out the kinks.

[New Joerg]

Hi Jenna (Miniflowers), congratulations But my troubles with bbPress seem to be different: I never used Vbulletin or BuddyPress. As will_c wrote: the error occurs by changing the visibility.

[Miniflowers]

Hey everyone, we had to hire someone to fix this problem for us. Apparently it had something to do with the “roles” that were set in our Vbulletin forum previously. They weren’t carried over correctly or something to that effect. If you’re interested in using this person, he charges $100/hour, but got our entire forum up and running properly in one hour. Let me know if you want his contact info and I’ll post it here ( I need to get it from my business partner.)

Thanks,

Jenna

[Lynq]

Hey guys,

I have been searching for this myself aswell, but couldn’t find anything anywhere.

If anyone is interested I modified the bbp_list_forums function to have a flag for freshness (last poster) to be displayed or not.

function bbp_list_forums( $args = '' ) {



// Define used variables

$output = $sub_forums = $topic_count = $reply_count = $counts = '';

$i = 0;

$count = array();



// Defaults and arguments

$defaults = array (

'before'              => '<ul class="bbp-forums">',

'after'               => '</ul>',

'link_before'         => '<li class="bbp-forum">',

'link_after'          => '</li>',

'count_before'        => ' (',

'count_after'         => ')',

'count_sep'           => ', ',

'separator'           => ', ',

'forum_id'            => '',

'show_topic_count'    => true,

'show_reply_count'    => true,

'freshness_before'    => '<td>',

'freshness_after'     => '</td>',

'show_freshness_link' => true

);

$r = wp_parse_args( $args, $defaults );

extract( $r, EXTR_SKIP );



// Bail if there are no subforums

if ( !bbp_get_forum_subforum_count( $forum_id ) )

return;



// Loop through forums and create a list

if ( $sub_forums = bbp_forum_get_subforums( $forum_id ) ) {



// Total count (for separator)

$total_subs = count( $sub_forums );

foreach ( $sub_forums as $sub_forum ) {

$i++; // Separator count



// Get forum details

$count     = array();

$show_sep  = $total_subs > $i ? $separator : '';

$permalink = bbp_get_forum_permalink( $sub_forum->ID );

$title     = bbp_get_forum_title( $sub_forum->ID );



// Show topic count

if ( !empty( $show_topic_count ) && !bbp_is_forum_category( $sub_forum->ID ) )

$count['topic'] = bbp_get_forum_topic_count( $sub_forum->ID );



// Show reply count

if ( !empty( $show_reply_count ) && !bbp_is_forum_category( $sub_forum->ID ) )

$count['reply'] = bbp_get_forum_reply_count( $sub_forum->ID );



// Counts to show

if ( !empty( $count ) )

$counts = $count_before . implode( $count_sep, $count ) . $count_after;



// Show topic count

if ( !empty( $show_freshness_link ) && !bbp_is_forum_category( $sub_forum->ID ) ) {

$freshness_link = bbp_get_forum_freshness_link( $sub_forum->ID );

$freshness_link = $freshness_before . $freshness_link . $freshness_after;

}



// Build this sub forums link

$output .= $link_before . '<a href="' . $permalink . '" class="bbp-forum-link">' . $title . $counts . $freshness_link . '</a>' . $show_sep . $link_after;

}



// Output the list

echo $before . $output . $after;

}

}

Let me know if you would like any help with I am currently customising my theme to work with it, you will need to add an extra th to your forum tables other you just have a blank in place.

Hope someone finds this helpful!

p.s. you can also specify a before and after in the arguments of bbp_list_forums.

All the best.

Lynq.

[damjtoh]

I edit the template.php bbp-forum, although I do not sound right to modify the core.

I changed bbp_list_forums function () original:

function bbp_list_forums( $args = '' ) {

[...]

// Build this sub forums link

$output .= $link_before . '' . $title . $counts . '' . $show_sep . $link_after;

}

// Output the list

echo $before . $output . $after;

}

}

by:

function bbp_list_forums( $args = '' ) {

[...]

// Build this sub forums link

//$output .= $link_before . '' . $title . $counts . '' . $show_sep . $link_after;

$output[] = array(

'permalink'=>$permalink,

'title'=>$title,

'count'=>$count

);

}

// Output the list

return $output;

}

}

and I returned:

Array

(

[0] => Array

(

[permalink] => http://localhost/wpv1/foros/seccion/dota2/torneos-y-competencias

[title] => Torneos y competencias

[count] => Array

(

[topic] => 1

[reply] => 5

)

)

[1] => Array

(

[permalink] => http://localhost/wpv1/foros/seccion/dota2/dota-chat

[title] => Dota chat

[count] => Array

(

[topic] => 0

[reply] => 0

)

)

)

The only drawback is that I can not get the last comment of each forum.

