Daily Summary (9pm UTC)

[Discourse]

Today on meta.discourse.org…

Key Stats

In the last 24 hours:

• Total new posts: 80
• Total new topics: 7

Top users:

1. MarcP (23 likes, 14 posts)
2. Moin (12 likes, 5 posts)
3. RGJ (9 likes, 3 posts)
4. darkpixlz (6 likes, 4 posts)
5. Andro (5 likes, 2 posts)
6. nolo (5 likes, 2 posts)
7. Heliosurge (4 likes, 8 posts)
8. nathank (3 likes, 1 post)
9. Jagster (3 likes, 6 posts)
10. jrgong (2 likes, 4 posts)

Interesting Topics

ux

• darkpixlz initiated a discussion on improving desktop view for mobile devices, suggesting that the current desktop view on mobile feels lacking. MarcP questioned the feasibility of optimizing desktop versions for mobile screens, while Heliosurge shared insights on using mobile interfaces and potential improvements.

support

• Andro sought help with receiving bounce notifications for their local Postfix server. After some troubleshooting, they successfully resolved the issue by changing the VERP regex user name.

• Campa inquired about adding a banner to the top of their site. Moin provided helpful links to documentation on creating banners and mentioned that the specific custom theme component used by the Discourse team is not public.

theme-component

• nolo contributed to the Breadcrumb Links theme component discussion, suggesting improvements to the code and considering moving the conversation to the original development topic.

dev

• A user asked about using a custom font for a single word in a theme. Firepup650 provided guidance on defining the @font-face for the font and suggested uploading the font to the correct component.

feature

• jrgong inquired about using order:title for incremental numbers in topic titles. Moin suggested using padded numbers (e.g., 1.01) as a workaround.

praise

• Users continued to express appreciation for the Discourse AI Helper, with MarcP sharing his experience using AI for theme components and suggesting tools like Cursor for enhanced development workflows.

site feedback

• MarcP started a discussion about giving non-TL3 members access to the AI helper, questioning why it’s currently limited to TL3 users only.

installation

• Asher_Densmore-Lynn shared their experience migrating an older Discourse instance to a newer Ubuntu version, highlighting the challenges faced during the process.

bug

• Overgrow reported an issue with posts being too long for PostSentimentAnalysis when using OpenAI for sentiment analysis. The problem seems to be related to post length and API limitations.

• schneeland noticed that updates were taking much longer than usual (about 20 minutes instead of 1-2 minutes) and experienced temporary breaks in progress updates during the migration process.

activitypub

• Matthias_Schuster asked about ActivityPub federation between two Discourse instances, specifically inquiring about how federated categories would appear in each instance’s category list.

Activity by the @team Group

• pfaffman provided guidance on restoring backups from the command line and offered suggestions for upgrading Ubuntu to an LTS release.

• RGJ shared insights on using VPS provider firewalls for DDoS protection and discussed the importance of hiding server IP addresses.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

[Discourse]

Today on meta.discourse.org…

Key Stats:

• New posts: 114
• New topics: 16
• Top users:
  • sam (23 likes, 9 posts)
  • Moin (20 likes, 7 posts)
  • tobiaseigen (17 likes, 4 posts)
  • Heliosurge (10 likes, 3 posts)
  • ondrej (10 likes, 4 posts)
  • pfaffman (9 likes, 10 posts)
  • Don (7 likes, 2 posts)
  • MarcP (6 likes, 2 posts)
  • mcwumbly (5 likes, 1 posts)
  • HamMan2118 (5 likes, 2 posts)

Interesting Topics:

site feedback

• Users discussed bringing back the AI helper for non-TL3 members. sam bumped it to trust level 1, noting that self-hosted LLaMA makes costs less of a concern. This sparked a conversation about TL3 requirements being too difficult to reach/maintain. sam acknowledged that the reading requirements for TL3 are quite high, with meta currently requiring 6302 posts and 500 topics read. read more

bug

• Moin reported an issue with visibility of assign action posts being controlled by whispers allowed groups instead of assign allowed groups. tobiaseigen confirmed the bug and added it to their list for investigation. read more

