The decision to move away from our old forum wasn’t taken lightly, but it became clear that change was necessary. Here’s why:

The old platform, phpBB, had become increasingly difficult to update and upgrade. Many of its extensions were outdated or abandoned, making it a challenge to maintain and improve. The issues caused by the last upgrade pushed me to look for an alternative rather than trying to fix the persistent problems.

After many weeks of researching, I decided to go with Flarum, a modern and lightweight forum platform similar to Discourse. Flarum has an active and engaged community, and most of its extensions are actively maintained, ensuring better long-term support. It’s distributed under the MIT license, which aligns with our values, and it uses the same tool we use to update our website, making it a natural choice.

After discussions with other contributors, I decided not to migrate data from the old forum. While data migration pathways exist, much of the content was outdated, and we felt it was better to start fresh with a clean slate.

The old forum will remain accessible at https://old-forums.ghostbsd.org and will be set to read-only next week.

Feel free to share your ideas if you have any suggestions for extensions or features to improve the new forums. Let’s work together to improve this space for the GhostBSD community!

ericbsd changed the title to Why the new forum? .
ericbsd stickied the discussion .

the new forum looks very beautiful!
thanks Eric

Markdown!

That is awesome! So much easier than BB codes. It's what I use on my social media as well. It's simple and universal, and I'm glad it's in use in the new format!

Great work on this new forum... also creates a unified look and feel to the overall GhostBSD site.... like it!
:-)

    The old forum contains some really useful pages, and search engines still take us there. However, we're greeted with a page that simply displays "The page you requested could not be found", along with a link to the home page of this new instance. Will it be possible to do the following?

    • Let the user know they can still read the post using old-forums.ghostbsd.org or the Wayback Machine
    • Add a permanent redirect for search engines to update the URLs

      nandedamana Many posts on the old forum contain outdated or incorrect information. Rather than migrating this content, it's better to ask questions directly on the new forum for accurate, up-to-date answers. Over time, search engines will adjust and prioritize the correct information from the new forum. This is a better outcome.

      7 days later

      RoboNuggie

      Say for instance a little GUI too for adding users, or managing partitions....

      Yes, that would be really nice.

      8 days later

      @RoboNuggie I see that there's a recent video from you on YouTube, but I didn't see it on Rumble yet. I don't do YouTube at all (and since installing ungoogled-chromium with uBlock-origin, I can't watch any YouTube videos, which is perfectly fine with me, unless you're not posting on Rumble anymore! Will your videos still appear on Rumble or any other non-evil site?

        Robin It might be more appropriate to ask that question in the lobby to keep this thread on topic. Otherwise, it will become more difficult to reference conversations.

        nandedamana

        … Will it be possible to do the following?

        • Let the user know they can still read the post using old-forums.ghostbsd.org or the Wayback Machine
        • Add a permanent redirect for search engines to update the URLs

        Not for everyone, but I use Redirector, as pictured below.

        Include patern:

        https://forums.ghostbsd.org/viewtopic.php*

        Redirect to:

        https://old-forums.ghostbsd.org/viewtopic.php$1

        I recommend discontinuing the old forums entirely and directing all user inquiries to the new forums. Over the past seven years, GhostBSD has undergone significant transformations, enhancing its features, security, and user experience. By centralizing discussions on the new platform, we ensure that users receive the most current and relevant information, reducing the likelihood of confusion caused by outdated content.

        Leaving the old forums in read-only mode is not advisable for several reasons:

        1. Ongoing Confusion: Even in read-only mode, users may stumble upon outdated threads and information, leading to misunderstandings or the use of obsolete solutions.
        2. Fragmented Community: Read-only forums can create a divide where some users engage with the old content while others use the new forums, weakening community cohesion and making it harder to foster a unified support system.
        3. Maintenance Overhead: Maintaining two separate platforms, even if one is read-only, requires additional resources for updates, security, and moderation, which could be better utilized in enhancing the new forums.
        4. Limited Accessibility: Users seeking help may find it frustrating to navigate between active and inactive sections, potentially leading to a poor user experience and decreased satisfaction.
        5. Missed Opportunities for Improvement: Allowing discussions solely on the new forums ensures that feedback and suggestions are relevant to the current state of GhostBSD, facilitating continuous improvement and innovation.

        Additionally, focusing our efforts on the new forums fosters a more vibrant and active community, where knowledge is consistently updated and easily accessible. This streamlined approach not only improves user satisfaction but also enhances the overall effectiveness of our support system. Removing the old forums completely helps eliminate redundancy, ensures clarity, and reinforces the commitment to providing up-to-date and reliable information to all GhostBSD users.

          vimanuelt

          I recommend discontinuing the old forums entirely …

          Please, I beg, do not remove the content without (at least) comprehensive use of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

          Compare with what's done for the TrueNAS Community. https://www.truenas.com/community/threads/truenas-13-3-core-community-contributions.117192/page-2#post-816663 for example:

          • Forum is Read Only. – permanently visible, foot of the page, to the right
          • New Forums – permanently visible, to the right, click to reveal the announcement that links to the new forums
          • Important Announcement for the TrueNAS Community. – head of the page.

            The plan is to keep the old forums. Yes, there are outdated answers, but there is also some helpful information. Today it has been set to read only.