[wp-hackers] P2 in a subfolder

[David Ernst]

Short question:

What's the smartest way to configure a P2 child-theme to a subfolder of my
root (TwentyTwelve-based) WordPress install? This new subfolder would
need its own wp_posts table but use the same wp_users.





The details:

The current set up uses a child-theme of TwentyTwelve. There's a static
homepage and most of the site is organized around Pages. So
foo.com/bananais the permalink for the Page 'Banana'. There are about
40 or so Pages at
the moment.

And foo.com/blog is the current Blog Index, so the Post 'Pineapple' lives
at foo.com/blog/pineapple . There are only a few posts right now, and only
admins can post.

WooCommerce is also installed, using the /shop/ subfolder. It treats
eCommerce orders as a custom post type.

Then there's another custom post type 'fish' with some
elaborate accompanying wp_postmeta that's rendered and semi-editable on
foo.com/fishtank, using a htaccess rewrite + custom Action URL. Each user
can only see the fish-type posts they created.


Now what I'd like to do is create a discussion space at foo.com/talk/.
Unlike the current blog index, all users (& maybe guests? Haven't decided
yet) should be able to post here. The objective is for this to have a
real-time chat room feel, but like a forum also allow for longer
posts, keep an archive, and provide links to individual threads. Matt's
post "How P2 Changed Automattic" <
http://ma.tt/2009/05/how-p2-changed-automattic/> inspired me to think P2
could work well.

Because this may generate tons of content, and the current wp_posts is
already pretty busy, I'd rather give it its own wp_posts table, if possible.
Is this an unnecessary concern and over-complicating things? I'd still like
to use the current wp_users table.


Does this setup make sense? Has it been done before? Am I being crazy? Is
there documentation for these sort of scenarios? Would it be much simpler
to use a fresh install of WordPress in a subfolder? Is there a sane way to
share wp_users between these two spaces?


I'd appreciate any thoughts, concerns, and suggestions :-)


Much thanks,

David