[Miniflowers]

I should mention that the topics I’m having this issue with were migrated from vBulletin. Not sure if that matters.

thanks!

[spiritfly]

I can’t believe this still haven’t been resolved. What is going on with the bbpress community? This is a must have. It should be the forums default looks.

I have tried playing with it, but I still don’t understand what really is going on.

Can someone who made these kind of subcategories post the changes he made?

Thanks

[SK]

Jared, Thanks! I will check this solution out.

Regarding configurations: I don’t know if 347374 is an actual number or if you use it just to make a point, which I do get. If bbPress included everything in configurations, then there will be way too many configurations, and would delay next releases a lot. That’s fair enough.

But let’s look at it from the perspective of added value and break from forum convention.

bbPress is billed as a lightweight forum. Hence, when it breaks from forum convention to make it lighter (have fewer functions), that is at least understandable. e.g.

– No signatures in core (plugin exists)

– No icons (e.g. http://www.phpbb.com/community/styles/prosilver/imageset/forum_read_subforum.gif ) by forums and posts showing useful information (ripe for plugin)

– No emoticons in posts (ripe for plugin)

– No attachments in posts (ripe for plugin)

– No “topic started” date in list of topics (e.g. on forums page or topics archive page)

– No “read count” for topics (ripe for plugin)

– No forum specific search (plugin exists)

– No post count for posters

etc

However, when bbPress breaks with forum convention to add something without evident added value, that is a bummer. e.g.

– Freshness instead of Last post in list of topics (e.g. on forums page or topics archive page). I don’t understand the reasoning behind this. bbPress is making an additional calculation, bending over backwards, just to calculate how many seconds, minutes or days have passed since last post. Why? Why not simply display the date-time of last post like most major forum software do? I don’t see the reason and I don’t like it this way, but if it is like this then I assume that there are other bbPress users who do. Hence I say…perhaps this should be configurable.

– The notification This forum contains 5 topics and 7 replies, and was last updated by some-author 5 days ago. Why? What is the thinking behind this? What purpose does this serve? I mean, on the same page, topics are listed, there is pagination (and total number of topics) above and below the list of topics, the user can see which post is on top and who last updated it, so why is this notification important to have? I don’t get it. But since it’s there, I assume somebody does, and hence I request that it be a configuration.

– Similarly, I wonder if a lot is achieved performance-wise by not showing the name of OP in lists of topics, considering that date-time of original post is being retrieved anyway.

– Formatting/styling of original post and replies is different by default on the topic page. From a user perspective, I don’t see why. You don’t have different styling for original post and replies on bbpress.org or wordpress.org What makes you think that everyone else would want it? Perhaps there is not much additional work is being put into it because replies have to be assigned a formatting anyway, and this way bbPress users know that this is possible. But if so, then even if styling of replies has to be defined separately, it should be same as that of original posts by default, and users should be able to see in documentation that it is possible for them to have different styling. If, on the other hand, you have discovered that a large number of bbPress users want to have different styling for original posts and replies, then I say make it configurable.

– In freshness, the number of days/hours/minutes is linked. How does that make sense? (yes it takes to the last post, but linking hours is odd…phpBB’s approach where they have a tiny icon next to the date-time is better) If it does to a lot of bbPress users, I say make it configurable.

(Through all this, remember: There aren’t that many bbPress-supporting themes, and most of bbPress users will end up using bbPress with their generic WordPress themes)

Lots of people use WordPress despite the performance hit (as opposed to say, Drupal) because it is so easy to use and customize without having to do (or even know) any coding. All bbPress users are WordPress users and so there is a similar expectation from bbPress.

I know it’s not fair to compare bbPress to WordPress, which has so many more developers and contributors, not to mention forum moderators.

On the other hand, it is a fair expectation, for bbPress is billed as a forum software from the makers of WordPress. If Matt wants this to take on phpBB, vBulletin and SMF, he needs to put some resources behind it, instead of making JJJ toil alone.

[cunparis]

Can you tell me which plugins could accomplish this? The alternative for me is vbulletin which is infinitely more complex for he simple forum I want to do.

