[buddypress-trac] [BuddyPress] #4569: Make BP Groups into WP Custom Taxonomies (was: Deploy custom post types)

[buddypress-trac]

#4569: Make BP Groups into WP Custom Taxonomies
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 Reporter:  sooskriszta  |       Owner:
     Type:  enhancement  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |   Milestone:  Future Release
Component:  Core         |     Version:
 Severity:  normal       |  Resolution:
 Keywords:               |
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Changes (by sooskriszta):

 * cc: vpundir@… (added)


Comment:

 @chrisclayton Thanks for the bpdevel link. Very useful discussion there.

 I will refocus this particular ticket squarely on Groups. The humble kick-
 off suggestion is to make Groups into Custom Taxonomies, after all,
 taxonomy and group are synonyms ;-)

 There are 2 key aspects to consider
 - Most folks use WordPress because it's easy-to-use (as opposed to say
 Drupal). By definition, the target universe of BuddyPress is predominantly
 less tech-oriented/savvy, more ease-of-use focused.
 - BP core developers are always exasperated, out-of-breath and overworked,
 because there are very few of them, and community patches to core are few
 and far-between. Compare this to WordPress, which owing to a massive
 overall universe has many more contributing developers who know how
 WordPress (and CPTs) work.

 I understand that the challenges are great
 - The change in architecture is probably massive, just shy of the
 changeover from bbPress standalone to bbPress plugin
 - The worst part of it all would be migration of current installations to
 the custom taxonomy-based system

 That being said, there are great advantages which make the effort totally
 worth it (easy for me to say since I don't have to do it..heck, I don't
 even know how much effort is needed):
 - Stable, tried, tested system
 - Lots of functionality comes baked in, freeing up developers
 - User-friendly interface comes already baked in making UI hardwork e.g.
 http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-group-organizer/screenshots/ a
 thing of the past, and making BuddyPress more appealing to target
 universe.
 - "Unexpected" benefit - hierarchical groups #3961
 - More developers can participate as they have to learn fewer BuddyPress-
 specific things...
 - Almost certainly more WordPress plugins would become BuddyPress
 compatible

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Ticket URL: <https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4569#comment:3>
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