Good news for bbPress is around the corner.  The news is this forum software will become a bbPress plugin for WordPress.

Problems with bbPress

I have been a big fan or WordPress’s forum software called bbPress. The reason I like it is, it is very light weight and easy to use.  However, a few people have been upset as the project has not taken top priority at Automattic. I take another point of view. I have had a small forum run on it for a while now and it has worked fine. I am grateful towards Matt Mullenweg dedicating his time to great open source software to use.

The main problem has been, it has been very slow to develop. A major release has taken forever, because of the project has been going through some growing pains with the developers and I think the ultimate goals was to wait for WP 3.0 MU to be developed before energy was channeled to this project.

Why get excited about bbPress plugin

I think there is a reason to be excited about bbPress. That is developers are taking it to the next level and integrating it fully as a bbPress plugin for WordPress. This is much like BuddyPress has become a simple plugin for  WordPress.

These means you can run bbPress from your control panel. For free forum software it will be part of the WordPress CMS. Why is this important to you?

If you have a website it is all about content. Content is king and user generated content is the best as you do less of the work. The community will always create more than you ever could. Perhaps you direct the flow of content but if you have a good forum or social community, you are all set.

Your goal should not be hiring an SEO firm or outsourcing company to do all your work for you, your goal should be to develop an active community. I participate on forums and I have no problem leaving comments and making contributions to other people’s websites. If there is something of value, people will do this also.

bbPress forum

This is an ancient forum - bbPress plugin will integrate with WordPress so your forum will not fall to ruins

Build it and they will come with bbPress forums

If you think you can build a forum and people will rush to join thing again. However, if you have a website and it has reasonable value people will start to check back and maybe comment. If they like other commentors on your site, they will sign up and register (the big huddle for forum owners) and come back.

Some things I would like to see in the bbPress plugin for WordPress

I am a fan of bbPress and right now its functionality is fine, and there are a few plugins that help it out. I mean it is a forum, you simply have posts and threads and monitor it. However, there are a few things I would love to see as the core part.

  • Automatic moderation, including filtering bad words and chat style. I do not like on my blog when people write ‘u’ for ‘you’ and bad words. Personal attracts could be reduced automatically if you can filter certain words. I think the best community is a clean community. Thing about he city you live, if its clean and safe people want to come and visit.
  • Right now bbPress closes inactive comments after 2 weeks, I would like this open forever. My oldest treads rank the highest.
  • Full integration with your online community including MU. The users on your blog and MU (BuddyPress) seamlessly go between the forum, social network and blog without too many registration hoops.  Maybe this is not important, I am not sure.
  • Controlling outbound links on post and threads. Not with no follow but taking the front off so it leaves the text address rather than a link.
  • Language usage control integration for the community users something like ‘after the deadline English grammar and spell check appearing when people leave comments as forums tend to get out of control in terms of language structure.
  • bbpress plugin ideas to use at your own risk – A commenting ability like WordPress, that is someone could just leave a comment and move on with out a registration process. Deactivate registration option I know this would create pure chaos but to get a forum started I think you need commentors, nobody will comment on an empty forum. Most of my wish list is connected with attracting new users by making it simpler for a user to sign up and start posting, maybe I am very wrong about all this, but for a forum to get going you need to get people commenting without too much effort. Basically ways to promote and encourage people to use your forum. There are many forums out there with great ideas but they are empty as no one is into spending time on forums.

The current state of bbPress plugin

I have heard about September 15th there will be a very early alpha.  I would expect by the end of the fall something more robust will be ready.

The legacy stand alone forum users will be able to export their posts and then import them to the new system. I think if you do not have an active forum today, just wait for the bbPress plugin. I am doing that for one of my sites and advising other people to do the same. So right now my big idea for a forum is on hold. And yes I will use bbPress, rather than some pay for or heavy software for forums. I know there are many good ones out there but WordPress has a great community and I am always looking to the future not just the current state with a what can you do for me now attitude.

However I advise also to start looking at:

  • bbPress plugin – great site for just poking around and seeing what it is all about.
  • Become an active member or at least a watcher of their bbPress forum – you will be aware of development issues and ideas so when the bbPress plugin for WordPress does come out, it will be an easy integration.

If you have any questions as to forums, how to get a forum going or any user generated content questions just ask. I mostly have this website as a hobby site.

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