Failed site upgrade 07/20/2024

Rob

Rob

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Hey folks! I had to test our disaster recovery this morning after killing the site with an update of our forum software. Latest backup was midnight and I destroyed the site at 8am. Hindsight.. should have run another quick backup directly prior to running the upgrade, but i've never had an issue with these updates in the past.

Everything went smoothly on the restore, but we lost about 8hrs of activity. If you signed up during this time period you'll need to sign up again.

Luckily this is just a website on the internet and not real life :)

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday everyone - i'm pushing the upgrade to another day lol.
 


@Rob Things like that happen, can't complain. Thanks for restoring it!

I do have one question though. Have you ever thought about migrating/converting from XenForo to Discourse. I find Discourse forums a bit more modern looking than XenForo forums and I though it would be nice if linux.org were to look a bit more modern and go more in the direction that most other Linux forums are going with software? Would you be willing to share your thoughts on that?
 
f33dm3bits said:
@Rob Things like that happen, can't complain. Thanks for restoring it!

I do have one question though. Have you ever thought about migrating/converting from XenForo to Discourse. I find Discourse forums a bit more modern looking than XenForo forums and I though it would be nice if linux.org were to look a bit more modern and go more in the direction that most other Linux forums are going with software? Would you be willing to share your thoughts on that?
Click to expand...
I haven't looked into discourse and just checked it out. I'll have to see what a self-hosted option looks like since it looks like we'd be in the 'enterprise' plan if we did their hosted plans.

Can you give me a popular site that you like that uses it? I see they show off some big-name ones.
 
Rob said:
I haven't looked into discourse and just checked it out. I'll have to see what a self-hosted option looks like since it looks like we'd be in the 'enterprise' plan if we did their hosted plans.
Click to expand...
It's opensource software. You can install it without having to pay and you can run it containerized if you like.

meta.discourse.org

Can I self-host this for free?

What do you want to self host? Discourse ? If so, yes, all you need is a linux server to run a discourse instance. You don’t have to pay anything to Discourse since its open source.
meta.discourse.org meta.discourse.org
meta.discourse.org

How good is Self-Hosted Discourse?

I’m a little biased, but as someone who doesn’t want to spend much time dealing with systems administration types of tasks, there are lots of benefits to going with a hosted Discourse site. For example, it means that you don’t need to consider the issue that is asked about here: How to use...
meta.discourse.org meta.discourse.org
github.com

discourse/docs/INSTALL.md at main · discourse/discourse

A platform for community discussion. Free, open, simple. - discourse/discourse
github.com github.com
 
Please don't go to discourse. They don't respect Pale Moon browser. Just another site that thinks Chrome is the only browser out there.

(PS: I hate the word "modern" when used of anything concerning computers. It usually means, flat, colorless, and dumbed-down.)
 
ron.alan said:
Please don't go to discourse. They don't respect Pale Moon browser. Just another site that thinks Chrome is the only browser out there.

(PS: I hate the word "modern" when used of anything concerning computers. It usually means, flat, colorless, and dumbed-down.)
Click to expand...
It'd be a big decision. Mainly since it'd likely break search engine links and we'd have to create a whole 301 map. I'll mess around with it on another server/site first and wouldn't do anything i'm sure until i've played around with it for quite a while and liked it enough to make the switch.
 
ron.alan said:
(PS: I hate the word "modern" when used of anything concerning computers. It usually means, flat, colorless, and dumbed-down.)
Click to expand...
If you have a look I find all the discourse forums having more color and better user interface than XenForo.
forum.endeavouros.com

EndeavourOS

A terminal-centric distro with a vibrant and friendly community at its core
forum.endeavouros.com forum.endeavouros.com
forum.garudalinux.org

Garuda Linux Forum

The home of Garuda's community
forum.garudalinux.org forum.garudalinux.org
discussion.fedoraproject.org

Fedora Discussion

Fedora Project community conversations — both for project development and Fedora Linux users.
discussion.fedoraproject.org discussion.fedoraproject.org
forums.rockylinux.org

Rocky Linux Forum

The community hub for the Rocky Linux project.
forums.rockylinux.org forums.rockylinux.org
forums.almalinux.org

AlmaLinux

Where the AlmaLinux Community Comes Together
forums.almalinux.org forums.almalinux.org
Rob said:
It'd be a big decision.
Click to expand...
It was only an idea, I don't have a say in it but I thought I would bring it up. If that doesn't happen it would be nice if the forum got a new template that look makes it look at least newer than 2010ish.
 
