If you are looking to build a feature-rich community platform on WordPress, BuddyPress is still the most complete starting point, member profiles, activity streams, groups and private messaging without stitching a dozen services together.
What you get out of the box
- Extended member profiles with custom field groups
- An activity stream with mentions and favourites
- Public, private and hidden groups
- Private messaging between members
- Friendship connections and notifications
Things to plan before you install
Scale. Activity streams grow fast. Plan indexing, object caching and a strategy for pruning old activity from day one.
Moderation. Decide who reviews reports, and build the flow before you have users, not after.
Email. Community sites send a lot of mail. Use a transactional provider or your notifications will land in spam.
When not to use it
If your community only needs comments and a newsletter, BuddyPress is too much machinery. It earns its weight when profiles, groups and member-to-member interaction are the product, not a bolt-on.
