What Forum Plugin? (bbPress vs Simple:Press vs Mingle vs [???])

[the_guv]

Currently I'm using bbPress (standalone, deep integrated NOT a plugin, hacked to suit) to power http://vpsbible.com/forums.

Really I'm not entirely happy with this solution. bbPress is impressive but its development is ad hoc and there is no directly integral plugin option (in alpha).

Now I'm redeveloping vpsB and need a forum *plugin* option to go not so much alongside as within, truly integral ..

- to be able to install and forget (OK, some styling will be necessary, forum setups and so on .. fine)
- something that will share roles/registrations/logins/cookies .. ***this really is the key point***

So, to harp on a bit, this isn't an integration plugin that I'm after, where you have, say, WP + unifyingPlugin + SMF .. It's the entire forum wrapped into the plugin, WP + forumPlugin. I'm not bothered about complex installations but the need is easier ongoing maintenance.

This is a complex area and researching forum options is a bit of a minefield. I imagine a lot of folks have (or have had) similar headaches. ..

.. any feedback on what you have tested positively, else to steer away from, would be most appreciated.

Thank you :)

[Ryan]

I would steer clear of SimplePress, it's one of the worse forum options I've seen. It doesn't even have the ability to theme it; it only provides the ability to modify the CSS.

I'd go for bbPress right now. Even if it is in alpha, it would still be a better option than SimplePress IMO.

I've never heard of Mingle.

[Otto]

JJJ is actively developing/hacking on the bbPress-as-a-plugin. I've been playing with it, it's quite good already.

http://svn.automattic.com/bbpress/branches/plugin/

[the_guv]

thanks guys, appreciate those comments.

Simple:Press .. agreed, I did use it for a while, about a year ago, and theming it was a pig. Plus it's over-complicated for my needs. I gave up and moved to ...

bbPress .. well, I don't think the community is reliable .. they just keep falling out with each other! And they've been talking up a plugin for years (rather than months anyway) now and, it seems to me, are more talk less walk.

Mingle Forums .. seems the only one with a committed developer .. just one guy as opposed to bbP's team which for such an enterprise is wrrying on the one hand but, then again, he doesn't seem tpo argue with himself, just gets on with it as can be seen:-

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mingle-forum/

So right now that looks best by a long chalk.

What about Justin Tadlock's plugin .. I think he gave up? Again, as much as I respect him (and gratefully use some other of his plugins) I don't think he has had the time to develop what he was talking up around the Tavern and on his site. Too much to chew maybe, too many other things to do, I guess.

Anyway, Mingle, seems to me ..

(Er, I'm trying to provoke a constructive argument here, someone pls either agree with me or tell me how it is :) )

What about you Jeff .. you're using vBulletin here .. how do you fit that with WP users/cookies/login. Isn't it a bit of a pain .. why didn't you go for bbPress, say?

Thank you.

[Rich Pedley]

re bbPress as a plugin - it's under active development, see this thread:
http://bbpress.org/forums/topic/bbpress-plugin-updates/

[Ryan]

bbPress .. well, I don't think the community is reliable .. they just keep falling out with each other!

I haven't noticed the community falling out with itself. I've noticed that they were enraged when the project was essentially moth balled in favour of a new piece of software with the same name though.

And they've been talking up a plugin for years (rather than months anyway) now and, it seems to me, are more talk less walk.

You are confusing the talk of a plugin to integrate bbPress, with converting bbPress to BE a plugin. Those are two entirely different issues. In the end, Matt decided to turn it into a plugin instead of a standalone piece of software.

What about Justin Tadlock's plugin .. I think he gave up? Again, as much as I respect him (and gratefully use some other of his plugins) I don't think he has had the time to develop what he was talking up around the Tavern and on his site. Too much to chew maybe, too many other things to do, I guess.

