Kevinjohn Gallagher

This weekend marks 4 month since bbPress received any official update on it’s blog, or has any of it’s “weekly” IRC triages; Matt has thrown his toys out of the pram, and publicly talked down the project at this year’s WordCamp, no-one knows if we’re meant to be working on the 1.0.3 trac or the 1.1 trac, and this version of the software is going to be it’s last.

So the question I want to ask is, where now for bbPress? Here are my thoughts…

bbPress is dead.

The next release of bbPress (1.0.3 / 1.1) will include some long request features for wordpress.org/.com’s support forums; and then it’s off to the elephant graveyard.

Matt has left the project, and decreed bbPress at this year’s WordCamp even going so far as to suggest to people to use different software. Matt also informed us (though no blog post or official announcement, he just threw it into an IRC chat at 11pm one night) that bbPress will not continue to be a standalone and will be a wordpress plugin. Open-Source software cannot die, but the bbPress project we’ve supported for years is ending.

I believe that after the next release, that bbPress should be forked with a dedicated team in place, in a structured tiered format.

• The new project should clearly define the Roles and Responsibilities of it’s members and contributors.
• The new project’s members should also be listed on the project website.
• The new project’s members should not participate in the original bbPress project.
• The new project should be defined before any coding.
• The new project should have a visible feature list.
• The new project should have a fully working website.
• The new project should do what it says on the tin.
• The new project should prioritise communication.
• The new project should separate moderators and developers.
• The new project should accept criticism.
• The new project should strive to understand it’s user base.
• The new project should be strict on support queries.
• The new project should maintain a clear grasp on reality.
• The new project should focus on the website owner/administrator; rather than end user.

EDIT: Re-reading this list has made me chuckle a little, because I think that most of the items I’ve included are what makes WordPress stand out from the crowd. If only they were both written by the same people…