Could anyone suggest a forum software that isn't insane

discoursefuckyou

Hello,

I've recently been handed a forum using the software mentioned in my username, and while attempting to manage it, my hair has turned white, my parents divorced and now I'm infected with coronavirus.

Could anyone suggest a forum software that is at least somewhat stable, easy to deploy, and rather customisable with a sane plugin architecture. I don't mind doing custom developments, I just don't want to watch my life passing by while it constantly rebuilds itself.

Thanks

Mason_Wheeler

Sorry, I don't think any such thing exists these days.

hungrier

@discoursefuckyou NodeBB can meet some of those needs:

sane
somewhat stable
easy to deploy
customizeable
sane plugin architecture
probably won't give you coronavirus
e: Almost forgot
not Discourse

discoursefuckyou

Yeah... I guess my real question is, how is your experience with the popular software these days. Like NodeBB (which powers this forum), Flarum, BBPress and so on.

brie

inb4

ben_lubar

if you want something insanely stable, go with phpBB

it's basically "done" which makes it unique among open source software

brie

Alternatively, if you want something insanely insane, go with AsmBB.

sockpuppet7

@discoursefuckyou If it doesn't have to be free, the market leader seems to be xenforo

sockpuppet7

@discoursefuckyou said in Could anyone suggest a forum software that isn't insane:

Yeah... I guess my real question is, how is your experience with the popular software these days. Like NodeBB (which powers this forum), Flarum, BBPress and so on.

I played around with a bunch, but never got users on them. All of them seems bad, but I liked Flarum better. It's been beta since forever, and it's development is ridiculously slow, but the stuff that is done seems good.

discoursefuckyou

@sockpuppet7 Thanks! A FOSS solution would be best, but if I need to pay, it better installs itself.

Also I'd prefer a somewhat 'modern' interface, if you know what I mean. I personally couldn't care less, but that seems to be what the forum admins want.

Gąska

@ben_lubar said in Could anyone suggest a forum software that isn't insane:

if you want something insanely stable, go with phpBB

it's basically "done" which makes it unique among open source software

Well, there's also SMF...

Gurth

@Gąska said in Could anyone suggest a forum software that isn't insane:

Well, there's also SMF...

Which occasionally stops working entirely for unexplained reasons, giving just a blank page. I used to run an SMF forum, and had this happen a couple of times over a few years, and it required a reinstall every time to fix it. Eventually I just stopped bothering, given that the forum was pretty much dead anyway. Another SMF-based forum I used to visit also quit working entirely in he same way some years ago, so it was not just my installation.

Edit: I just checked, and it produces exactly nothing. Inspecting the page says index.php has no contents whatsoever.

discoursefuckyou

So, while fixing the forum today, I found this bit of code:

  def self.markdown(text, opts = {})
    # we use the exact same markdown converter as the client
    # TODO: use the same extensions on both client and server (in particular the template for mentions)
    baked = nil
    text = text || ""

    protect do
      context = v8

      custom_emoji = {}
      Emoji.custom.map { |e| custom_emoji[e.name] = e.url }

      buffer = +<<~JS
        __optInput = {};
        __optInput.siteSettings = #{SiteSetting.client_settings_json};
        #{"__optInput.disableEmojis = true" if opts[:disable_emojis]}
        __paths = #{paths_json};
        __optInput.getURL = __getURL;
        #{"__optInput.features = #{opts[:features].to_json};" if opts[:features]}
        __optInput.getCurrentUser = __getCurrentUser;
        __optInput.lookupAvatar = __lookupAvatar;
        __optInput.lookupPrimaryUserGroup = __lookupPrimaryUserGroup;
        __optInput.formatUsername = __formatUsername;
        __optInput.getTopicInfo = __getTopicInfo;
        __optInput.categoryHashtagLookup = __categoryLookup;
        __optInput.customEmoji = #{custom_emoji.to_json};
        __optInput.emojiUnicodeReplacer = __emojiUnicodeReplacer;
        __optInput.lookupUploadUrls = __lookupUploadUrls;
        __optInput.censoredRegexp = #{WordWatcher.word_matcher_regexp(:censor)&.source.to_json};
      JS

      if opts[:topicId]
        buffer << "__optInput.topicId = #{opts[:topicId].to_i};\n"
      end

      if opts[:user_id]
        buffer << "__optInput.userId = #{opts[:user_id].to_i};\n"
      end

      buffer << "__textOptions = __buildOptions(__optInput);\n"
      buffer << ("__pt = new __PrettyText(__textOptions);")

      # Be careful disabling sanitization. We allow for custom emails
      if opts[:sanitize] == false
        buffer << ('__pt.disableSanitizer();')
      end

      opts = context.eval(buffer)

      DiscourseEvent.trigger(:markdown_context, context)
      baked = context.eval("__pt.cook(#{text.inspect})")
    end

    baked
  end

Is this a good WTF material?

Tsaukpaetra

You'll be searching for quite some time I think....

johnfound

@brie Well, insane or not, but at least it is easy for installation: https://youtu.be/2cnOqQX5rxk

loopback0

@discoursefuckyou said in Could anyone suggest a forum software that isn't insane:

Is this a good WTF material?

It's Discourse so.... probably.

sloosecannon

@Gurth nah that's just PHP.

It broke and swallowed the error message.

Gurth

@sloosecannon said in Could anyone suggest a forum software that isn't insane:

@Gurth nah that's just PHP.

It broke and swallowed the error message.

Probably, but it’s still SMF that’s breaking in a way that completely disables the forum.