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There is absolutely a self hosting option with Discourse, and in fact they encourage it. [0] Here is their install guide [1] [0] https://github.com/discourse/d

There is absolutely a self hosting option with Discourse, and in fact they encourage it. [0] Here is their install guide [1] [0] https://github.com/discourse/discourse https://github.com/discourse/discourse [1] https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/main/docs/INSTALL.md https://github.com/discourse/discourse/blob/main/docs/INSTAL...

deleted 4y ago
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JadoJodo 4y ago
Thank you for posting that. In taking a second look, I do see a link about installing it yourself. Though given the section mentioning it on the pricing page is below the fold, I'm not sure that I would go so far as to say they _encourage_ it. But it's good they have the option (and I did see info about vendors who also host)
- tabbott 4y ago
  My personal test for whether an open source company encourages self-hosting is whether any plans/pricing page advertises "Self hosting" in a parallel/equal way to how they advertise commercial offerings.
  - sushid 4y ago
    If they do, it just means that they're making more $$$ from you for providing that feature. Otherwise they're under-monetizing and all it tells you is that they don't have their pricing and growth strategy put together.
    - 3np 4y ago
      Here we go again. No, not every single decision (short-term or strategic) in a company is optimized only for $$$ at the expense of anything else. Nor should it, nor does that need to go against the interests of shareholders, nor is there any law mandating so. Just like there exist companies who sell clothes not made in slave-like conditions even if they could legally get away with it and make more money by doing so.
      - Vardiak 4y ago
        I have to disagree. Nowadays, limited liability companies are literally an optimization mechanism for turning profits. Believe me, if consumers were not aware and the law not enforced, there would be (are ?) companies making clothes in slave-like conditions.
        3np 4y ago
        GP is implying that companies that don't are by definition performing poorly by missing out on the margin.
        3np 4y ago
        In short: My argument is that it is possible (and should be expected) to be be ethically responsible without being fiscally irresponsible. This should be obvious.
  - mythz 4y ago
    Having their free self hosting plan linked on their pricing page [1] is more than enough, ridiculous to expect companies should the devote the same valuable realestate promoting their free offering as their commercial products which sponsors development. [1] https://www.discourse.org/pricing https://www.discourse.org/pricing
systemvoltage 4y ago
I much prefer the rusty old phpBB UI over Discourse. It was clunky but usually it is an indicator of high quality community that's been run for many years and a bunch of gray beards hanging out having a good time. UI was just fine. PhpBB is still alive and kicking: https://www.phpbb.com/ https://www.phpbb.com/
- nerdponx 4y ago
  I do miss the old forums, but Discourse is pretty nice with Markdown formatting and its tagging system. Much better full-text search than the old-style forums too.
  - systemvoltage 4y ago
    Hasn't been a problem for millions of people using PhpBB. Those things are nice but Discourse UI is disorienting for me. Threads don't feel like grouping of posts, they feel like search results. I like pagination and "staticness" of PhpBB, not a giant scrolling doomswheel that changes under you. The sticky header ensures that those pixels have private property rights and never ever move out of the way. I don't want to give up 80 vertical pixels for a Discourse logo. Honestly, I am getting old or new UI's don't jive with me. I like borders and boxes. Old clunky things had clarity.
    - dalmo3 4y ago
      > not a giant scrolling doomswheel Discourse's scrolling timeline is the absolute best UI feature I've ever used in a forum platform. Nothing else comes even close.
      - coffeeling 4y ago
        tl.net, display all.
      - folkrav 4y ago
        Hmm, I'm genuinely curious: why? I tend to heavily dislike anything infinite-scrolling...
getcrunk 4y ago
Whats the performance of discourse compared to the mybbs or smfs of yesteryear. I heard it's very bloated? I've been meaning to self host some sort of forum software on a $5 vps fro some of my hobbies.
- julianlam 4y ago
  While I can't speak for Discourse (a sibling comment mentioned it working fine via docker image on 1GB), our standard for NodeBB is it has to install and run on DO's $5 droplet. So far we're hitting that goal.
- SXX 4y ago
  Discourse can be hosted on $15-20 VPS since it's need docker and fsr more disk space due to using containers.
  - BeetleB 4y ago
    I could run phpBB just fine on my $5-10/mo shared hosting. It's one thing I don't like about many new tools (Slack alternatives, a lot of ActivityPub stuff, etc) - they require a lot more resources than shared hosting can provide, so you need a VPS, and all the headaches that go along with it.
    - antifa 4y ago
      Most phpBB-like forums will run fine on your $10/year shared MySQL hosts.
      - BeetleB 4y ago
        Yes but will Discourse?
gernb 4y ago
IMO Discourse is crap. I've never personally seen any discourse communities that are as thriving and active as the phpBB, SMF, VBulletin, forums they replaced Something about the design of Discourse does not actually encourage discourse. On top of that, discourse is a resource hog. You can run tens of twenties of phpBB forums on the hardware that's required to run one instance of discourse
- rtpg 4y ago
  I agree about the design, but disagree about thriving-ness. There are many Discourse sites that exist and serve their purposes well. I do daydream about making some simpler forum software though.
- h0l0cube 4y ago
  > I've never personally seen any discourse communities that are as thriving and active as the phpBB, SMF, VBulletin, forums they replaced I think discoverability by search engines is very different from a forum. A better analogy to Discourse is IRC (or maybe Facebook groups). A better analogy to forums, is Reddit. Arguably the contemporaries are more feature rich, though becoming a little walled-in as time goes by.
  - oarmstrong 4y ago
    Are you perhaps conflating Discord and Discourse? Discourse is certainly a forum in my eyes.
    - h0l0cube 4y ago
      I was :facepalm:
- muglug 4y ago
  > I've never personally seen any discourse communities that are as thriving and active as the phpBB, SMF, VBulletin, forums they replaced I can fix that! Click here: https://users.rust-lang.org/ https://users.rust-lang.org/

