bbPress Plugin is Born
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Just spotted the foliowing on Twitter by @petemall:
bbPress plugin is born… http://trac.bbpress.org/changeset/2463
bbPress plugin is born… http://trac.bbpress.org/changeset/2463
— Pete Mall (@petemall) July 13, 2010
Not done any investigation yet…
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http://www.kevinjohngallagher.com/2010/07/open-letter-to-automattic-regarding-bbpress-plug-in
If this has ANY code from bbPress in it, i’ll eat my hat
It’s daft to use the name for one product thats totally different, and it’s already caused more than a few unneccessary support questions and fear-mongering.
Instead, it’s just going to be the 6th product in 18months from AutoMattic which will be abbreviated to “bPress”. I decided to write this after emails to Matt, Jane and JJJ all went unanswered in the past month; and Westi didn’t comment on it in my email to him, though he did say that he didn’t know that bbPress was dependant on BackPress – and he’s the BackPress lead!! really lovely guy, but it hardly bodes well.
Pete and JJJ are graet coders and people who only want the best for the community, i’ve no doubt that this plugin will be great for those that want it. It just pains me that the lack of management/commonsense/planning that have plagued bbPress are going to be forced on them too
At least if they choose a different Development blog name, people won’t get too confused.
Pretty much unexpected
I’ll be posting something all official sounding soon (as in tonight) but Kevin, can’t say I received an email from you; if I did it only went ignored because I didn’t see it. My apologies for lack of communication and I’ll do better going forward. Check my Gravatar for ten confirmed methods to track me down.
On the flip side, I’m excited that people still care about there being a plugin branch considering the ups and downs bbPress has gone through over the past year or two.
At the sake of sounding like a politician, I’m personally committed to making bbPress great in whatever form it takes, because it (along with WordPress and BuddyPress) put food on my table and keep a roof over my head. It’s been like that for the past two years, and I’d like to maintain that status for as far into the foreseeable future as I can. If I was self-employed or employed by Automattic, it wouldn’t change the way I intend to be involved and help shape bbPress’s future.
I know it’s been a rough and tumble life for bbPress, and thankfully all of us want to change that.
Be back in a bit to keep up this convo and look forward to more comments, feedback, gripes, general criticism, and cooking tips if you have any.
Good evening all!
First, Pete and JJJ, really apprecaite and thankful to you both for stopping by. I don’t doubt for an iota that the two of you, indeed everyone involved with this WordPress forum plugin, wants a good product that pleases as many people as possible and provides an excellent platform for those both technical and non-technical.
JJJ, bro I just thought you were busy – i took no offence by the lack of reply. I sent you a comment through your website some 4 weeks ago, and with the BP release (thats BuddyPress, sorry don’t want to add to the confusion) you seemed like you were busy.
At the risk of getting on my soapbox, the biggest issue we have here is that we know nothing. No-one here expects anyone to keep us in the loop 24/7 or even at a stakeholder level – but Jane announced that WordPress (3.org) forums would be moving to the bbPress plugin instead of bbpress some 20 days ago, and you’re the first people to stop by and say “hi”.
I’ll let you guess what sort of reaction that announcement had, and what sort of calming affect the wall of silence had on all the “end is nigh” theories.
My single over-riding concern is that with such little communication, naming a completely separate product that uses different technology and works in a totally different way, the same thing as 6 current technologies is just batshi… a challenge to those of us who answer the questions on this subject
EDIT: Sorry Tom dude, Manchester, see you there!
All understandable points. BuddyPress has recently gone through something similar since Andy has been concentrating on rolling out awesome new stuff for WordPress.com and I’ve been busy with client work. Both of us were at points where we weren’t concentrating directly on pushing the project forward, and that took us away from the usual support/communication role and more towards heavy development and project management.
Community and communication are both important, and we’ve admittedly been lacking on both platforms leaving things feel like they’re in a little bit of a limbo state. For people already using either project, it doesn’t help you sleep at night; and it doesn’t exactly make for a happy welcome to newcomers either. It wasn’t intentional, but I think the worst is behind us now and we can concentrate on building some forward momentum.
For bbPress specifically, there is a little more history involved. It it touches so many individual pieces of the .org structure that have always been intricately balanced to work together; namely the individual plugin and theme repositories. They rely heavily on the svelteness of bbPress to function the way they do.
When the idea of making bbPress a plugin was first seriously considered (over a year ago?) I think I felt the same way as some of you do now. I felt bbPress needed to stand tall and be it’s own person and go out and make something of itself like a good young adult should. My involvement in BuddyPress and my experience with WordPress over the past few years has enlightened me to how simple of a plugin bbPress can really be, particularly now that BuddyPress can offer all of the other bits and pieces that someone might normally want or expect from forum software.
