ISSUE SUMMARY:
I would like to remove the status update box from the activity stream so that members can only post in groups. I have tried going to configuration/site/status and selecting no for Enable stream location but that does not do what I want.

Hi Alice,

here the steps:
1. for frontpage. copy base.php from /components/com_community/templates/jomsocial/layouts/frontpage/ to /templates/[your frontend template]/html/com_community/layouts/frontpage/, and remove this code at line 46

<?php ($my->id) ? $userstatus->render() : ''; ?>

// Add default status box
CUserHelper::addDefaultStatusCreator($userStatus);

$status->render();

Thank you