TinyBoards - FOSS Forum Software

[Kroner]

Hello Kiwis

This whole situation that the farms is going through with Cloudflare/Keffals and having your infrastructure attacked by multiple people is very sad to see, I have heard Null on a couple of streams talking about wanting to write a FOSS forum software to compete with Xenforo since he got banned with them and I have been working on something to that effect with some friends for the past 6-7 months called TinyBoards.

Our overarching goal with this project is to make forum software that is both lightweight and easy to run on a VPS, and also efficient, customizable and federated with other instances (this will take a while to implement).

We've written the backend in Rust and the frontend in Nuxt and so far it has been performing very well as we add more functionality over time, if you want to look at our test instance it is here, right now it is in invite only mode but we are working on opening up soon with site applications (you apply for an account and a admin approves it).

Just wanted to make a thread on here about it because honestly Null's fight to keep this place up is an inspiration and I would love to keep developing this and provide people like you with free software to use however you see fit.

I know it looks very similar to Reddit at the moment, but we plan on adding a ton of new features (and ways to customize the site to the admin's liking) that could make it look/feel more like a forum

Oh, I am also self hosting the code
here if you want to look at it (I am just learning Rust myself, so please go easy on me )

Edit: I might have posted this in the wrong subforum, whoops

 

[AGuntyPaajet]

Looks interesting
@Null ^

 

[Kroner]

Looks interesting
@Null ^

Thanks! We still have a very long ways to go with it and everything as this is basically the software's alpha, but I am pretty impressed with what we do have working so far

 

[NoReturn]

Maybe the wrong forum, but still interesting to see.

 

[Coolio55]

I like the splash on the logo. I've always wanted to add those to my projects.

 

[Kroner]

I like the splash on the logo. I've always wanted to add those to my projects.

Feel free to steal it from us if you want, it should be located somewhere in our FE repository (I only code the backend so I am not sure where that would be located lol)

 

[thebigjoel]

I'm gonna kill myself because this is fucking awesome.
On a real note, I can see you put some good work into this. I know how hellish PHP (assuming the splash text is accurate) can be sometimes. I salute you, fellow dev.

 

[Null]

I want to support this but there are very important things that I need in database design that nobody would implement in their software without the forethought that comes from hosting the KF. I want to move forward with the database layout that I have for the rewrite I'm working on.

also, threaded comments are cancer. it's a non-starter for that alone.

I wish I could solicit help for the work I've already done but I figure most people want to manage their own shit.

 

[Fools Idol]

I want to support this but there are very important things that I need in database design that nobody would implement in their software without the forethought that comes from hosting the KF. I want to move forward with the database layout that I have for the rewrite I'm working on.

also, threaded comments are cancer. it's a non-starter for that alone.

I wish I could solicit help for the work I've already done but I figure most people want to manage their own shit.

I have no skin in this game but would you be willing to help our friend here with a more detailed check list of things you as a forum host would like to see in his software? I agree on the comments, it just obfuscates things needlessly.

 

[Null]

I have no skin in this game but would you be willing to help our friend here with a more detailed check list of things you as a forum host would like to see in his software? I agree on the comments, it just obfuscates things needlessly.

The big ones that come to mind are:
1) storing posts, profile messages, private messages, and chat messages in the same table so that history and Error 451 compliance can be done correctly,
2) making sure that attachments deduplicate and that viewing attachments can be done through the web server instead of the application, and
3) database clustering is fully supported with deadlock handling and a design that moves database queries that are not blockers for page rendering off the render pipeline.

xenforo does none of these by default. i have very shitty custom changes to make 2b+3 work. 1+2a are a lost cause.

 

[Fools Idol]

The big ones that come to mind are:
1) storing posts, profile messages, private messages, and chat messages in the same table so that history and Error 451 compliance can be done correctly,
2) making sure that attachments deduplicate and that viewing attachments can be done through the web server instead of the application, and
3) database clustering is fully supported with deadlock handling and a design that moves database queries that are not blockers for page rendering off the render pipeline.

xenforo does none of these by default. i have very shitty custom changes to make 2b+3 work. 1+2a are a lost cause.

If given some real input on the design would you be willing to help with this particular project or do you not think it could be an option for the future of the Kiwifarms? I ask because it seems like the biggest issue facing your own project is the lack of time devoted to it, something which could be resolved with merging two similar projects assuming the goals are in line.

 

[Flaming Dumpster]

I tried to boot up an instance but have hit a brick wall where the drooling retard frontend developer baked in the test instance's API URL and since this shit is all docker, I don't think there's an easy way to fix this from my end.

tinyboards-fe

tinyboards-fe

git.tinyboards.net

It also came bundled with the Mark of the Beast:

 

[Kroner]

I tried to boot up an instance but have hit a brick wall where the drooling retard frontend developer baked in the test instance's API URL and since this shit is all docker, I don't think there's an easy way to fix this from my end.

tinyboards-fe

tinyboards-fe

git.tinyboards.net

It also came bundled with the Mark of the Beast:
View attachment 4355325

Yeah... this is still in alpha and I have told him to make the base url dynamic already. I don't think we were expecting people to try and spin up their own instance this early in development but I will remind them about this issue

And yes, there is a discord that we use to collab on the project. It's just what the other devs want to use over alternatives like Matrix

In all honesty I probably should have waited until we were further along in development to make this thread :/

I don't think I can remove this thread or anything but I'll get back to working on the project now. If we make any significant developments I will give some updates but as you can probably tell this is still in very early stages of development

 

[Roland TB-303]

As someone who just makes things look nice, how much control do you have over the final UI? I imagine it’s 100% customisable but that you would need to provide a default design before any forks ever customise it, is that correct?