With that said, bbPress is going to be a plugin for WordPress going forward. The name is staying the same, as much as I know that pains some of you to hear. There are lots of reasons to keep it the way it is because we all love it and appreciate it, but there is more to gain by it being a plugin with where WordPress is today. (…no dagger to the heart intended…)
I think the most important thing that will come from an ‘official’ announcement (that I’ll include here briefly now) is that the top priority for this next chapter in bbPress is migrating/importing/exporting be 100% no-more-than-5-clicks simple to do. As a plugin author myself, the close second priority is having a clear resource for converting plugins.
I typically try to under promise and over deliver, so I’m approaching bbPress the same way. Am I super genius that knows the insides and outsides of bbPress and BackPress 100% and can recite lines of code like song lyrics or poetry? Nope. But I do know plugins, and extending WordPress safely and effectively, and refactoring, and bulletin board software, and how communicating with and through software works for both machines and people.
Most importantly, I know I really want bbPress to stay kickass.
With that said, bbPress is going to be a plugin for WordPress going forward
So bbPress1.0.3 isn’t going to be released?
What of bbPress1.1 (only 1 trac ticket away from being ready)?
Who is now in charge of making that decision?
The name is staying the same, as much as I know that pains some of you to hear
Always like how upfront you are JJJ, and your enthusiasm is infectious.
To clarify a few points though mate:
1) None of us are worried about the name from a personal view point, it could all could be renamed Bob’s Super Duper Forum for all we care ;-] , only form the perspective of not confusing users.
2) How are we going to differentiate this to the current “bbPress Plugin” (we already get quite a few support requests for it)?
3) How are we going to differentiate this from a “bbPress Plugin” that actually plugs in to bbPress?
4) Are we confident this is crystal clear to those who aren’t native Engligh speakers?
I’m not looking to back you into a corner with this bro, but an update on the terminology we should “try” and use so we don’t confuse our already dwingling audience would be real helpful at some stage in the future.
There are lots of reasons to keep it the way it is because we all love it and appreciate it, but there is more to gain by it being a plugin with where WordPress is today
I think alot of us can see and understand this. What would be great though, again at some stage, is if we were allowed some visability on what those advantages and disadvantages were (at a high level).
None of us were involved in nor had any visability of the decision, or conversation even, about bbPress becoming a plugin; so it’s a tad of a shell shock as to how this has come about. You’re a few steps ahead of us because of that, so any resistance you’re feeling isn’t actually against the project or yourself/Pete
It would be really great to see the requirement gathering, and weighing up of pros/cons etc. Especially after Jane’s famous https://wordpress.org/news/2009/12/setting-scope/ post about how more standard/practical/tangable/visable methodology would be used for these decisions.
That would really help us in terms of seeing where things are going; and help us get behind you and Pete on this project
I typically try to under promise and over deliver
You’ve a lot of goodwill from those of us who’ve seen your work and great attitude in these last 2 years mate. Sadly, there’s not alot left in the tank of most folks in regards to bbPress itself after Matt’s “We’ve done this before.” and then bolting for the door.
https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/whats-happening-with-bbpress/page/5#post-64410
This is only compunded by Jane announcing that bbpress would no longer be used for the WordPress forums before telling anyone involved. Not quite as bad as Matt telling people in his KeyNote speech that the community was “rough” and to use “differnt software instead of bbpress”, but not helpful either.
The trust is gone. But you’re definately the man to regain it
So bbPress1.0.3 isn’t going to be released? What of 1.1?
My involvement in the 1.0.x/1.1 branches is limited, but if I had to guess (without checking) 1.0.3 will happen if there’s anything important to push out or there’s some kind of delay with 1.1, and 1.1 will happen before it’s a plugin for sure.
Who makes these decisions?
Honestly, whomever is in charge of the project sets the roadmap. If there’s no lead developer, then there’s no release schedule, because everything is just stagnant. I recently said something similar over on the BuddyPress blog regarding activity and how it only serves to perpetually foster more activity. Ultimately, I defer any major decisions about bbPress back to Matt, if anything simply because numero uno through numero un hundred are almost all his. If someone comes along and starts ripping up the trac and contributing patches and just overall making bbPress (the plugin) awesome, and for whatever reason I’m unable to continue to fulfill my responsibility, I’ll kindly step down and let someone else grab the reigns.
