Non-WTF forum software
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Anyone knows any good forum software? You know - the least WTFy one? I'm going to need to set up something in the future and I have no idea which is good enough (any technology, except MS is ok). Discourse looked ok feature-wise, but the stories about it didn't sound good. NodeJS lacks in features and it's buggy as hell. Any other?
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I think it's time for an @abarker table:
Forum Software Buggy? Supported? Reason for no support Community Server Yes No Developers disappeared Discourse Yes No Developers banned us NodeBB Yes Yes None... yet
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I think the "old ones" (phpBB, vBulletin, Xenforo) are still a safe bet. And they tend to be pretty customizeable.
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This rnight be of interest:
@Arantor said in Ok, Flarum. Other suggestions please.:
SMF is one of the better free forums - it's stable if sluggish in development and has some glaring WTFs that are attributable to its heritage.
XenForo is decent, would recommend. Would even consider donating licence.
IPB was good in the 3.4 days, haven't seen it since 4.0 landed, always had the impression of it being something of a tortoise - slow and steady, just does the job but nothing particularly earth shattering.
vBulletin has been a disaster since 4.0. In fact, the way the vB folks acted towards the XF folks was almost as ire-engaging as this latest discodrama. Un-fucking-necessary.
In fact, while I would not have recommended using Discourse for anything serious, it's gone from apathy to discouragement to possible clients.
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@NeighborhoodButcher said in Non-WTF forum software:
NodeJS lacks in features and it's buggy as hell.
I assume you meant NodeBB.
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@ben_lubar said in Non-WTF forum software:
Community Server
Yes
No
Developers disappearedI thought it was simply a case of them stopping doing the free stuff?
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@PJH didn't they discontinue Community Server a long time before they made their new pay-only forum software?
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Any other possibilities, except ancient stuff like IPB or phpBB?
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@ben_lubar said in Non-WTF forum software:
I think it's time for an @abarker table:
Forum Software Buggy? Supported? Reason for no support Community Server Yes No Developers disappeared Discourse Yes No Developers banned us NodeBB Yes Yes None... yet Wait did Atwood actually ban us? lol
I'll vouch for XenForo because it's extensibility is absolutely massive.
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@Sumireko said in Non-WTF forum software:
@ben_lubar said in Non-WTF forum software:
I think it's time for an @abarker table:
Forum Software Buggy? Supported? Reason for no support Community Server Yes No Developers disappeared Discourse Yes No Developers banned us NodeBB Yes Yes None... yet Wait did Atwood actually ban us? lol
I'll vouch for XenForo because it's extensibility is absolutely massive.
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@Sumireko said in Non-WTF forum software:
Wait did Atwood actually ban us? lol
 https://meta.discourse.org/users/pjh/activity
Journey leading up to the car crash started here: https://what.thedailywtf.com/topic/17231/wtf-how-can-this-be-so-wrong-aka-the-discopocalypse-thread/, and happened here: https://what.thedailywtf.com/post/663245
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@PJH
Hah, this dude looks like he has lolcow potential. What a hack, I'll have to make a thread on him sooner or later in certain places.
Edit: If any of y'all have some of that good distilled Atwood hilarity, I'd love to see more
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And it turns out, after refreshing this topic, my reply to second post turned out to be the eight instead of third, with those in between magically appearing. I think that concludes NodeBB as a candidate.
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@Sumireko said in Non-WTF forum software:
Hah, this dude looks like he has lolcow potential. What a hack, I'll have to make a thread on him sooner or later in certain places.
He's been well-known in software circles for a few years, to the point where he has his own wiki-page.
[time passes while I get distracted clicking around..]
Heh... https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Discourse_(software)&oldid=720228070
Notable users
[...]
The Daily WTF (formerly; migrated to NodeBB)
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@PJH said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Sumireko said in Non-WTF forum software:
Hah, this dude looks like he has lolcow potential. What a hack, I'll have to make a thread on him sooner or later in certain places.
He's been well-known in software circles for a few years, to the point where he has his own wiki-page.
[time passes while I get distracted clicking around..]
Heh... https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Discourse_(software)&oldid=720228070
Notable users
[...]
The Daily WTF (formerly; migrated to NodeBB)Has he had any other documented chimpouts?
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@Sumireko said in Non-WTF forum software:
Has he had any other documented chimpouts?
