In reply to Bowe Frankema.

I don't have hate for bbPress, mostly disappointment. From how the project has been run over the years to the state of forums today and how it pales in comparison to what's available.

I got BBPress looking and behaving nicely.

I'd never put you in the "common user" category. It's just an observation but I think developers or those who have mild experience hacking things together enjoy bbPress. Adding the things it's missing to fulfill a need isn't so for them. Users have plugins but at the end of the day, a lot of people are looking for a solution that has most of what they need out of the box. bbPress in most cases doesn't meet that criteria.