Leadership on an open source project is weird to be honest. The real world doesn’t usually work this way, but I think it’d be better off if it did sometimes. I like to refer to the Ubuntu leadership code of conduct because I think it makes a lot of sense, even if not everything directly relates. Also, leadership isn’t normally even an issue until it feels like there is no leader. If the leader is a total jerk, then chances are the platform would just die because people didn’t like that person. If there’s no leader at all, well… then you just feel abandoned and weird about it, like you should try to help, but don’t know who to ask or what to do. It’s like getting broken up with out of the blue… You’re unprepared and it sucks and you’re sad and bleh… No good.
1) None of us are worried about the name from a personal view point, it could all could be renamed Bob’s Super Duper Forum for all we care ;-] , only form the perspective of not confusing users.
Then bbPress it is.
2) How are we going to differentiate this to the current “bbPress Plugin” (we already get quite a few support requests for it)?
The goal is that no one will have to. If people want bbPress today, they download the current stable version same as always. When the plugin becomes available, it’s up to us to make a great UX that helps existing bbPress users through the update, and makes sure new users aren’t smacked with tons of legacy overhead. BuddyPress was able to get bbPress installed with a 1 click install; our goal should be the same.
3) How are we going to differentiate this from a “bbPress Plugin” that actually plugs in to bbPress?
A plugin is a plugin, but there is no such thing as a “plugin dependency” like there is for enqueuing CSS and JS in WordPress. The way we tackled that problem in BuddyPress is similar to what I’d like to do with bbPress, but obviously much lighter and built in from the start.
4) Are we confident this is crystal clear to those who aren’t native Engligh speakers?
Since I only speak English, I can’t answer this confidently. I’d like to hope we do a good enough job preparing everyone for this going forward, that anyone that cares enough to contribute does so and stays on top of things.
I’m not looking to back you into a corner with this bro, but an update on the terminology we should “try” and use so we don’t confuse our already dwingling audience would be real helpful at some stage in the future.
No worries
There will be better communication all around going forward to help ease peoples minds.I think alot of us can see and understand this. What would be great though, again at some stage, is if we were allowed some visability on what those advantages and disadvantages were (at a high level).
None of us were involved in nor had any visability of the decision, or conversation even, about bbPress becoming a plugin; so it’s a tad of a shell shock as to how this has come about. You’re a few steps ahead of us because of that, so any resistance you’re feeling isn’t actually against the project or yourself/Pete
bbPress, is always bbPress, and it’s up to the project leaders/managers/grand facilitators to be the guiding light. If that’s Matt, or Automattic, or whomever doesn’t really matter. Again, if it’s a matter of authority, then to me Matt is the authority. But, again, if someone starts ripping through code and contributing tons of patches, there’s plenty of room for advancement if you’re willing to put forth the effort into the core project.
It would be really great to see the requirement gathering, and weighing up of pros/cons etc. Especially after Jane’s famous https://wordpress.org/news/2009/12/setting-scope/ post about how more standard/practical/tangable/visable methodology would be used for these decisions.
That would really help us in terms of seeing where things are going; and help us get behind you and Pete on this project
Can’t speak for Jane, and not sure how famous the blog post is, but this is the beginning of that for bbPress. bbPress just has less eyes on it, so it suffers the same way BuddyPress does; passionate userbase, very little action taking place. bbPress development will start gaining speed in the coming days and weeks, and all of those blanks will start getting slowly filled in. If you or anyone else wants to start talking about how to fill those blanks in, start up dedicated topics in the forums so we can sticky them and go over it all.
You’ve a lot of goodwill from those of us who’ve seen your work and great attitude in these last 2 years mate. Sadly, there’s not alot left in the tank of most folks in regards to bbPress itself after Matt’s “We’ve done this before.” and then bolting for the door.
https://bbpress.org/forums/topic/whats-happening-with-bbpress/page/5#post-64410
This is only compunded by Jane announcing that bbpress would no longer be used for the WordPress forums before telling anyone involved. Not quite as bad as Matt telling people in his KeyNote speech that the community was “rough” and to use “differnt software instead of bbpress”, but not helpful either.
bbPress will still power the forums, just not as a standalone piece of software anymore once this is ready.
The trust is gone. But you’re definately the man to regain it
Cheers mate, much appreciated
As an aside, bbPress has always been the forum software for enthusiasts. It’s edgy, and sleek, and when you tell people what software is powering your forums and say “bbPress” you just kind of feel like a bad ass. I think that’s part of where the apprehension to adapt to it being a plugin comes from, because plugins by their general nature aren’t usually trusted to do what they should, the way they should. Also, because bbPress is such a niche project, we’re all used to living on the latest SVN revision, salivating at the prospect of waking up the next day and seeing all the neat new little things that changed since the night before.
