Can't edit forums when forum count > 4000

[joe.davola]

I have bbPress installed that has 1 forum for each stock ticker (symbol). I currently have about 4500 forums each dedicated to a single stock.

When I go to: Dashboard -> Forums -> All Forums I get:

HTTP Error 500 (Internal Server Error): An unexpected condition was encountered while the server was attempting to fulfill the request.

using Chrome.

Same result when using FireFox, IE, Safari, Opera (all current versions).

When I enter the url of the forum I want to edit into the address bar (i.e. ​https://www.***.com/forums/forum/n/nabd-north-american-building-inc/) and click "Edit Forum" in the toolbar, elements of the menu do not work or are missing (see attached image).

Accessing any existing forums still works and posting to existing forums is still possible.

I have tried everything I can think of, including:

1. Try default themes TwentyTwelve, TwentyEleven.
2. Barebones .htaccess file with only default WordPress section.
3. Moved wp-config.php back to default location (was moved "up" a level out of public_html).
4. Deactivated all plugins.
5. Reinstalled bbPress.

I did NOT make any configuration changes during the period of this error (except to add more forums).

=========================

WordPress Version: 3.5.1
bbPress Version: 2.3.2

Posts: ~24,000

Plugins:

1. Akismet
2. Bad Behavior
3. Configure SMTP
4. Duo Two-Factor Authentication
5. Quform
6. s2Member® Framework
7. Strictly Google Sitemap
8. WordPress Importer
9. WP-reCAPTCHA
10. WP to Twitter
11. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin

Thanks

[alexvorn2]

to many forums, that is the problem I think

[johnjamesjacoby]

The reason these errors seem sporadic is likely related to OOM errors. The server will run out of memory at different points in different page loads, depending on your server configuration.

When editing a specific forum, the problem is likely related to the bbp_get_dropdown() function, which tries to pull all forums at once. In your case, that's at least 4000 too many.

bbPress wasn't built with this in mind, so we'll need to work together to tweak it to, at the very least, recognize large installations, and adjust limits accordingly.

Until then, you'll likely need to incorporate some lazy-loading, or other unique way of querying for less forums at a time. Every successful site eventually outgrows its roots, and it sounds like you're about there. Ideally, we improve bbPress together so that it can continue to adequately power your site.

[joe.davola]

It sounds like OOM for sure! I realize now that drop down boxes are trying to be populated with all forums (which is unreasonable in my situation).

I really like bbPress and how it integrates with my site and users. It is for this reason that I do not want to use other forum software. I also really like how simple and clean bbPress is.

I have limited PHP and MySQL skills but can make a donation or payment for $200 if it will help create some time for your team to work on this issue.

Let me know if there is anything I can do to help or if there are not enough resources to get this fixed anytime soon.