I never have figured out why the plugin’s shortcode isn’t working.

However, because I like your interface for Setting and Removing featured status for members, I wrote my own shortcode.

I’m putting it in here in case it’s helpful to anyone else:

function display_featured_members() {

$return_string = '<ul class="featured-members">';
$args = array( 'meta_key' => '_is_featured', 'orderby' => 'display_name',  'order' => 'ASC' );
// The Query
$user_query = new WP_User_Query( $args );
// User Loop
if ( ! empty( $user_query->get_results() ) ) {
	foreach ( $user_query->get_results() as $user ) {
		$key = '_is_featured';
		$featured_state = get_user_meta( $user->ID, $key, true );
		if ( $featured_state == '1' ) {
			$return_string .= '<li>' . $user->display_name . '</li>';
		}

	}
} else {
	$return_string .= 'No users found.';
}

$return_string .= '<ul>';
 return $return_string;

}

function bmm_shortcodes_init()
{
    add_shortcode('bmm-featured-members', 'display_featured_members');
}
 
add_action('init', 'bmm_shortcodes_init');

Put in Query Monitor and this was the only obvious item on the page where I’m running the shortcode

SELECT user_id
FROM wp_usermeta
WHERE meta_key = ‘_is_featured’
AND meta_value = ‘1’

I’ve also gone through and updated some plugins that needed it – including MemberPress – but still nothing.

And I’ve also run the shortcode on a page that does not use WP Bakery, without result.

I’ve tried setting Featured members through their individual profiles rather than through the member listing page – but neither action makes them appear.

I’ve tried putting a BP Featured widget in the footer – still no members showing.

Sorry for the delay. Strange thing happened the other day – I could see one of the Featured Members by use of the shortcode. But the other 5 weren’t there. Tried setting shortcode to show max 100, but still one one showed. I tried unsetting everyone and then setting a new featured member – again, getting the No Members Found.

I was thinking about the query, and I have customized member-loop.php… but only to change the number of members shown at a time and to add some new profile fields into each listing.

GP

I’ve deactivated BP Profile Search and that did not fix the issue

I’m going to have to wait until overnight to deactivate the MemberPress add-on, because that’s being used at the moment by others.