• Users reported that the category menu on mobile appears at the bottom of the screen when tapped, which was deemed inconvenient. It was noted this is a documented bug now considered a feature. read more

#comparison

• In the ongoing Discourse vs Skool discussion, ludwikc expressed interest in creating a Skool-like theme for Discourse and offered to sponsor its development. read more

theme-component

• Don released a new theme component to change the share icon based on the user’s operating system. The component aims to provide a more native experience for iOS and Android users. read more

support

• BryanV reported an issue with the category menu location on mobile, where it appears at the bottom of the screen instead of near the tapped heading. This was identified as a known behavior. read more

• ludwikc inquired about implementing anonymous posting for logged-in users to create a “safe space” similar to a Discord setup. Users suggested exploring the Anonymous mode feature and form templates. read more

• tkforbes asked about the timing of account deletions during phpBB imports. pfaffman explained that some import scripts delete unused accounts, while Discourse also removes inactive accounts after a configurable time period. read more

migration

• A user encountered issues migrating private messages from SMF to Discourse, with the system hanging during the process. pfaffman suggested reviewing the code and considering using existing import scripts as a model. read more

feature

• emilio requested a feature to set timeframes for banners, similar to pinned topics. Users suggested exploring the Discourse Automation plugin or existing feature requests for timed banners. read more

dev

• schneeland inquired about the level of Ruby/Rails knowledge required for Discourse development. pfaffman suggested that while understanding Ruby and Rails helps, many tasks can be accomplished by following examples in existing plugins. read more

#hosting

• Users discussed object storage options, with LJT recommending Internxt Object Storage as a cost-effective S3-compatible solution at €7/TB/month. read more

marketplace

• ludwikc requested a Skool-like theme for Discourse in the marketplace, offering to sponsor its development as an open-source project. pfaffman expressed interest in the idea. read more

Activity by the @team Group:

• sam participated in discussions about AI helper access for non-TL3 members, explaining the decision to bump it to trust level 1. He also commented on TL3 requirements, acknowledging the high reading thresholds.

• tobiaseigen investigated and confirmed a bug related to assign action post visibility, adding it to the team’s list for further action.

• mcwumbly provided information about a new built-in feature to hide staff from the /about page, which was implemented based on user feedback.

• HAWK responded to a user’s query about issues with a plugin for disabling email verification, requesting more information about the specific problem.

• Lilly assisted a user with troubleshooting clickable social icon links on user profiles, providing screenshots and guidance on setting up custom user fields.

• supermathie suggested updating documentation about security fixes in Discourse release channels to include information about the stable branch.

• Osama commented on cleaning up user_auth_token_logs, suggesting that certain records need to be kept for detecting suspicious logins.

• david explained an odd interaction between Discourse and Google Translate, noting that it affects all Ember apps and suggesting browser-native translation as a workaround.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

[Discourse]

Today on meta.discourse.org…

Key Stats

• New posts: 169
• New topics: 21

Top users:

1. mcwumbly (30 likes, 4 posts)
2. Moin (28 likes, 14 posts)
3. hugh (16 likes, 7 posts)
4. Carleas (15 likes, 1 post)
5. ondrej (15 likes, 5 posts)
6. sam (12 likes, 7 posts)
7. Heliosurge (10 likes, 14 posts)
8. Jagster (10 likes, 13 posts)
9. lindsey (7 likes, 5 posts)
10. pfaffman (6 likes, 9 posts)

Interesting Topics

Announcements

• mcwumbly introduced the first edition of “Current Projects,” a new monthly newsletter sharing ongoing work at Discourse. The post covers various projects including a composer redesign, new theme chooser in the setup wizard, and other features in development. Read more