Not that I'm aware of. His attitude from the start, when we 'adopted' Dicourse, with hindsight, basically preempted what happened in the end.
I'll start with "abusing his administrative privileges to moderate a long-running forum with which he had no prior experience, even (or more pertinently, especially) as a member."
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phpbb. Or whatever the fuck Something Awful uses.
Free. Stable. Scales. Supported. Tested & proven.
Sane database layout.
If you decide to drink a gallon of rubbing alcohol in the future to give yourself brain damage, and at that point decide a js-based Single Page App is right for you, then you have a solid database structure to migrate from.
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@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
If you decide to drink a gallon of rubbing alcohol in the future to give yourself brain damage, and at that point decide a js-based Single Page App is right for you, then you have a solid database structure to migrate from.
Cynic.
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@NeighborhoodButcher said in Non-WTF forum software:
And it turns out, after refreshing this topic, my reply to second post turned out to be the eight instead of third, with those in between magically appearing. I think that concludes NodeBB as a candidate.
Ah, yes, the "posts don't stream in while replying" bug I filed. That got fixed and closed.
And is still open and causing problems.
Quality.
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@PJH said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
If you decide to drink a gallon of rubbing alcohol in the future to give yourself brain damage, and at that point decide a js-based Single Page App is right for you, then you have a solid database structure to migrate from.
Cynic.
Realist.
I've encountered two bugs (including one repeated twice) in the 2 minutes I've been reading and replying TO THIS THREAD:
- Reply button randomly didn't work. Hard refresh.
- Entered the thread, tried to scroll with arrow keys. NodeBB will 90% of the time put focus on a random DOM element, so instead of scrolling it jumps to the start or end of the page, and locks there. Need to press CTRL-HOME to jump to top to break out of that focus lock., then find my spot again, then scroll with arrow keys
- Replied, and #2 happened again.
And one of my reply was in reply to someone complaining about a long-standing bug that got fixed-not-fixed-- in a discussion about which forum software to use.
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edit typed up the below. Clicked SUBMIT. Nothing happened. Because the forum had randomly shit it's Javascript to death. Hard refresh. Scroll down, click reply, trying again.
Here's a test you can do to find out if the forum is right for you.
Go out and find 10 people who run/admin that forum software. (Fair caveat, I don't know if there are more than 10 installs of NodeBB, but for laughs let's assume there is)
Now ask those people "On average, how many times per week do you have to restart your Docker because the whole thing has mysteriously shit itself frozen"?
Those people will probably answer with "What the fuck is a Docker I have a server with a web server and a database."
To which you can say "Oh, right, you're not using that douche-tarded 'we need a whole OS image to run a forum thing'. Okay, never mind-- look, how many times per week, on average, do you have to restart Apache/IIS and/or MySQL/MSSQL and/or the Linux/Windows server itself, because the forum has randomly shit itself so hard it's taken down everything around it?"
If the answer is any more than "zero", don't use that forum software.
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So I tried to type the above post. NodeBB had cooties, and the SUBMIT button stopped working. Of course I didn't get any useful popup along the lines of "oops, we can't connect to the server, your post wasn't posted"
So I refreshed, and tried again, and NodeBB had cooties, and the SUBMIT button stopped working. But it actually worked, since the above is there. But I didn't get any feedback about the post being successful. So I hard refreshed (and still didn't see my above post) and tried several more times. Apparently the further attempts didn't work, because otherwise you would have seen the above post with extra edit rants:
edit: typed up the below. Clicked SUBMIT. Nothing happened. Because the forum had randomly shit it's Javascript to death. Hard refresh. Scroll down, click reply, trying again.
edit 2 same fucking thing happened. Realized I had pressed ctrl-enter, and since that was a bug before I assume it's a bug agian. Will try clicking submit this time
edit 3: SAME FUCKING THING. So this time I copy/pasta'd the post, clicked DISCARD, refreshed the page, and now I'm going to try posting again
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So above all else DON'T FUCKING USE NODEBB.
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@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
So above all else DON'T FUCKING USE NODEBB.
The sad thing is - I get the same things too. From a user point of view, I seriously miss Disco. Which is eve more sad.
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@NeighborhoodButcher said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
So above all else DON'T FUCKING USE NODEBB.
The sad thing is - I get the same things too. From a user point of view, I seriously miss Disco. Which is eve more sad.
