Use as a forum

[SickSquirrel]

I’m looking for advice on how to use WP as a chat forum/board. Basically I want to know what to look out for, what I need, etc.

People post a topic and others comment. I approve comments before they go live. It’s a blog called a chat board ??

I have to think about private messaging, security, and …?

I have been using a program but it has been compromised twice while my WP sites were untouched. Simply put, I trust WP more plus the support people are friendlier — this is the truth, not a suck up — and the don’t solicit payment for helping.

[WPyogi]

If you want a forum (say like this one), there are several plugins —

BuddyPress (these forums use it)
Mingle
Vanilla Forums

There are others as well. You could look on the plugin pages – for more info – look at the reviews and support pages as well – those give you a general sense – though I always take feedback like that with a grain of salt…

[SickSquirrel]

Thanks. I was thinking of using WP itself as the forum. I trust WP. Plugins make me leery especially now. I just read email from a Support member (I forget from where) who said my site could have been compromised through a WP plugin.

I’m with you on feedback as I know people used to pay for positive reviews of software.

Would you recommend using plain old WP as a forum?

[WPyogi]

It really depends on what you are doing with your site…if you want a lot of discussion, I think forums are better…but WP comments can be workable too. Another kind of cool option might be the P2 (or similar new PulsePress) theme – I have not used it but you could check it out and see what you think –

https://www.ads-software.com/extend/themes/search.php?q=p2

[SickSquirrel]

Thank you. I downloaded it and will look around and see what I think. One important thing is it has to run in the main domain. I want it under …..com not …..com/something

My old site used one program for 18 years (it is still running but it was given away hen I was in a coma) and was fairly active with 20,000 topics and more than 100,000 posts. The new one won’t be very busy which is why I thought WP would work.

[WPyogi]

That’s no problem – it’s just how to install WP.

Oh my, that’s busy and sorry to hear you had health issues.

WordPress can handle a lot – look at these forums and/or the WordPress.COM site which is even bigger… And really, plugins CAN be a problem, but if you are smart about the ones you use, and keep everything updated, that reduces the risk a lot. I’d venture that BuddyPress (and probably the others too) are very well maintained and quite safe. Hacks can also come via a server hack – so make sure you are using a good host too.

[SickSquirrel]

I plan to configure and test it on a domain I have but don’t use. I will see how comfortable I get with it. If its scares me I will go with WP alone. I want to use BP but plugins worry me as I’ve said. At least I have two excellent options.

I now have only short-term memory. Before my illness I used to code. Now coding is a foreign language. But I keep trying ??

Thank you.

[WPyogi]

Oh gosh, that’s hard. But good for you for keeping at it ?? The human body can do amazing things. If you want to learn more about BP, you could check out their forums here: https://bbpress.org/

[SickSquirrel]

Thank you. I’ll go and check that site out, read reviews, problems, etc. My biggest worry now is I won’t find a theme that can use my sites’ header. I spent a good amount on my design and want to use at least the header as it’s awesome.

I think tomorrow I can feel BP out and decide if it’s right for me. It is on my tst site already.

This forum runs WP but what plugin for the forum? I see links for Buddy Press, Social Layer and bbPress. I’d assume you ran one with modifications.

[WPyogi]

Yes, this site uses a customized version of bbPress – you do need to make sure the theme you use is compatible with it. You can almost always customize a theme to make any kind of header you want… so that’s probably not a big issue.

[SickSquirrel]

Dumb question –how do know if a theme is compatible? I need to find a theme this week. I have checked bbPress and am going with it.

[SickSquirrel]

Still need to know how to tell if a theme is compatible