#Site feedback

• hugh called for community contributions to improve Discourse documentation, listing several areas that need new or improved content. This initiative aims to enhance the documentation for administrators, moderators, users, and sysadmins. Read more

Theme component

• gormus updated the Notification Banners theme component to support targeting specific categories, allowing single or multiple category selection per banner. Read more

Bug

• A bug was reported where opening a keyboard on modal inputs causes the page to jump to the top on mobile devices. The Discourse team has been asked to address this issue. Read more

• An issue with user fields during signup was reported and subsequently fixed. A PR was opened to backport the fix to the stable branch. Read more

Feature

• A suggestion was made to add a new Category Permission called “Display,” allowing admins to show categories without revealing topics to visitors. Read more

• A feature request was made to link the Sign Up process to the Subscriptions Plugin, allowing forums to display a Subscription page with membership fees after sign-up. Read more

Support

• A user reported an increase in spam on their forum and sought guidance on best practices for filtering and reducing spam. Read more

• An issue was reported regarding AI not responding when mentioned in a reply to a post. It was clarified that the AI bot doesn’t answer if mentioned in a reply to a post, but does respond when mentioned in a reply to a topic. Read more

Plugin

• A user inquired about the possibility of displaying user birthdays as events in the Discourse Calendar plugin, potentially enabling cool automations for engagement. Read more

UX

• Jagster reported an issue with the “Create export” button appearing on the LLM page, which seems to be a bug introduced in a recent update. Read more

ai

• MachineScholar asked about the storage of embeddings for AI Personas, inquiring if they are stored in the same vector database as other Discourse embeddings. sam confirmed that all embeddings are stored in Postgres using the same database. Read more

Activity by the @team Group

• mcwumbly introduced the “Current Projects” newsletter, providing insights into ongoing Discourse developments. They also merged a topic about adding timers to banner topics. Read more Read more

• hugh called for community contributions to improve Discourse documentation and responded to various queries about the initiative. Read more

• sam implemented basic support for o1-preview & o1-mini LLMs in the discourse-ai plugin and provided information about embeddings storage. Read more Read more

• lindsey announced plans to implement threading in DMs and group chats, addressed a design oversight in official warnings, and asked the team to fix a mobile UI issue. Read more Read more Read more

• pmusaraj was mentioned in discussions about the Discourse Hub app and its compatibility issues. Read more

• joffreyjaffeux was also mentioned regarding the Discourse Hub app issues. Read more

• david provided guidance on resolving site glitches related to Cloudflare’s Auto Minify feature. Read more

• maiki expressed appreciation for the new “Current Projects” newsletter. Read more

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

[Discourse]

Today on meta.discourse.org…

Key Stats

• New posts: 170
• New topics: 22

Top users:

1. Moin (31 likes, 16 posts)
2. Lilly (25 likes, 11 posts)
3. merefield (24 likes, 9 posts)
4. ondrej (16 likes, 5 posts)
5. oga (9 likes, 14 posts)

Interesting Topics

Support

• oga sought help increasing the size of their Reply TextArea, which led to the discovery of a potential issue with the “Choose Next Topic” plugin affecting the composer size.

• Joe_F asked for advice on finding the perfect theme for their Discourse forum, receiving suggestions for various theme components and sidebar solutions.

• A user inquired about changing the link under the logo on their Discourse site, with Moin and Lilly providing guidance on customizing the logo link and homepage settings.

• hello2029 encountered an issue with an application needing to be selected to create a topic, which was resolved by identifying the Global Filter plugin as the cause.

Feature

• A discussion arose about implementing user-created groups in Discourse, with explanations provided on why this feature is not currently available and potential alternatives.

• matenauta suggested having related topics as the default view instead of suggested topics, with sam acknowledging the potential for an extensibility point to make this customization easier.

General

• uniVERSO_CaJu asked for tips for “newbies” born in Discourse in September 2024, leading to a discussion about trust levels and their importance in Discourse communities.

