This is really cool, I wonder if it can have integration with the “threadiverse” such as with lemmy or kbin?
Discourse, the free forum platform, is now joining the Fediverse.
Submitted 10 months ago by i_have_no_enemies@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://mastodon.world/@ploum@mamot.fr/111592388774362147
Comments
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 10 months ago
Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
Eventually I imagine there will be adaptors for all the various types of post throughout the fediverse. I wonder if the differences will become largely superficial, with every activitypub system able to read all the others. It’s just a matter of maturing the ecosystem.
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 10 months ago
Hopefully but that is a tough nut to crack especially if things weren’t designed to be that way originally.
hh93@lemm.ee 10 months ago
I wonder how a strictly linear thread structure is possible to transpose into a branching structure like lemmy
uthredii@programming.dev 10 months ago
We can already view mastodon threads that are linear inside Lemmy.
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 10 months ago
Yeah that is a good point, at the very least lemmy could display a traditional thread but yeah I have no idea about discourse displaying a lemmy thread.
nix@merv.news 10 months ago
Anyone have an example of how browsing/commenting works? Can we follow a forum’s section using lemmy or mastodon accounts? How do we comment on a discourse thread with mastodon or lemmy?
BlenderArtists forum uses discourse so that would be cool to browse/use with lemmy
Linkyu@lemmy.world 10 months ago
The person who made the actual announcement attached a video of exactly that: meta.discourse.org/t/activitypub-plugin/…/117
MargotRobbie@lemmy.world 10 months ago
What do you get when you take a traditional forum, add vote based sorting so that the best post and comments (in theory) rise to the top to avoiding the issue of thread bumping, use a nested comment structure so that individual conversations in each thread can be easily followed, and allow anyone to make a subforum as they please?
You get reddit. (or now, Lemmy) The only thing missing in Lemmy is topic tags, which I think is a nice to have, but by no means necessary.
There is a reason why very few people uses forums and most of conversation nowadays takes place on social media, while reddit and Discord has but all but replaced them. So, replacing Discourse/Zenforo as the software to use for independent Internet forums should be the aim for Lemmy to significantly grow.
Strangely, Discourse’s federation model seemed to be based on Mastodon compatibility instead of Lemmy-like Groups, which I think is a mistake.
douglasg14b@lemmy.world 10 months ago
I think you’re missing the point of a form like discourse.
In no way is it similar to lemmy or Reddit when it comes to functionality or the problem space that it solves for.
It’s specifically tailored to q&A, and does an excellent job of that, with copious features built specifically for that purpose. Which both lemmy and Reddit lack, to the point where they don’t solve the same problem at all. They aren’t even in the same problem space.
MargotRobbie@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Let me address some of your points:
a forum like discourse, which is most definitely not a classic forum.
Linear post structure, sorting based on latest response, so it is a traditional in vein of old BBS/phpBB systems.
Do you really think you could replace the utility of stackoverflow with… Reddit?
Upvote based sorting and nested comment structure means StackExchange/Overflow is closer to reddit than it is Discourse.
It really is not much of a step to take your logic and replace lemmy or Reddit with Discord as a Q&A support and knowledge base platform.
Reddit, Lemmy, and Discourse are all public forums, Discord is a chatroom.
Even simple features that encourage engagement in months or years old threads are massive boon.
Thread necromancy for month/year old dead threads has always been considered offenses to almost every single forum, which is why most forums lock posts after a month or so. It’s not a feature, it’s a fundamental flaw with the sorting.
with copious features built specifically to enable and support that purpose. Which both lemmy and Reddit lack
I’m genuinely curious, what are some of those features? I can’t think of any significant one, outside of tags.
Forums are ultimately shaped by people, so I would say these forum succeeded in spite of the software instead of because of the software.
ElPussyKangaroo@lemmy.world 10 months ago
This could be the new “redditor answers my question” place for me 🤯🎉
uthredii@programming.dev 10 months ago
Discourse and Lemmy are both based around topics/communities so hopefully there will be better federation here. E.g. being able to follow a discourse topic from lemmy would be really cool.
Hopefully they have done this in a way where Lemmy can federate with then easily.
stepanzak@iusearchlinux.fyi 10 months ago
That’s great! It’s really annoying for me how I have to make an account on every single discourse forum, and every time I get the welcome mail and the first comment badge, and so on. Also, the emails from all of the forums are annoying. This seems to fix all of that.
KDE@monyet.cc 10 months ago
thats cool ngl
masterspace@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
eVeRYOnE federate immediately! It will flood our community with new users and be awful!
AustralianSimon@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Spicy
helenslunch@feddit.nl 10 months ago
I guess it’s not a bad thing but I feel like “forums” should be left in 1999 where they belong and these platforms should just switch to Lemmy.
Nutteman@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Forums are where you can still find answers to the veeeerrrryyyyy niche questions you may have on just about anything. They have saved my ass so many times when trying to get things working on my pc or with my car.
helenslunch@feddit.nl 10 months ago
And you can’t find niche answers on forums like Lemmy?
neme@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Forum users tend to prefer long-lasting discussions, which is not the case on Lemmy/Reddit, where threads are forgotten after a few days.
stackPeek@lemmy.world 10 months ago
Heck–it was designed to be like that, even Reddit archivesa thread after 6 months right?
halm@leminal.space 10 months ago
I will say that I find good advice on tech subreddits now and then, as good as or better than, say, support forums. That’s off the divisive and rapid-change subjects that mostly characterise Reddit and Lemmy, of course.
helenslunch@feddit.nl 10 months ago
Yeah that’s exactly what sucks about them.
When you open up the front page, you’re not shown what is the most interesting and recent topics, you’re shown 12 year old thread that xxedgelord69 dug up and added a fuckin’ poop emoji.
Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
Makes sense, it was already open source, just attaching to the activitypub protocol is a steaightforward move.
It’s everywhere too. Blogs, webcomics, special interest forums, and they will all potentially become new fediverse instances virtually by default. It’s pointing to a future where people join the fediverse without knowing what it is or seeking it out. They just want to join a forum for a special interest.
LWD@lemm.ee 10 months ago
Excrubulent@slrpnk.net 10 months ago
It could be an issue if the admin isn’t prepared for it. One of the good things about it is that the posts get cached wherever they’re accessed so it may actually reduce server load for a popular post.
I guess if it is an issue the admins could always disable activitypub.