From a @moderator point of view, I miss it even more.
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From a @Lorne-Kates point of view, I don't miss DiscoAIDS at all.
Just still on the fence if NodeBB is a slight improvement, or just a lateral move.
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@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
From a @Lorne-Kates point of view, I don't miss DiscoAIDS at all.
Just still on the fence if NodeBB is a slight improvement, or just a lateral move.
It's a fuck-and-roll with lateral twist.
Edit: tuck !I typed tuck! FFS autocorrect!
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@Zecc said in Non-WTF forum software:
@NeighborhoodButcher said in Non-WTF forum software:
NodeJS lacks in features and it's buggy as hell.
I assume you meant NodeBB.
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Why not phpBB? A few years ago I set one up on a free webhosting to use for a school project. Don't remember anymore how I managed to do that, since I'm generally pretty clueless about this sort of stuff. So, it's not disco-balls shiny, but it's obviously easy to set up and works well.
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@Lukfi said in Non-WTF forum software:
Why not phpBB? A few years ago I set one up on a free webhosting to use for a school project. Don't remember anymore how I managed to do that, since I'm generally pretty clueless about this sort of stuff. So, it's not disco-balls shiny, but it's obviously easy to set up and works well.
I had some experience with phpBB in the past. Up to version 3 it was a mess on the inside. Version 4 was supposed to be based on Symfony, but as far as I can see, it's not done yet. I leave that as the last option.
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@PJH That was fucking retarded especially after he actually had a blog post about "understanding the community".
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@Tsaukpaetra said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
From a @Lorne-Kates point of view, I don't miss DiscoAIDS at all.
Just still on the fence if NodeBB is a slight improvement, or just a lateral move.
It's a fuck-and-roll with lateral twist.
Edit: tuck !I typed tuck! FFS autocorrect!
That's a nice thing about iOS autocorrect -- it will never autocorrect a word into a slur. It's so sane and simple I can't understand how that's not a standard.
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@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Tsaukpaetra said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
From a @Lorne-Kates point of view, I don't miss DiscoAIDS at all.
Just still on the fence if NodeBB is a slight improvement, or just a lateral move.
It's a fuck-and-roll with lateral twist.
Edit: tuck !I typed tuck! FFS autocorrect!
That's a nice thing about iOS autocorrect -- it will never autocorrect a word into a slur. It's so sane and simple I can't understand how that's not a standard.
It is a standard.
Unless you swear so much that it forces it into the dictionary (or you add it yourself)...
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@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
. It's so sane and simple
and yet, somehow, I find it ducking annoying when my ducking android phone ducks with my words.
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T9 was the superior auto correct. Unfortunately there are roundabout 2000 patents around it.
- (that figure was pulled out my arse).
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@NeighborhoodButcher said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
So above all else DON'T FUCKING USE NODEBB.
The sad thing is - I get the same things too. From a user point of view, I seriously miss Disco. Which is eve more sad.
(Sorry for helping with the derailment)
Wanted to upvote. Fat-fingeredly pressed Quote. Pressed Dismiss. Got sent to top of page.
This happened twice
PS: I was sent there again after submitting.
It sends me there immediately after the compose panel opens. I just hadn't noticed before.
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@sloosecannon said in Non-WTF forum software:
@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Tsaukpaetra said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
From a @Lorne-Kates point of view, I don't miss DiscoAIDS at all.
Just still on the fence if NodeBB is a slight improvement, or just a lateral move.
It's a fuck-and-roll with lateral twist.
Edit: tuck !I typed tuck! FFS autocorrect!
That's a nice thing about iOS autocorrect -- it will never autocorrect a word into a slur. It's so sane and simple I can't understand how that's not a standard.
It is a standard.
Unless you swear so much that it forces it into the dictionary (or you add it yourself)...Well, that's what I mean. You can't add them to the dictionary, nothing you can do will make autocorrect change a word to a slur.
So yeah, all you said is it's not a standard.
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@Yamikuronue said in Non-WTF forum software:
@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
. It's so sane and simple
and yet, somehow, I find it ducking annoying when my ducking android phone ducks with my words.
I find it annoying too, especially when writing posts for this forum, but hell is it safe and sane! I guess I'd appreciate it even more if I lived in an English-speaking country.
