I agree that people get turned off by downloading and installing something that does not work, then they search out plugins to add functionality, and the plugins no longer work, and that is certainly discouraging. But I don’t think creating a ‘Plus’ download is the way to go. I think a better job needs to be done on the releases, to ensure they work, and then somehow plugins need to be updated. Since bbPress is so young, a lot of the plugins that were written no longer work with current releases. There are “required version” and “compatible up to” fields, which are populated and appear to be accurate, but maybe they’re not always maintained. The Extend section seems like it’s gotten some love lately, so maybe the plugins will remain compatible longer now, or at least someone will check on them. I know writing and maintaining a plugin is a huge commitment.
In short, I know it’s frustrating to download software that doesn’t always work, then find plugins to solve problems only to install those and not have them work, but I don’t think a ‘Plus’ release is the way around that.
This might be something that a third-party would like to do, but I don’t think we will do it here. Certainly it would be welcomed, and actually you would probably do a decent job of it _ck_.
Well that would actually be my next question as I am not familiar with the legal limits of opensource/gnu software. Am I allowed to make a bundled version of bbPress and use part of the name bbPress as long as I am clear I didn’t make the core product, and include the GPL license?
I think that you will struggle to maintain a bbpress + version, and that the ‘+’ will just get bigger and bigger and bigger. I probably have 20+ plugins I could write to do things that people ask for on the forums.
Many people just want a particular part that suits them, and the bbpress philosophy is to keep it ‘skinny’ and let people use plugins.
Making a big fat version would make it really hard to develop.
The real problems are two:
1. That people aren’t aware of the skinny philosophy – maybe I’ll put something at the start of the documentation to make this clearer.
2. People aren’t aware of what plugins are available and which work. This is really because you have to have a problem or know what you want before you look for a plugin. This is a bit like buying a car with no add-ons/accessories list. So no-one tells you that electric windows are available, so you look for an expensive air-conditioning system because you don’t know how to open the windows. Solution is that we need to create a plugin list that starts with what it does, not with the plugin name or with searches for tags
eg
bbpress plugins Where to download
Add quote feature http://www.dev4press.com/plugins/gd-bbpress-tools/
genesis compatibility https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-genesis-extend/
Move one forum to another https://github.com/pippinsplugins/bbPress-Export-and-Import
private messaging https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-social-network/
email notifications (topics/replies) https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-notifications/
email notifications (topics/replies) https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-notify/
add a signature https://wordpress.org/plugins/bbp-signature/
I am just about to start one, so if you want to add the plugin name and what it does to this thread, I’ll get a list going.
