General - Profile Matching
Tab: General
Option stored: bffs_general_setting
Admin path: WB Plugins > BP Friend & Follow > General
This tab controls the suggestion engine itself: whether it runs at all, what baseline score all members start with, and which profile fields contribute to match percentages.
Enable Profile Matching
Section titled “Enable Profile Matching”Field name: Enable Profile Matching
Option key: bffs_general_setting[enable_profile_match]
Values: enabled (1) / disabled (empty)
Default: disabled
The master switch for the whole matching engine. When off, no match scores appear on profiles, no suggestions are calculated, and member email preference controls are hidden from member settings pages.
Turn this on before configuring anything else. The “Universal Match Score” and “Weighted Field Matching” sections below are hidden when this is off.
Universal Match Score
Section titled “Universal Match Score”Field name: Baseline Percentage
Option key: bffs_general_setting[profile_st_percentage]
Range: 0-100
Default: 20
Every pair of members starts with this score before field-level matching is applied. A baseline of 20 means even two members with nothing in common show at least 20% compatibility.
The field description reads “Recommended: 15-25%”. Setting it to 0 means members with no overlapping profile fields will show 0%. Setting it high (above 50) makes field weights less meaningful because the floor is already dominant.
This value is added to the weighted field scores separately - it is not one of the fields in the matching table below.
Weighted Field Matching
Section titled “Weighted Field Matching”Option key: bffs_general_setting[bffs_match_data]
Type: Repeating rows, each with three sub-values
This section lets you pick which BuddyPress Extended Profile fields factor into the match score. Each row has:
Profile Field (dropdown)
Section titled “Profile Field (dropdown)”Select any Extended Profile field from your site. Fields are grouped by profile group. The dropdown shows fields from all member types.
The name field (field ID 1) is excluded from the dropdown automatically - it cannot be used for matching.
Tip: Click the “View Suggestions” button to see all unconfigured fields ranked by how well their field type typically performs for matching. Checkbox and multi-select fields rank highest because members can share multiple values.
Field type guide:
| Field type | Typical weight | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| Checkbox | 25-35% | Multiple values produce richer overlap |
| Multi-select | 20-30% | Similar to checkbox |
| Select (single) | 15-25% | Single-choice fields for key preferences |
| Radio button | 15-25% | Good for important single-choice attributes |
| Date | 10-20% | Age or date ranges indicate proximity |
| Number | 10-20% | Numeric closeness |
| Text (single line) | 5-10% | Limited; keyword matching only |
| Textarea | 5-10% | Long text is harder to match reliably |
Weight (%)
Section titled “Weight (%)”Option key: bffs_general_setting[bffs_match_data][n][percentage]
Range: 1-100
Default: 15
How much this field contributes to the total score. The sum of all weights is shown live in a bar below the field list.
If your weights add up to more than 100%, the engine normalizes them automatically - it divides each weight by the total so they sum to 100%. No action needed on your part, but it is easier to reason about scores when your weights already sum to 100.
The weight bar turns red when the total exceeds 100 and shows “(will be normalized to 100%)”.
Required (checkbox)
Section titled “Required (checkbox)”Option key: bffs_general_setting[bffs_match_data][n][stop_match]
Values: checked (1) / unchecked (0)
Default: unchecked
When checked, this field becomes a hard gate: if two members do not share at least one value in this field, they will not be suggested to each other at all, regardless of how high their score from other fields is.
Use sparingly - marking many fields as Required narrows the suggestion pool significantly. Practical uses include location fields when you only want to suggest people in the same city.
Adding and removing fields
Section titled “Adding and removing fields”Click “Add Field” to add a new matching row. Each row gets a default weight of 15%.
Click the trash icon on any row to remove it from the matching algorithm. The change takes effect after you click “Save Matching Settings”.
Rows can be reordered by dragging the up-down arrow in the first column. Reordering does not affect scores - only the weight values matter.
Empty state
Section titled “Empty state”If no fields have been configured yet, the field list shows: “No fields configured yet. Click ‘Add Field’ or ‘View Suggestions’ to get started.”
Suggestions will not be calculated until at least one matching field is configured and the Enable Profile Matching toggle is on.
Saving
Section titled “Saving”Click “Save Matching Settings”. The page reloads to confirm the save. Weights and field selections take effect immediately for new suggestion calculations; cached suggestions for existing members may show old scores until the cache expires (default one hour) or you clear it from the Advanced tab.