[ExtremeSoccer]

which stylesheet? the one in plugins/bbpress/plugins/themes/twentyten?

[Jared Atchison]

The problem with this is that bbPress is maintained by @jjj and a few other contributors. So the time and features have to be prioritized.

Writing an importer is a *lot* of work. Right off the bat a forum importer is going to be at least twice as much work as, say, a MovableType -> WordPress importer.

Now you have to take into account how many, ultimately, separate importers you would have to write. Let’s see here… vBulletin, phpBB, Vanilla, punBB, SMF, IPB… and those are just some of the popular ones. So 6 importers *might* cover most off people’s needs.

Then you have to keep in mind that the importers are constantly breaking because of software updates to the original forums packages. I’d say ever 2-4 months you can expect breakage due to an update.

Bottom line? You are looking at 6 importers (at least) to cover the popular forum suites, that not only would take a huge time investment to get off the ground, but would have to be constantly maintained and updated so they don’t break or get out of date.

Is it do-able? Sure. However, if you want @jjj to tackle this don’t expect to ever see another bbPress update or feature again – it’s just a matter of time.

This is really where contributors need to step in and help out. This would ideally be written and maintained by different contributors.

[SK]

bbPress needs to face the fact that most people who want a forum, have already had a forum. The *new* market for forums is much smaller than the *installed base* of forums.

Consequently, most of the people who would want to use bbPress probably are already using another forum script and need help migrating. It is collossal mistake to leave this for community plugins.

If I have a forum software in a production environment, then one of the major factors influencing my decision regarding migration is whether or not there is a robust, stable, tried and tested and reliable migration path to the target software. This is extremely important for me. In fact, I would suffer a somewhat inferior software willingly rather than move to a better software if there is no clear migration path or there is a high degree of risk in migration.

It is a mistake on part of bbPress to leave migration to community plugin developers. Even if there were some plugins out there that did the job, it would be much less reassuring to prospective users compared to a migration/import path created by the bbPress team. As it happens there are only 2 import plugins ( http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/forumconverter/ and http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bbconverter/) out there and both of them are broken and not supported.

WordPress does it right in building an importer directly into the core.

Over the next 18-24 months, I expect to see a mass exodus from phpBB as they rewrite the software from ground up ( http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=41583). If bbPress provide a good migration path, it stands the chance to capture some of fleeing population.

Task

I think it would be greatly beneficial to the project if the bbPress team build a bbPress importer that supports the top 4 forum software: phpBB, Invision, SMF and vBulletin.

Such a migration tool, importer or converter will:

i) import topics and forum hierarchies into bbpress

including the relations between forums, topics and replies

and slugs for forums, topics and replies

ii) generate an .htaccess to place in the old forum directory so that old URLs are 301 redirected to new ones.

iii) import users including profiles, passwords, signatures and roles

@jjj You have mentioned at http://bbpress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1740 that this is more appropriate for a plugin and that bundling that code in the core of bbPress seems needless for many users that are starting off fresh.

I believe that this function is too important to be left to the mercy of others. There is a huge trust issue…if I have to entrust my data to someone, I want to make sure that they are reliable, trustworthy, good enough, and understand the software well.

I take your point about not bundling the function in the core. How about a migration plugin by the bbPress team?

[SK]

Just add

.bbp-forum-info .bbp-forums li {display:block;}

to your stylesheet

[Aemi]

hey, so all we need is to edit bbp_list_forums function?

can someone explain what exactly to do please?

[SK]

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-bbpress-help-me

Tried this?

.bbp-forum-info .bbp-forums li {display:block;}

[SK]

Actually, it doesn’t. I think bbPress is a pretty good piece of software.

But while I have your attention, allow me to share my perspectives as someone who has been using Opensource Bulletin Board software for many years, but is just starting off with bbPress.

It’s great that bbPress can leverage WordPress’s autoupdate function to update itself and its plugins. phpBB (http://www.phpbb.com/mods/automod/), SMF (http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?topic=93) etc. are still trying to figure it out…they have some rudimentary patches, but nothing as elegant as WordPress’s system.

Another brilliant thing is the ability to use seo/pretty URLs/permalinks. Amazingly, at phpBB (http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=105&t=35616) they are fighting over whether this is even desirable!

But what’s pure genius is the ability to use any WordPress theme! bbPress ships with a bbPress TwentyTen theme, and if your active WordPress theme does not have special support for bbPress, that is ok, because bbPress will use bbPress TwentyTen’s styling to present the forums in your active theme. Genius! Pure genius!