Announcements

• The Discourse team provided an update on current projects for September 2024, including information on the composer overhaul and other ongoing developments.

#Site Management

• A comprehensive guide on understanding and managing post notices was shared, explaining their purpose and configuration options.

Dev

• A developer sought advice on implementing Discourse forum functionality in a Laravel 11 project, with suggestions provided for using subfolders and single sign-on integration.

Bug

• Users reported issues with Discourse updates taking an unusually long time and progress updates breaking temporarily, with tgxworld identifying a potential fix for the problem.

Theme Component

• denvergeeks shared updates to the Breadcrumb Links theme component, adding support for subcategories and additional functionality.

Plugin

• In the Discourse Calendar plugin topic, users discussed potential automations for creating birthday celebration topics with pre-added events.

Activity by the @team Group

Lilly was particularly active, providing support and insights across multiple topics. They offered guidance on configuring post notices, explained desktop category page style settings, and helped troubleshoot issues with the Reply TextArea size.

mcwumbly shared updates on the current projects, addressing questions about instant search experiments and the converter framework development.

sam discussed potential improvements for related topics display and provided information on RAG capacities of discourse-ai.

hugh made improvements to the documentation on creating consistent admin interfaces, addressing feedback and making necessary corrections.

awesomerobot offered guidance on setting up a feature request forum with upvotes and comments, suggesting the use of the Topic Voting plugin.

keegan announced a fix for the AI helper issue on iPad DiscourseHub.

tgxworld identified and provided a fix for an issue causing slow updates during Discourse version upgrades.

joffreyjaffeux acknowledged an identified fix for a chat message sending issue, noting it would take some time to implement.

fzngagan responded to feedback on a feature request for adding more data in user approval.

supermathie offered advice on generating login links and suggested ways to improve user experience during redirects.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

[Discourse]

Today on meta.discourse.org…

Key Stats:

• New posts: 148
• New topics: 20
• Top users:
  1. HAWK (24 likes, 6 posts)
  2. Lilly (14 likes, 4 posts)
  3. Heliosurge (12 likes, 9 posts)
  4. awesomerobot (11 likes, 4 posts)
  5. pfaffman (10 likes, 11 posts)

Interesting Topics:

Support

• A user sought advice on adding a post/message at the top of categories, similar to the job posting banner seen on meta.discourse.org. Moin provided a helpful link to a guide on creating banners.

• An inquiry was made about searching within the raw data of all topics and posts. dax suggested a search technique using quotation marks to find specific HTML elements.

• A user reported issues with deleting bookmarks, which turned out to be a misunderstanding about the difference between topic and post bookmarks.

• There was a discussion about modifying the reader mode color of hex codes to achieve true black (#000000) instead of the current dark gray.

Bug

• A user reported that DiscourseHub on iPad is closing unexpectedly after reading several topics. The issue doesn’t seem to be related to a specific iOS version.

• An error was reported when testing email configuration: “no implicit conversion of Integer into String”. The user provided system information and SMTP logs for troubleshooting.

• A bug was reported where the Discourse Solved Reminders plugin is suggesting already solved topics or topics without solution options.

Dev

• A developer sought advice on adding a custom SVG to a plugin. awesomerobot provided guidance on using register_svg_icon and creating a new sprite.

wordpress

• A user requested help with a template hook for the “Join Discussion Link” section in the Discourse Plugin. angus provided a detailed solution using PHP filters.

Theme component

• An update was announced for the Featured Categories Header theme component, including refactoring and new styling options.

• A user reported an error with the Composer Footnote Button theme component, possibly related to recent changes in Discourse core.

Marketplace

• There was continued interest in the Rich Text Editor Plugin, with a user sharing details via DM for further assistance.

General

• A discussion about building a technical support chatbot was revisited, with merefield sharing a link to a guide written by 37Rb.