I think you will find Justin decided there was no point in making two forum plugins for WordPress. Once bbPress was announced as a plugin, he briefly continued working on it, but then shelved it once the bbPress plugin appeared to be up and running as a viable project. Or at least that's my understanding of the situation. There's not much point in two sets of people building essentially the same thing.

What about you Jeff .. you're using vBulletin here .. how do you fit that with WP users/cookies/login. Isn't it a bit of a pain .. why didn't you go for bbPress, say?

I'll pre-empt Jeff's response as I'm pretty sure I know what he'll say ... Jeff didn't want bbPress as creating a bbPress site with the same functionality as a bog-standard vBulletin install was going to be a massive amount of work. bbPress, both in plugin and standalone form, are uber slim forum solutions, not really intended for creating social network type sites such as this. They're more suitable for basic forums where you just want people to be able to do basic communication, ie: simple support forums etc. And Jeff hasn't integrated logins at all, he decided that wasn't a good idea (I agree - that sort of thing has a tendency to break).

[greenshady]

I think you will find Justin decided there was no point in making two forum plugins for WordPress. Once bbPress was announced as a plugin, he briefly continued working on it, but then shelved it once the bbPress plugin appeared to be up and running as a viable project. Or at least that's my understanding of the situation. There's not much point in two sets of people building essentially the same thing.

Yep, that was the decision. My plugin was something that had to be done for a couple of clients at the time. I considered releasing it publicly, but the bbPress project was taking off just after that. I'll eventually move those clients over to bbPress once the plugin is ready.

I'd rather back a team of folks working on something great for the community rather than going it alone and offering a competing product. I never really wanted to handle the support and be the sole developer on such a massive project. It would've taken away from my other duties and would never have been as good as bbPress in the long run simply because bbPress would have more manpower.

But, I hope I did scare a few people into getting the bbPress project up and going at least.

I'm fully backing bbPress though. You'll probably see themes/plugins from me that integrate with it, and I'm trying to free up some of my schedule to help work on bbPress itself.

[dgwyer]

This is great news for the WordPress community. Being able to effectively install WordPress with a forum tagged on simply by installing a Plugin is going to be great. Combining WordPress with bbPress (as a Plugin) will, I'm sure, boost the profile of WordPress in general.

I think vBulletin will always be the kink of forum scripts in general (I use it a lot on WordPress and non-WordPress sites), but for the sheer ease and convenience for adding a simple forum to your site, this is nothing but good news for WordPress and all its users/developers etc.

I wish the dev. team all the best, and can't wait to start testing this when the Plugin comes out. :)

[Jeffro]

There may be a point in the future where I migrate from vBulletin to bbPress but it's a long way off. Ryan's explanation as to why I'ce chosen to use vB versus bbPress is pretty much spot on. There is no integration between WordPress and vbulletin because forming a bridge is just forming another point of failure. I've had bad luck in the past with bridges and integrations and prefer to just keep things seperate and share when appropriate. It's amazing that because the site design and forum design are similar, people think I've integrated vBulletin into WordPress.

There are downsides to using vBulletin, the first one being the price. It's damn expensive. The administration UI is something out of the 80s and some of the developments to the software leave me scratching my head such as the latest release of 4.1.2 and Skimlinks integration.

However, out of the box Vbulletin has provided what I wanted in terms of a forum. I have around 5 or so extensions installed while the rest is out of the box functionality.

[DennisBarker]

I've been looking at a three options for forums, Simplepress - WP Symposium and BBPress. It looks like all of them are in heavy development at the moment so I'm holding fire on a decision until the plugins are stable and functionality has settled down. Don't have any live sites at the moment, just a couple I'm putting together slowly ready for september launch so the decision can wait until end of august.

Simplepress seems to be slowing my Newcastle Gig Guide site down a fair bit so that might not be a good solution. BBPress and WP Symposium should both be capable of doing what i'm looking for so the load time for forums might be a key factor.

Has anyone done any performance testing of BBPress or WPSymposium on a live site with active members?
What would be the best (easiest)way to track performance for a non techie?