Nice little Forum Plug In for Wordpress

[Harold Mansfield]

I have never been too impressed with Wordpress Forum Plug ins and I would never use one for a full solution, but recently I looked again as I was looking for something light, yet functional to use simple as a place to answer support questions.

I was going to do a full installation of V- Bulletin (which was too much), but then I found this:
Simple:Press Forum

It's actually a pretty decent plug in and it does exactly what I needed it for, something on a smaller scale to use as a place for support questions.

Works with Single User WP and MU

Installation wasn't bad (it's a big plug in), my issues came from my FTP program not uploading complete folders, but after I got that worked out, it seems like it will be perfect.

Just thought I'd share

[Patrysha]

Thanks for sharing that :-) It might come in handy for a project I will be working on soon.

[vangogh]

I've heard good things about simple press, but I lean towards using bbPress as it's being developed by by Automatic and is what BuddyPress uses internally. Did you realize BuddyPress used bbPress as forum software? It was a single click and 5 seconds and I had a forum set up.

[Harold Mansfield]

I've heard good things about simple press, but I lean towards using bbPress as it's being developed by by Automatic and is what BuddyPress uses internally. Did you realize BuddyPress used bbPress as forum software? It was a single click and 5 seconds and I had a forum set up.

Yes, I have it set up, but I couldn't see a clear way to use it as a support forum. It's set up more as a message board between groups and members.

[vangogh]

I think that's BuddyPress doing that. bbPress on it's own can be set up as a support forum. I've seen a few people discuss that they'd like bbPress to work standalone in conjunction with BuddyPress. I imagine there's a plugin to make it happen or will be one coming before too long. Of course that wouldn't help you right now.

[Harold Mansfield]

I think that's BuddyPress doing that. bbPress on it's own can be set up as a support forum. I've seen a few people discuss that they'd like bbPress to work standalone in conjunction with BuddyPress. I imagine there's a plugin to make it happen or will be one coming before too long. Of course that wouldn't help you right now.

Oh it's definitely the way BP has it set up. Even so, I like the idea of having a small support forum separate from community conversations.

If I need a full fledged forum solution, I'm still going to go with V-Bulletin.

But this Simple Press Forum plug in is nice for a little mini forum.

[vangogh]

I want to be able to have the forum separate too. The reason I'd lean toward bbPress is because I think it will ultimately be the one that gets developed more and generates more plugins around it. BuddyPress will likely grow now that it no longer requires MU and since it uses bbPress, which is part of the Press family of applications.

I'm thinking down the line it will be the more robust forum platform for WordPress. Again that doesn't help you now and like I said above I've only heard good things about SimplePress. I'm certainly not knocking SimplePress. Just think about the future.

[Harold Mansfield]

Speaking of the future, I'm thinking come April, the way I have things set up right now, will be as obsolete as leaded gasoline.

I did upgrade my hosting account today to a VPS in anticipation of building a few more of these on the new version.

[vangogh]

Funny and sad to think your setup will have a 3 week lifespan. It's the way of technology isn't it.

SimplePress isn't going anywhere. Plenty of people use it and say positive things about it.

[Harold Mansfield]

Funny and sad to think your setup will have a 3 week lifespan. It's the way of technology isn't it.

SimplePress isn't going anywhere. Plenty of people use it and say positive things about it.

Well, a little extra knowledge never hurt anyone. Kind of like the age old grade school student/ teacher argument..."Why do I need to show the work when I can do it on a calculator?"

Well I learned a few things that may help me troubleshoot in the future.