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

JadoJodo 4y ago

Thank you for posting that. In taking a second look, I do see a link about installing it yourself. Though given the section mentioning it on the pricing page is below the fold, I'm not sure that I would go so far as to say they _encourage_ it. But it's good they have the option (and I did see info about vendors who also host)

tabbott 4y ago
My personal test for whether an open source company encourages self-hosting is whether any plans/pricing page advertises "Self hosting" in a parallel/equal way to how they advertise commercial offerings.
- sushid 4y ago
  If they do, it just means that they're making more $$$ from you for providing that feature. Otherwise they're under-monetizing and all it tells you is that they don't have their pricing and growth strategy put together.
  - 3np 4y ago
    Here we go again. No, not every single decision (short-term or strategic) in a company is optimized only for $$$ at the expense of anything else. Nor should it, nor does that need to go against the interests of shareholders, nor is there any law mandating so. Just like there exist companies who sell clothes not made in slave-like conditions even if they could legally get away with it and make more money by doing so.
    - Vardiak 4y ago
      I have to disagree. Nowadays, limited liability companies are literally an optimization mechanism for turning profits. Believe me, if consumers were not aware and the law not enforced, there would be (are ?) companies making clothes in slave-like conditions.
      - 3np 4y ago
        GP is implying that companies that don't are by definition performing poorly by missing out on the margin.
        3np 4y ago
        In short: My argument is that it is possible (and should be expected) to be be ethically responsible without being fiscally irresponsible. This should be obvious.
- mythz 4y ago
  Having their free self hosting plan linked on their pricing page [1] is more than enough, ridiculous to expect companies should the devote the same valuable realestate promoting their free offering as their commercial products which sponsors development. [1] https://www.discourse.org/pricing https://www.discourse.org/pricing

systemvoltage 4y ago

I much prefer the rusty old phpBB UI over Discourse. It was clunky but usually it is an indicator of high quality community that's been run for many years and a bunch of gray beards hanging out having a good time. UI was just fine. PhpBB is still alive and kicking: https://www.phpbb.com/ https://www.phpbb.com/

nerdponx 4y ago
I do miss the old forums, but Discourse is pretty nice with Markdown formatting and its tagging system. Much better full-text search than the old-style forums too.
- systemvoltage 4y ago
  Hasn't been a problem for millions of people using PhpBB. Those things are nice but Discourse UI is disorienting for me. Threads don't feel like grouping of posts, they feel like search results. I like pagination and "staticness" of PhpBB, not a giant scrolling doomswheel that changes under you. The sticky header ensures that those pixels have private property rights and never ever move out of the way. I don't want to give up 80 vertical pixels for a Discourse logo. Honestly, I am getting old or new UI's don't jive with me. I like borders and boxes. Old clunky things had clarity.
  - dalmo3 4y ago
    > not a giant scrolling doomswheel Discourse's scrolling timeline is the absolute best UI feature I've ever used in a forum platform. Nothing else comes even close.
    - coffeeling 4y ago
      tl.net, display all.
    - folkrav 4y ago
      Hmm, I'm genuinely curious: why? I tend to heavily dislike anything infinite-scrolling...

getcrunk 4y ago

Whats the performance of discourse compared to the mybbs or smfs of yesteryear. I heard it's very bloated? I've been meaning to self host some sort of forum software on a $5 vps fro some of my hobbies.

julianlam 4y ago
While I can't speak for Discourse (a sibling comment mentioned it working fine via docker image on 1GB), our standard for NodeBB is it has to install and run on DO's $5 droplet. So far we're hitting that goal.
SXX 4y ago
Discourse can be hosted on $15-20 VPS since it's need docker and fsr more disk space due to using containers.
- BeetleB 4y ago
  I could run phpBB just fine on my $5-10/mo shared hosting. It's one thing I don't like about many new tools (Slack alternatives, a lot of ActivityPub stuff, etc) - they require a lot more resources than shared hosting can provide, so you need a VPS, and all the headaches that go along with it.
  - antifa 4y ago
    Most phpBB-like forums will run fine on your $10/year shared MySQL hosts.
    - BeetleB 4y ago
      Yes but will Discourse?

gernb 4y ago

IMO Discourse is crap. I've never personally seen any discourse communities that are as thriving and active as the phpBB, SMF, VBulletin, forums they replaced Something about the design of Discourse does not actually encourage discourse. On top of that, discourse is a resource hog. You can run tens of twenties of phpBB forums on the hardware that's required to run one instance of discourse

rtpg 4y ago
I agree about the design, but disagree about thriving-ness. There are many Discourse sites that exist and serve their purposes well. I do daydream about making some simpler forum software though.
h0l0cube 4y ago
> I've never personally seen any discourse communities that are as thriving and active as the phpBB, SMF, VBulletin, forums they replaced I think discoverability by search engines is very different from a forum. A better analogy to Discourse is IRC (or maybe Facebook groups). A better analogy to forums, is Reddit. Arguably the contemporaries are more feature rich, though becoming a little walled-in as time goes by.
- oarmstrong 4y ago
  Are you perhaps conflating Discord and Discourse? Discourse is certainly a forum in my eyes.
  - h0l0cube 4y ago
    I was :facepalm:
muglug 4y ago
> I've never personally seen any discourse communities that are as thriving and active as the phpBB, SMF, VBulletin, forums they replaced I can fix that! Click here: https://users.rust-lang.org/ https://users.rust-lang.org/