@Rob The screenshot below is why I say please don't switch. Stick with things that RESPECTS the users' choice of whatever browser we choose to use.

Untitled.jpg
 
Last edited:
ron.alan said:
The screenshot below is why I say please don't switch. Stick with things that respects the users choice of whatever browser we choose to use.
Click to expand...
I can see why you don't like it and I understand, maybe an option to install a user-agent switcher add-on to trick the website? The other better thing about Discourse is that it's actually opensource while Xenforo is closed source
 
Discourse, huh? God, no; please, please don't go down that road. Nothing to do with browser choices; I run all of 'em.

Ever since I saw this on the Haiku forums around 3 years ago, I immediately thought to myself "Urrggh!"

It's the kind of thing that appeals to those who love the 'flat' style, and spend most of their time on a mobile phone. I mean, what the hell is with that poxy silly indicator that slides up & down as you move back & forth through the thread, hmm? Is stuff like that really necessary?

Frankly, it's ugly AND lifeless. I'm sorry, but it IS.....

Sorry, @f33dm3bits , but you're on your own with this one! XenForo IS modern; it's Discourse that looks like it hails from the early 2000s....


Mike. o_O
 
MikeWalsh said:
Sorry, @f33dm3bits , but you're on your own with this one! XenForo IS modern; it's Discourse that looks like it hails from the early 2000s....
Click to expand...
XenForo looks like it's from 2010ish, not modern anymore. If it is modern it would be nice to see a template too make it look better than it currently does with a new template. Aren't we here to promote opensource software as well?
 
MikeWalsh said:
I mean, what the hell is with that poxy silly indicator that slides up & down as you move back & forth through the thread, hmm?
Click to expand...
So I opened up one of those sites with Chromium to see what you're talking about. You're right, it's pretty useless. IMO all discourse seems to do is add a lot of flash with nothing useful to be gained from it.
 
I love trying new things... that's why I have distro-hopped throughout my long usage of Linux, and I still do. I have no fear of using a new browser if needed to view a Discourse site, but the examples from @f33dm3bits seem to work fine for me in all 3 browsers I already currently use. But I'm not a member in any of those sites, and I haven't dug into them to see whether I like the way they work and their layouts and/or themes, etc.

But I know this: You can't please everyone, no matter what. Some like change, as I do... and some resist change at every turn, as I do. What??? Yeah, I'm getting old... and I don't like all change either (some I adamantly resist). But we're all different on "which changes" we will embrace, and which we will abandon.

That @Rob would even consider switching forum software surprises me, but I'm very glad that he is open minded about it. If Discourse can provide better spam controls, that gets my vote, if I have one. I agree that open source is a big plus too. Whatever makes easier for the admins and mods to get the work done... and kill the spam.

Thanks again, Rob! :cool:
 
Well, at least it was a weekend night and not much will have been lost. So, we've got that going for us!

Also, I'm familiar with Discourse and would much rather stay where we're at.
 
atanere said:
That @Rob would even consider switching forum software surprises me, but I'm very glad that he is open minded about it. If Discourse can provide better spam controls, that gets my vote, if I have one. I agree that open source is a big plus too. Whatever makes easier for the admins and mods to get the work done... and kill the spam.
Click to expand...
I'm very happy with xenforo, but am always open to something new if it fits the bill. I was very happy with phpbb in 2000ish and vbulletin after that.

I'm not a big fan of what i'm seeing with Discourse so far though. I don't like the layout very much which i'm sure could be changed with themes / add-ons and everything seems unorganized maybe? I know xenforo style forums are kinda boring looking, but it's straightforward and easy for most people to find their way around.

Anyway - I'll still grab it and play with it.. but chances of switching to it at this point are super slim.
 
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