Activity by the @team Group:

• HAWK provided guidance on restricting invites and explained how bulk invites work with CSV files.

• awesomerobot assisted with adding custom SVGs to plugins, explaining how to use register_svg_icon and create new sprites.

• sam commented on the category style bullet feature, discussing potential changes to improve search results.

• dax offered a solution for searching within raw HTML data using specific search syntax.

• Lilly and sam engaged in a humorous exchange about AI misattribution in the daily summary, with sam quipping that the AI made a “hugh” mistake.

• tobiaseigen provided clarification on bulk invite functionality, explaining how unique invite links work for each email address in a CSV file.

• hugh acknowledged and appreciated community contributions to documentation, particularly the creation of a guide for custom user statuses.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

[Discourse]

Today on meta.discourse.org…

Key Stats

• New posts: 146
• New topics: 19

Top users:

1. Lilly (23 likes, 8 posts)
2. Moin (22 likes, 10 posts)
3. Heliosurge (16 likes, 18 posts)
4. NateDhaliwal (14 likes, 8 posts)
5. sam (12 likes, 6 posts)
6. simon (11 likes, 5 posts)
7. patrickemin (11 likes, 10 posts)
8. merefield (11 likes, 6 posts)
9. tobiaseigen (11 likes, 4 posts)
10. HAWK (8 likes, 2 posts)

Interesting Topics

Support

• patrickemin encountered issues with the Approve unless allowed groups setting, leading to a discussion about the complexity of Discourse’s overlapping layers of permissions and settings. simon suggested that the setting’s description could be clearer about how trust level groups work read more.

• NateDhaliwal sought help with settings not appearing in a theme component he was developing. Moin and merefield provided suggestions for fixing the settings.yml file read more.

• kuaza reported a bug where clicking the AI button in the chat section doesn’t show the editor. chapoi explained that the composer is hidden on chat pages, and sam suggested that this might need to be reconsidered for desktop use read more.

Dev

• NateDhaliwal asked about making ‘illegal’ content reportable to non-logged in users to comply with EU Digital Service Act requirements. tobiaseigen suggested providing instructions on how to report illegal content as a workaround read more.

users

• NateDhaliwal created a guide on how to select dark mode in Discourse, explaining the concept and steps to enable it read more.

• ondrej wrote a comprehensive guide on how to write an effective feature request for Discourse, providing step-by-step instructions for users read more.

UX

• Moin started a discussion about educating users on trust level group memberships, suggesting improvements to make the concept clearer for admins read more.

Bug

• ToddZ reported ongoing issues with multiple repeated summary mail entries, asking if others were still experiencing the problem read more.

Theme component

• Fluffy_Circus reported that the image preview component doesn’t work with the Ghost Theme, showing a screenshot of the issue read more.

General

• 37Rb shared insights on the performance of a support bot for a technical support forum, noting that it works better for power users than novices read more.

Activity by the @team Group

• Lilly provided assistance in several topics, including explaining how to disable personal messages and helping troubleshoot the Approve unless allowed groups setting.

• sam mentioned that the Discourse team is away on their yearly meetup until next week, but assured users that support inquiries are being monitored.

• tobiaseigen discussed potential improvements to educate users about trust level group memberships and suggested workarounds for reporting illegal content by non-logged in users.

• HAWK identified techAPJ as the developer of a plugin in a discussion about Discourse Solved Reminders.

• chapoi explained the behavior of the AI button in chat sections, noting that the composer is hidden on chat pages.

• mcwumbly provided insights on staff slots and moderation in hosted plans, explaining how permissions can be granted to larger groups at a more granular level.

• saquetim confirmed that a merge was completed in the Discourse Web Page Watermark topic.

• Falco requested more information in a topic about installing the AI Plugin on Discourse v3.4.0.beta1.

• renato pointed out a broader issue with opening the composer within chat and its impact on navigation.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again tomorrow!