Either way, you’re making a great choice! However, BuddyPress is our “go-to” platform when creating community sites

Sorry to hear that! We’ve had nothing but good luck with BBPress so far. What was the issue that caused you to finally quit?

buddypress.org will help you from their website. I am not sure about ads on buddypress but it is for member engagement, profiles, groups and activity with blog posts and comments. bbpress.org is the forums and that website is from the same people that does WordPress.org and buddypress.org. Those three links will help you figure what you need.

I was a blogger, and now have 300k fans on my facebook page. Facebook limits my post engagement and blocks my fans from seeing the majority of my posts. I want to move my page off of facebook and take my fans onto my own domain.
My goal is to recreate the facebook look and feel, allow the use of facebook login and give my fans a place to interact where I can more closely control the content as well as monetize the environment,

I have a hosted domain with wordpress installed.

What software/plugins should I be using?
Is there a guide I can read on how this is done????

The whole registration of WordPress works with BuddyPress and bbPress together. It does offer login widget with BuddyPress and a different one for bbPress but what I mean is like I am using Newsmag theme from tagdiv and it has a ajax login modal and when you click on it, pops up like and register through WordPress and you get email and password and you sign in to change the password. It still has you as a member through both without using the login widgets from BuddyPress and bbPress. The only time you need to use the widgets is if your theme does not have a login model or widget.

Yes, but the article title is still calling BuddyPress a forum. That right there is going to make the people not understand the difference when BuddyPress uses groups forums only when bbPress is installed. You won’t have any forums on BuddyPress at all if bbPress is not installed. I was only try to get the wrong title of the article to not say BuddyPress is a forum, when it isn’t. It is changed now but it was saying which is the better forum. Good it is changed. The only reason I came to the article because it confused a long time user like me.

Perfect! Thanks for the quick response.

Do they have to create a new account for both, or will the original registration work for both?

You are right, I too have been around wordPress for years and have used both.

Just because you and I get it, do not assume others will too.

This is the type of question we get on a regular basis to users new to both plugins.

Yes, we could have written one paragraph but of those wanting more information it doesn’t help that much.

Thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.

P.S. I have included your summary within this content for those wanting a quick overview. Again thank you for your contribution 🙂

Finally, someone that gets it.

BuddyPress still maybe making groups but it isn’t just groups, its members, profiles, activities and more that is a community network software. Not forum. The only thing out of groups that is forum is if you have bbPress installed then you can created group forums, but if you just have BuddyPress it is just a network for socializing. You can’t even create group forums without bbPress. Like I said bbPress is forums and Buddypress is community social network software. Two different things.

I found the best information in your first sentence than I did wadding through paragraphs of hyperbole and badly presented and poorly written time-wasting issues. here. thanks dude.

Hi Bryer,

Thank you for stopping by, you are correct they are different in their own right.

On BuddyPress, you can create groups which to me acts as a forum you have the ability to limit members from create groups, so there’s sort of an organized conversation. Just as you would have on bbPress, a few years back, I was unsure which of the two to use. These days with plugins like user pro, giving both BuddyPress and bbPress enhanced function and user experience it can be a headache deciding which to build your community around or whether to use both.

Thanks for the comment :). Keep visiting 85Ideas.