I have tried and tried to make this work and searched forums high and low but have not had any luck making bbPress work with Buddypress.

I have done the following (In the following order):

Fresh install of WP 3.1.2

Fresh install of Buddypress 1.2.8

Then I went to Buddypress > Forums Setup > setup a new bbPress installation

(I even tried a separate install of bbPress but kept getting “page cannot be displayed” errors when going to the URL to set it up.)

I see a Forums menu now and created a group called Public.

BUT, how to add add Main topics like “General Discussion”, “Questions”, etc and allow users to create sub-topics? (Like every other forum on the web.)

All I want is for users to visit my site and be able to see main and sub-topics and then read the forums. Then if they want to participate, create an account and login in… again, just like most other sites with forums on the webs.

And I’ll even volunteer to write documentation on the entire process if only I could understand it. It seem that things are assumed (such as created Groups being mandetory) only they aren’t well documented.

WP forums have some instructions, BP has some more and this site even more. Only it appears that none seem ot overlap and some important info is missing.

It’s like getting a shiny new car only no one told you that you need to add an extra part to make it work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[@christopher-jon Member 13 years, 7 months ago]

The buddypress forum system is kinda odd compared to other forum software.

What you need to do is create a new group, and for each group you can then create a forum.

So, with what you have in mind, you need to create a “General Discussion” group and a “Questions” group and then create a forum for each of those.

I know, it’s confusing. I’ve never been a fan of the buddypress group/forum system.

Depending on your timeline, you might be better off waiting for newest versions of both buddypress and bbpress. Maybe a month or so for final releases.

BTW, the new bbpress plugin is very nice.

[@christopher-jon Member 13 years, 7 months ago]

The buddypress forum system is kinda odd compared to other forum software.

What you need to do is create a new group, and for each group you can then create a forum.

So, with what you have in mind, you need to create a “General Discussion” group and a “Questions” group and then create a forum for each of those.

I know, it’s confusing. I’ve never been a fan of the buddypress group/forum system.

Depending on your timeline, you might be better off waiting for newest versions of both buddypress and bbpress. Maybe a month or so for final releases.

BTW, the new bbpress plugin is very nice.

[@daviatorxx Member 13 years, 7 months ago]

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for the reply. I finally figured out that the forums are indeed “odd” and really not very friendly to setup or use. I was really excited when I found the WordPress, Buddypress and bbPress combination but my excitement soon turned to frustration.

I finally gave up on WP, BP and bbPress and went back to Joomla/Community Builder. While the Joomla/CB combination doesn’t have the finesse and cleanness of Buddypress they does offer a far more conventional UI on the front-end and far easier to manage back-end.

They also do a far better job of integration with other extensions.

WP, BP and bbPress feel like the Mac O.S.’s to me. Very pretty and work well… once you figure out how *they* want you to think. But they do things their OWN way and if you want to deviate, you get kicked out of the cult.

And the documentation is very Mac-like. “Do step 1 and then it works.” But they forgot about steps 2-10 as it’s assumed you already knew that.

[@daviatorxx Member 13 years, 7 months ago]

Hi Christopher,

Thanks for the reply. I finally figured out that the forums are indeed “odd” and really not very friendly to setup or use. I was really excited when I found the WordPress, Buddypress and bbPress combination but my excitement soon turned to frustration.

I finally gave up on WP, BP and bbPress and went back to Joomla/Community Builder. While the Joomla/CB combination doesn’t have the finesse and cleanness of Buddypress they does offer a far more conventional UI on the front-end and far easier to manage back-end.

They also do a far better job of integration with other extensions.

WP, BP and bbPress feel like the Mac O.S.’s to me. Very pretty and work well… once you figure out how *they* want you to think. But they do things their OWN way and if you want to deviate, you get kicked out of the cult.

And the documentation is very Mac-like. “Do step 1 and then it works.” But they forgot about steps 2-10 as it’s assumed you already knew that.