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@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
@sloosecannon said in Non-WTF forum software:
@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Tsaukpaetra said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
From a @Lorne-Kates point of view, I don't miss DiscoAIDS at all.
Just still on the fence if NodeBB is a slight improvement, or just a lateral move.
It's a fuck-and-roll with lateral twist.
Edit: tuck !I typed tuck! FFS autocorrect!
That's a nice thing about iOS autocorrect -- it will never autocorrect a word into a slur. It's so sane and simple I can't understand how that's not a standard.
It is a standard.
Unless you swear so much that it forces it into the dictionary (or you add it yourself)...Well, that's what I mean. You can't add them to the dictionary, nothing you can do will make autocorrect change a word to a slur.
So yeah, all you said is it's not a standard.
So.... in other words, remove user choice?
I prefer my standard....
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@lucas1 said in Non-WTF forum software:
T9 was the superior auto correct. Unfortunately there are roundabout 2000 patents around it.
- (that figure was pulled out my arse).
I did love T9. And then the awesome HTC Dream's slider keyboard. Man, this was the best way to write on mobile and I do hate progress when it comes to this one. I'd love my iPhone to be a bit larger due to a physical keyboard.
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@sloosecannon said in Non-WTF forum software:
@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
@sloosecannon said in Non-WTF forum software:
@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Tsaukpaetra said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
From a @Lorne-Kates point of view, I don't miss DiscoAIDS at all.
Just still on the fence if NodeBB is a slight improvement, or just a lateral move.
It's a fuck-and-roll with lateral twist.
Edit: tuck !I typed tuck! FFS autocorrect!
That's a nice thing about iOS autocorrect -- it will never autocorrect a word into a slur. It's so sane and simple I can't understand how that's not a standard.
It is a standard.
Unless you swear so much that it forces it into the dictionary (or you add it yourself)...Well, that's what I mean. You can't add them to the dictionary, nothing you can do will make autocorrect change a word to a slur.
So yeah, all you said is it's not a standard.
So.... in other words, remove user choice?
Sure . No one really wants slurs in the dictionary especially since simply wanting to choose/correct a word might add it there. It's smart to require user to type something potentially harmful themselves instead of harming them 'cause they typed something some time in the past.
Of course you still can fucking type them in, it just takes a little bit more effort.
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@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
Of course you still can fucking type them in, it just takes a little bit more effort.
On Android, if I type "fuck" it'll change it to "duck" because autocorrect recognizes that it's almost a word in the dictionary. I wouldn't want it to change "kuck" into "fuck", but I want it to leave "fuck" alone.
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@Yamikuronue On Android it also depends on the keyboard app that is used. Mine doesn't autocorrect anything. But with swiping it only suggests words from the dictionary, of course. E.g. "duck" or "Chuck". If I add a cuss to the dictionary it is added to the suggestions when swiping, but I think that's the whole and only point of adding words to the dictionary on this keyboard software.
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phpbb is running fine for me in openshift's free tier. I even forget it exists, and the thing just wont die.
didn't test it with real users though
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@kt_ said in Non-WTF forum software:
autocorrect a word into a slur.
It's not that it's a slur, (stop microaggressing) it's that apparently it's much more likely I would type fuck that tuck (though his that I've done so four times recently it's now the fifth suggestion in the list).
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@Zecc said in Non-WTF forum software:
@NeighborhoodButcher said in Non-WTF forum software:
@Lorne-Kates said in Non-WTF forum software:
So above all else DON'T FUCKING USE NODEBB.
The sad thing is - I get the same things too. From a user point of view, I seriously miss Disco. Which is eve more sad.
(Sorry for helping with the derailment)
Wanted to upvote. Fat-fingeredly pressed Quote. Pressed Dismiss. Got sent to top of page.
This happened twice
PS: I was sent there again after submitting.
It sends me there immediately after the compose panel opens. I just hadn't noticed before.This. Recent update broke composer opening.
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@anonymous234 said in Non-WTF forum software:
I think the "old ones" (phpBB, vBulletin, Xenforo) are still a safe bet. And they tend to be pretty customizeable.
Omg but they're using php and not js ! /s
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@bb36e I had to refresh the page to make the quote button actually do anything for that post.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in Non-WTF forum software:
it's much more likely I would type fuck that tuck
but the damage of replacing fuck with tuck is much lower than the other way.