BuddyLists Overview

BuddyLists lets members group other members into named lists, in the style of Twitter lists, on a BuddyPress or BuddyBoss community. Each list has its own page with a combined activity feed from the people on it.

What members can do

• Create a list from the Lists tab on their profile. A name is all it needs.
• Open the list’s own page to add and remove people, using a search across the community or the suggestions shown there.
• Set a cover image and an icon on the list page. A list without them gets a generated cover and an icon showing its first letter.
• Mark a list Public or Private.
• Edit or delete their own lists from the list page.
• Follow public lists and find them under My Followed Lists.
• Read a combined activity feed of everyone on a list.
• Share a list by its web address, which is built from the list name.
• Send a private message to anyone on a list with the Message link on their row.

What the site owner controls

• What the Lists tab is called and the word used in list web addresses.
• Which roles and member types may create lists.
• How many lists each member may have and how many people each list may hold.
• Who may add people to a list: only its owner, the owner and their friends, or only administrators.
• Where member suggestions come from.
• Whether new lists start public or private, whether members can change that later, and the message shown on a private list.
• Whether members are told when they are added to or removed from a list, on the site and by email.
• Colors for list pages, if you do not want them to follow the theme.

How it fits together

Lists, list members and list followers are stored in three custom database tables. Lists appear as a profile tab and each list also has its own page at /lists/<list-name>/, where lists is the word you choose in the settings. Cover images and icons are stored in wp-content/uploads/buddylists/<list ID>/, outside the Media Library.

BuddyLists has no REST API, shortcodes or blocks. The front end talks to admin-ajax.php. Two widgets are available for the sidebars of list pages.