WordPress MU

Spending a LOT of time here lately with WPMU, ComicPress, BuddyPress, bbPress etc... not much of anything works. Will either go back to WP or Joomla. That stinks too! Had some cool ideas with this stuff...but, just a waste of time.
Are there any good debuggers out there??? What are the chances of any of these programs ever actually working? Read an article today...have to look it back up...the guy was saying how WPMU and BuddyPress will never amount to anything. Was hoping he was wrong, but...am starting to see it for myself. What is the problem? Do you guys NEED debuggers??? Testers??? Why does everything crash and or break? Sheesh!

Not giving up just yet. Does ANYBODY know what program I should use to debug the WP API code...the plugins, widgets etc...
ZEND Studio? PHP Designer...anything...???

whats wrong with it?
I run a WPMU and BuddyPress site with no issues...

It is FREE so unless you have anything constructive to say then don't say it at all. Provide useful help and feedback to help the devs out, otherwise no one is going to be willing to help you!!

I debug my code using a text editor and the php error file, but then again that's just me (I'm old school having started programming for computers 29 years ago)

I think the problem is that people tend to throw everything together from day 1 and its just about impossible to debug. Get basic WPMU working first, get your templates sorted, and then start adding features one at a time, new widgets, new search functionality, formums, BuddyPress etc.

There's a huge community of testers out there, check out some of the mailing lists. They're not run of the mill guys either, a lot of them know their business and know it well.

As for the chances of these programs actually working, well I would say it's pretty high. Considering there are literally thousands (possibly in the tens of?) of sites out there running various versions of the software, not including some of the smaller ones, like wordpress.com, wordpress.org, this one, bbpress.org...

You might need to be more specific as to what problems you are having, otherwise such rants really don't help anybody. :(

I'm 80% certain the issues have to do with your host. get a new account and a new domain name, start from scratch and almost all those issues will go away.

If it was really that buggy and difficult for everyone else, there'd be a whole pile of other threads.

Everytime...I said everytime...I get one thing working I move to the next and IT breaks!!! It has been this way since the first site I put together with Wordpress. Many of if not ALL of the errors/warnings I figured out on my own. Thanks to those who DO help. Very much.

Not really ranting and raving. Being very honest...really. I love Wordpress...the idea of it anyway! lol

I am after all going back to WP 2.8.4 and getting my site live with that. THEN! In my spare time (LMAO!) I will continue with this kickass cool plan I had with the rest. Man it would have been tooooo kewl! :(

Good luck fellows! Hope you guys and gals pull this thing together! I know that eventually you all will. Perhaps I may learn enough from fighting with it to be able to help too.
God bless!
Oh and by the way...it is indeed buggy and there are thousands of threads all over the web. But! Networking! That is what it will take to put it all together. Since I first used WP I have seen some really useful and functional "things" added... An idea that I had months ago...and everyone would tell me WHY! What are you talking about? Who would do THAT? Well...I see that the idea I had is now a part of FCK Editor. Would like to think that all my "ranting and raving" led to that being implemented. Cool!
Peace out!

I agree with Raging. When one cannot even get an application to install, it is useless.

There are not enough experts and helpers here.

Danielfelice, Does that mean that all things that are free are useless? WordPress is free, but it works. MU doesn't! Just being constructive does not always get problems solved or interfaces simplified and perfected.

John

What do you mean MU doesn't work.

bestofnj,

You are right that an application is useless until you learn how to install it. That is why instructions are provided, although I do also think they are a little difficult for the inexperienced to follow.

It only takes one person to help. Many of the complaints I see are due to someone expecting an answer instantly from those who are volunteering their time here.

I believe what danielfelice was trying to say is that, since wordpress and wordpressMU is all free, no one is obligated to help you with your problems, so it is in your best interest to avoid alienating the people who are going out of their way to help you with no compensation at all.

I've been using MU for a couple of months now, integrated with bbpress and buddypress, and have had absolutely no problems with it that haven't been simply user error and which I have solved within minutes, on my own or by perusing some old threads here.

Being constructive is the ONLY way to solve ANY problem. Expressing your frustration may expose a problem, but hostility won't make it go away.

My experience has been that when people ask specific questions, there is plenty of help to be had. When people complain about things in general, the complaint falls on deaf ears (as it should). If you need help getting it running, ask a specific question - tell us specifically what is broken. Lots of us run lots of installations. It does work.

There are problems with MU and I have asked for help many times. MU needs more help and more adopters.

For your installation issues, it's probably your setup. In a subfolder of a subdomain is outside the norm. Sometimes MU can be pretty picky about these things. If you were havign the same issues installing it at the root of a domain, more people would probably have chimed in.

And also, a lack of answers can also mean "I don't know".

A lack of answers might also mean "Why don't you try searching for the answer". I'm not saying that every question has already been answered but for some people who have been here for a while it does get a bit annoying when people just keep re-asking the same questions over and over again and haven't even tried searching.

Problems with getting wpmu running are almost always one of the following in order of frequency:

1. Basic installation mistakes.
2. People messing with the wp-config or .htaccess (really, these are installation mistakes)
3. Plugin problems (especially major plugin systems like bbpress/buddypress)
4. Apache configuration problems.
5. PHP configuration problems (wrong modules, missing modules, etc)
6. People modifying themes without even trying to learn wordpress development.
7. Without PHP experience.
8. Without CSS experience.
9. Without HTML experience.
10. Wordpress core bugs.

WPMU definitely has bugs, we have found some and submitted fixes to Trac. But MOST of the problems are user error and a lot of them are basic user competence at fundamental web site development regardless of WordPress. MU also definitely works. Is it as easy to get working as the standalone WordPress? No. It should be expected that a piece of software capable of hosting thousands of blogs requires a higher level of competence and server configuration to host, install, customize, and maintain. If you're not up to the challenge, I recommend incsub.