About: Thorsten Becker

Thanks a lot for the reply. I’ve decided to go with a different option after all, one that is a bit less headache inducing for the admins.

Quick rundown: We’re using s2member, BuddyPress and Simple:Press (excellent forum plugin), each serving a particular purpose. However, all provide their own profiles. Unfortunately BP and s2m do not provide any (easy) option for pull additional standard WP fields like website and bio, which are important for us. S:P however does. In addition s2m custom fields are difficult to pull into S:P as they are stored in arrays (BP being even more of a pain since it’s using a whole different table). On the other hand S:P stores its custom fields as more standard entries. So the question was how to use a minimum of profiles (S:P’s being a must) offering a maximum of synchronization.

After lots of head scratching and research I came across a plugin called User Profiles Made Easy (http://plugins.themefluent.com/upme/). It’s highly configurable and capable of pulling meta data from any application (as long as it’s stored in usermeta). It’s extremely easy to use and highly intuitive. We now add custom fields via S:P and pull them in via UPME to present on a nicely styled profile in the frontend. In turn users can easily update their information via the UPME form, or via S:P when using the forum – and all data is kept nicely in sync. The BP profile is not used and kept hidden as much a possible. The s2member profile is, sadly, kept away as well.

All being said I’d much prefer using s2member’s profile option (considering registration and all) – if it would offer the same flexibility as UPME. That would make things even more seamless. Obviously it can be done.

Bump. Still looking for some feedback on this.