The reality is that most normal people don’t do that, and that’s the person we need to cater to first and foremost.
bbPress (the plugin) should be considered toxic and unstable until we say go. Not unlike WordPressMU, it was forked out of WordPress, honed, and then merged back in. bbPress (the plugin) is a separate branch of code that does not intersect the existing code in anyway. Once it’s fully refactored and stable, we incorporate all the legacy bits that we need back in with a conditional to not require it if you’re not upgrading, and Bob’s your uncle.
At least, that’s the plan.
1) None of us are worried about the name from a personal view point, it could all could be renamed Bob’s Super Duper Forum for all we care ;-] , only form the perspective of not confusing users.
Then bbPress it is.
Doesn’t it sound strange that you, JJJ, had to specify “bbPress (the plugin)” everytime not to get users confused? -_-” I’m not a native English speaker (I’m Italian), so I can tell you people are going to be confused by this!
I loved this line by KJG:
So to clarify for those who are confused:
bbPress for BP is bbPress with bPress without bPress.
But that’s not the same as just bbPress, the bbPress plugin, BP,
bPress, BuddyPress nor BackPress.
Is it any wonder, honestly, that people get confused?
Just try to think what would a newbie find googling bbPress+plugin…
Anyway, I think there are some users, like me, not really looking for a WP-integrated forum software, but just for a standalone forum: do you all really want us to “use different software instead of bbPress”? That’s odd…
Morning all,
I know I’m a vocal one (even more so with just 3 hours sleep), but I think there’s 2 things we need to accept here:
1) JJJ isn’t making these naming decisions himself
and
2) bbpress (standalone) isn’t going to be suported or developed any further. This isn’t a side by side project. It’s the end of bbPress without being a WordPress plugin.
In large part, thats why the name is being kept as bbPress. It’d be hard to convince people to undertake yet another compltely new piece of software after the debacle of bbpress0.9 and 1.0. So instead write something completely new, call it the old thing, and release it as an “upgrade”.
Given that we’re reliant on Matt to release bbPress1.0.3/1.1, and he’s been so active in the last 5 months, it’s hard to see how the next month(s?) are going to resolve themselves. And thats not a reflection on JJJ or PeteMall.
My point is that 99% of people won’t know the difference.
If I choose to download and install a development version of Windows 8, I do so totally at my own risk. If I get burned by it, I can’t be mad at Microsoft.
Same rule applies to bbPress.
The development of the future plugin version does not impact what is available today. You either choose to be involved in that future, or you don’t.
Me saying (the plugin) is only in reference to conversations where it isn’t clear what we’re talking about. By the time anyone should realistically be trying out the plugin branch of code, we won’t need to use code words to talk about the differences.
One day hopefully in the not too distant future, we’ll flip this very site over to using the plugin without telling anyone, and when there is 0% difference in functionality and presentation, it will be time to start downloading it.
P.S. – I’m about 15 minutes off from committing they very primitive framework I have laid out, in case anyone wants to keep tabs.
Probably.
I just feel sorry for all the plugins developers…
No. Not probably, and not at all.
So far everyone’s managed to keep this pretty light and well mannered, and the easiest way to keep that pace is to not fuel any fires.
And what about non WordPress users?
Non WordPress uses can’t use VaultPress, or BuddyPress. As the plugin is being developed, if you have suggestions on how it might still be able to sit on top of BackPress, I’m open to building that into it also provided it doesn’t overly sacrifice performance in other areas.
There’s a lot of goals we hope to hit by doing this, one of which is allowing bbPress to be pocket sized and extensible from within WordPress, so that it can do other unique things that existing plugins have needed to jump through hurdles to achieve. Dedicated user forums, user groups, post/topic syncing, better BuddyPress integration, attachments, revision history, proper moderation, etc… If you don’t need those things, you can turn them off in WordPress all the same.
I know that my vote isn’t the popular one amongst the dedicated bbPress lovers, and there are lots of logistics to make this a smooth transition. With this initiative we have more people dedicated towards making this smooth and successful than bbPress has ever had in it’s 6 year history. That along with complete support from the original plugin author means it’s the next evolutionary step in bbPress’s journey.
I’ve been involved in too many hobbies to not know what it feels like when the version of something you love is discontinued, and something else replaces it that just ain’t the same. Cars, turntables, computers, cell phones, crock pots… You name it, I’ve dealt with the expiration of one thing, and moved on to the next.
The major difference with us and bbPress, is you all can help make the plugin do what you need it to by contributing code with patches. I couldn’t force Honda to bring back the del Sol CR-X if I tried.
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