Add to this the fact that because bbPress is a WordPress plugin, there are additional benefits such as: SSO with WP, ability to use WP plugins (like Use Google Libraries), extendability, lightness, etc.

It is a massive shock to me that the number of people are using bbPress is incredibly smaller than what it should be.

I’ve thought about my experience, and think that the following factors could be critical in this regard:

1. Discovery: Discovery is an issue. I don’t know what the relationship is between Automattic/Wordpress/bbPress/BuddyPress, but I am sure you have considered putting bbpress.org link in wordpress.org’s “See also:” footer and decided against it. But what I do struggle to understand is wy wordpress.org would not even permit you to put a credit line (Powered by bbPress) in wordpress.org forums. That is a bit harsh. To add insult to injury, if I search for forum on wordpress.org forums (http://wordpress.org/search/forum?forums=1), Mingle is at the top and Vanilla forums show up on page 1, but bbPress doesn’t.

Google SERPs aren’t much better. bbPress is not on 1st page for any of “forums script”, “opensource forums script” and “php forums script”. I’m sure that would change if you could convince wordpress.org to show you a little more love.

2. Freshness: Even if someone chances upon bbPress plugin on wordpress.org (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bbpress/), there is little joy. The bubble is burst as soon as the explorer clicks on forum posts (http://wordpress.org/tags/bbpress?forum_id=10). There doesn’t seem to be any support and users appear to be completely lost without a paddle.

Of course the main reason for that is that you handle most support here at bbpress.org but the poor visitor doesn’t know that. He looks at wordpress.org forums for bbpress, concludes there is lack of support and goes away.

I think unifying support in one place (at wordpress.org forums), will be good for the community. You can have a clearcut, loudly stated division – bbpress WP plugin support at wordpress.org forums, legacy bbpress standalone support at bbpress.org

http://bbpress.org/forums/topic/why-separate-forums

http://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-bbpress-why-separate-forums

3. Migration: bbPress needs to face the fact that most people who want a forum, have already had a forum. The *new* market for forums is much smaller than the *installed base* of forums.

Consequently, most of the people who would want to use bbPress probably are already using another forum script and need help migrating. It is collossal mistake to leave this for community plugins.

If I have a forum software in a production environment, then one of the major factors influencing my decision regarding migration is whether or not there is a robust, stable, tried and tested and reliable migration path to the target software. This is extremely important for me. In fact, I would suffer a somewhat inferior software willingly rather than move to a better software if there is no clear migration path or there is a high degree of risk in migration.

It is a mistake on part of bbPress to leave migration to community plugin developers. Even if there were some plugins out there that did the job, it would be much less reassuring to prospective users compared to a migration/import path created by the bbPress team. As it happens there are only 2 import plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/forumconverter/ and http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bbconverter/) out there and both of them are broken and not supported.

WordPress does it right in building an importer directly into the core.

I think it would be greatly beneficial to the project if the bbPress team build a bbPress importer that supports the top 4 forum software: phpBB, Invision, SMF and vBulletin.

Over the next 18-24 months, I expect to see a mass exodus from phpBB as they rewrite the software from ground up (http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=41583). If bbPress provide a good migration path, it stands the chance to capture some of fleeing population.

4. I18n: 80%+ translations of bbPress are available in 13 languages, which is nothing to be scoffed at. But delivery is shambolic.

It is a nightmare trying to figure how to get bbPress working in a language other than English, even if you do the translation yourself.

There are 2 places to find translations: http://svn.automattic.com/bbpress-i18n/ and http://translate.wordpress.org/projects/bbpress/plugin

You can also use the .pot file found in /wp-content/plugins/bbpress/bbp-languages folder to create a translation, or you can translate at http://translate.wordpress.org/projects/bbpress/plugin with proper access.

It still doesn’t work. Very frustrating.

As it turns out, what you need to do is go to http://translate.wordpress.org/projects/bbpress/plugin, download language file by exporting to .po file, use poedit to covert to .mo, and upload it to wp-content/languages/bbpress/ (not to /wp-content/plugins/bbpress/bbp-languages which has the .pot file or /wp-content/plugins/bbpress/languages as most other plugins would). And the name of the file should be somewhat like bbpress-de_DE.mo not the standard de_DE.mo

Who would be able to figure that out? There’s not a single word about this in the documentation.

What a mess!

While some of the sharpest web developers comes from non-English-speaking countries, a high proportion of non-English-speakers are quite venturesome and decide to handle the technical aspects themselves as site owners, instead of farming them out to expensive developers, who are busy charging high rates for remote work.

