NodeBB (current forum) vs Discourse

General Discussion
#1

Hey all!

I just realized it has been nearly two years since this forum has been created. Since I just love tinkering with things, I’ve been poking around a bit at different forum solutions. While I do love NodeBB, some of its feature and functionality choices aren’t perfect for what everyone here seems to like. Little things like needing to pay for Iframely to make sweet embeds, the theme system being pretty terrible overall, and a pretty strong lack of plugin support without adding core functions.

I think NodeBB will continue to work with what we do, and I’m more than happy to keep with it. While looking around though, I did find Discourse, which seems to be very similar to NodeBB, but has a little bit more of the functions I like built in. If I did make a move to Discource, I’d do my best to keep all of our posts here. Usernames would likely be kept, but you might need to set a new password.

I made an initial post on their meta forums asking about a few features I mentioned, but figured I’d ask you all what your thoughts are.

  • What are your “must have” features if I do make a move to a different forum?
  • Is there something missing here that you really want?
#2

Oh, here is my post on their forums for the curious:

#3

I’m always for improvement when possible as I easily get used to new stuff. Since I only use text posting, video/web page/photo linking and search, those will be “must have” features for me. If teh_g says that Discourse is better, then I support the idea of moving forward. After all, he knows more about this stuff than me. :smiley:

#4

teh_g said in NodeBB (current forum) vs Discourse:

Oh, here is my post on their forums for the curious:

https://meta.discourse.org/t/thinking-of-switching-from-nodebb-to-discourse/85658

TBH node is doing just fine. I don’t mind if you switch to something else as long as you can import all the existing threads/sections. Would be kind of sad to lose it all. Yeah you could keep it running separate but then it’s jank.

#5

Yeah, I think if I can’t transfer data over it would be a no go.

Honestly a HUGE selling point would be that embeds are native in Discourse. That would cut $49 a month out of the bills for Iframely (which I love greatly and am willing to pay for since it is so helpful)

#6

teh_g said in NodeBB (current forum) vs Discourse:

Yeah, I think if I can’t transfer data over it would be a no go.

Honestly a HUGE selling point would be that embeds are native in Discourse. That would cut $49 a month out of the bills for Iframely (which I love greatly and am willing to pay for since it is so helpful)

Should ask about import options from non Discourse forums. It’s been a long-ass time since I hosted forums, but I do recall updating from one forum software to another and having an option to import the db from the previous.

#7

gord0 They have a few scripts out there for importing from other forums, but nothing from NodeBB that I can see. Both NodeBB and Discourse have pretty great APIs, so I imagine it is doable.

#8

Change everything if you want. Erase everything if you want. :sunglasses:

All I want is your friendship. And your games. :heart::heart::heart::heart:

2 Likes
#9

Katsuo I dunno, deleting stuff is bad.

3 Likes
#10

I went and looked at your post and the first thing that stands out to me is the glaring white page, I hate white backgrounds, they hurt my eyes quite a bit.

#11

only thing I’d want would be to keep all our original posts, as has been mentioned.

Otherwise, move forward!

#12

I am ok with this if you spend that $50 a month on me instead

#13

I know I’d personally pick the more frugal option!

And so, I’d certainly put up with any changes you make.

We trust in teh g.

#14

All hail me!

So a converter doesn’t exist. The first quote I got from a guy that does migrations was $1000…

Suffice to say, I’ll poke around with making the migration script myself, but I’ve never written Ruby code and I’ve never worked with redis (the database for NodeBB), so it might be a while :smiley:

1 Like
#15

teh_g said in NodeBB (current forum) vs Discourse:

All hail me!

So a converter doesn’t exist. The first quote I got from a guy that does migrations was $1000…

Suffice to say, I’ll poke around with making the migration script myself, but I’ve never written Ruby code and I’ve never worked with redis (the database for NodeBB), so it might be a while :smiley:

How about you google what forum types you can convert the nodebb to. Then find out if any of those formats can be converted to Discourse. That way you can just convert twice.

#16

gord0 A double conversion, I like it. I’ll see what I can do.

I did make a post on the Discourse “marketplace” seeing if anyone would make the script for a small fee. I figure if it saves me money long run I don’t mind fronting for it.

#17

teh_g said in NodeBB (current forum) vs Discourse:

gord0 A double conversion, I like it. I’ll see what I can do.

I did make a post on the Discourse “marketplace” seeing if anyone would make the script for a small fee. I figure if it saves me money long run I don’t mind fronting for it.

I get asked to do things every day that I’ve never done before as well as things no one has ever done. As well as not being given the tools/permissions to do so. So I’m used to thinking like that lol

#18

I know You can import PhpBB to NodeBB but don’t know if you can reverse. You can also import PhpBB to Discourse so maybe along the right lines.

Also, I can offer hosting if it helps out at all :slight_smile:

1 Like
#19

teh_g :backhand_index_pointing_right_medium-light_skin_tone: LetsGetIt1220 hosting is nice and smooth :slight_smile: I know personally. He has also been a rockstar to getting me started in the right direction on my first wordpress adventure

#20

letsgetit1220 said in NodeBB (current forum) vs Discourse:

I know You can import PhpBB to NodeBB but don’t know if you can reverse. You can also import PhpBB to Discourse so maybe along the right lines.

Also, I can offer hosting if it helps out at all :slight_smile:

I think NodeBB isn’t quite big enough to have import tools. It is also a bit tougher since I am using their “old” recommended database (Redis) instead of Mongo.

I’ve been pretty lazy with hosting and just using a DigitalOcean droplet, Cloudflare, and some spitshine. Discource is a bit easier on that front since it runs in a Docker container. Install is dead simple.