These are the people that greatly appreciate the simplicity of WordPress. And these are the people who are a captive audience for bbPress, only if bbPress could make life a little bit easier for them.

bbPress should either be delivered in multiple language-specific packages like WordPress, or should be delivered with all translations included like most other plugins.

The .pot as well as language .po .mo files should be located in /wp-content/plugins/bbpress/languages

5. Documentation: This is another disaster area that is dragging a good software down. Documentation is just plain bad.

First of all, bbPress should clearly mention on the home page (http://bbpress.org/) and the download page (http://bbpress.org/download/) that while standalone version continues to be supported, it is not being actively developed.

Secondly, all the current documentation (http://bbpress.org/documentation/) is about the standalone version, and doesn’t say anything helpful for plugin users. This should be reversed.

6. Lack of basic features: Forum users, whether or not they own/manage forums, have come to expect certain basic features like:

– quote, multiquote

– topic view stats

– unread posts link

– Signature

– Profile photo/avatar

– bbcode

– WYSISYG editor

– forum search, context search

– uploading images

– members online

– private messaging

– smilies/emoticons

– forum moderation

– user registration approval

etc.

I understand that bbPress is built to be modular, and I think bbPress is right in leaving this functionality to plugins.

However, there are 2 problems:

– On wordpress.org plugin directory (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/) there is no good way of listing all bbPress plugins. Perhaps you should create a special nomenclature or special tag that bbPress plugins should use?

– If you look at bbPress plugin browser (http://bbpress.org/plugins/), most plugins are quite old…updated in 2010, 2009, even 2008! This is not very reassuring or confidence inspiring. Now, many of the old plugins may still be working fine, but when I see the “last updated” date is June 2010 for a plugin, I assume it is outdated, not developed and not supported anymore. I perceive that this will be a trouble plugin if I install it, and consequently end up with less functionality than I want. And I blame bbPress for it, saying bbPress doesn’t have all the features I want.

My suggestion is this: Every time there is a new version of WordPress or bbPress, the bbPress plugins should release a new version too, even if the only difference is to add a comment line that says “compatible with version so and so”. This will go a long way in reassuring prospective users that can install the plugin with confidence.

7. Forum sidebar: There is a plugin called bbPress WP Tweaks (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bbpress-wp-tweaks/). What it proposes but in my experience fails to do should be part of the core software. bbPress WP Tweaks was created so that the admin could relace the WordPress standard sidebar with a forum-specific sidebar on forum pages. This, in my estimation, would be useful for 90%+ of all bbPress users.

8. Custom fields: One of the most powerful features of WordPress is custom fields. bbPress should not disable this for forum pages.

9. Custom headers code field: bbPress should have provision for a custom header code field, wherein the admin can put in some code, which bbPress then inserts in the header on forum pages. In one flick, this would make bbPress customization so much more powerful.

To sum up, it takes a lot of persistence and determination to love bbPress. This is not great to attract new users. The software has a lot of potential, and I believe the number of installations can be increased multifold if the above issues are tackled in earnest.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings. And if you went tl;dr I have only myself to blame.

[morgan-wick]

For me, it wouldn’t be enough to simply display subforums of a category on the main page. I’d like them to actually display the same way they would if they were parent forums.

[SK]

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-bbconverter-whither-phpbb

I’m quite surprised that you started off with platforms (vbulletin and invision) that are jointly less popular than phpbb. But I suppose one of the plugin developers had forums that used those platforms and I’m glad to be able to benefit from your hard work.

You have mentioned in the plugin description that conversion for phpbb is coming *soon*, and I was wondering if you might be able to provide some updates on that.

Finally, am I correct in assuming that bbconverter

i) imports topics and forum hierarchies into bbpress

ii) including the relations between topics and forums

iii) and slugs for topics and forums

iv) generates an .htaccess to place in the old forum directory so that old URLs are 301 redirected to new ones.

v) imports users including profiles, passwords, signatures and roles

[adv_user]

Hi John (do7d).

Thank you for your attention.

I’m interested in seeing what changes you made​​.

Not exactly the model of Invision or other powerful forums, but their forum was better organized with subcategories.

But still, I keep my critical: bbPress need to improve the hierarchy of sub-subforums to become a powerful forum and allow the creation of many subforums and well organized.

Even the simple press allows this organization/separation of blocks with subforums:

http://simple-press.com/support-forum/

Thanks!