disclaimer - tech newbie here, sorry also, would really appreciate if the answers to this had as few guesses as possible, only “know for sure” answers if that’s okay, thank you in advance I recently learned that Discourse is decentralized. While I find decentralized networks cool, I had one question in mind about them. As a newbie, whenever I hear “decentralized”, I picture lots of servers across the world, and connections randomly going through them, without a centered server. Does “decentralized” mean that Discourse (or any forum based on it) needs to go through more servers or “points of connection” than a centralized network would need to? (am I making more connections across the world, than if I was uing something centralized?) is it going through several servers at a time, or is it rather one server at a time, but a random one? Or does each community that has a Discourse-based forum have it’s own designated server that is always being used by them? is all of this unique to each decentralized platform (other than Discourse)? thanks in advance to anyone who answers, and I’m sorry if this is a headache to explain this to a newbie :smiling_face_with_tear:

[image] blind_confused: each community that has a Discourse-based forum have it’s own designated server that is always being used by them This is the case. Different Discourse forums don’t communicate. (Other than the Fediverse/Mastodon integration mentioned, but I wonder if that’s a distraction from the main question, or the root of the question.)

I don’t think Discourse is decentralized in that context. It is just another (self ) hosted app, as WordPress. But we have a plugin that allow a forum be part of decentralized system, like with Mastodon-servers or another Discources (using same plugin).

Yes it is as Ed_S mentioned. When you create an account on each Discourse forum, it is unique to that forum. Each time if you want to join a different Discourse forum, you make a completely new, unrelated account.

I asked our friend AI explain shortly this. — Decentralized Internet Services Decentralized internet services distribute control and data across multiple nodes or servers, rather than relying on a single central authority. This enhances security, privacy, and resilience, as no single point of failure exists. Why Discourse Forums Aren’t Decentralized Discourse forums are not decentralized because they typically operate on a centralized server controlled by a single entity or organization. All data and administrative control are managed from this central point, making them reliant on that single server’s availability and security.

thanks everyone for the answers :slight_smile: it was helpful. [image] Ed S: This is the case. Different Discourse forums don’t communicate. I see. within one forum, there are not a lot of servers either? Or each forum admins control the amount of servers, and there could be any amount? [image] Ed S: but I wonder if that’s a distraction from the main question, or the root of the question. well, it’s good to know.

[image] blind_confused: within one forum, there are not a lot of servers either Indeed. In system administration terms, there is one or maybe two servers, by which I mean computers in a building somewhere doing useful work. In user terms, there is one server. That is, for one forum, there is one “place” which everyone shares. (I say this, because Discord uses the term “server” to mean something more like “place” or “territory”.) A Discourse forum may have multiple “Categories” and in some ways you might think of these as different “places” - they might each have their own moderators, for example. But we don’t call these “servers”. It is essential not to confuse Discourse with Discord! They are two very different kinds of software offering.

yeah, thankfully I knew the second meaning of “server” haha. thank you for your answer, that is pretty much what I was wondering

In case you need a guide to decentralized internet: https://github.com/redecentralize/alternative-internet Discourse does not belong to this list, but you will find it here: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted

[image] maiki: Where did you learn that? We don’t want to cause confusion, so with additional context we can clarify any further questions you might have. :slight_smile: well… to be honest with you, I don’t remember where exactly it was haha. I just searched “is discourse decentralized” and noticed the word “decentralized” in one of the search result previews, without even clicking on it. Perhaps that article actually explains things in greater detail, and arrives at a different conclusion than the one I made without giving it enough time to read. [image] Thomas Kalka: In case you need a guide to decentralized internet: thank you, that might be really useful.

A question about how decentralization works, specifically with Discourse

Product Support

maiki (maiki) July 23, 2024, 1:11am 9

Hiya!

Where did you learn that? We don’t want to cause confusion, so with additional context we can clarify any further questions you might have.

Topic		Replies	Views
Can a meta discourse platform support a "federated subreddit forum" architecture? Feature	4	990	June 18, 2023
Can different discourse accounts be linked if they share login email and/or IP address? Product Support	2	107	August 21, 2024
Federation features Feature	7	3889	September 2, 2019
Could Discourse offer a StackExchange-like SSO/Federated login service? Feature	6	1870	August 19, 2020
Does my Local Install Communicate With Discourse Servers? Product Support	7	1540	February 21, 2017

A question about how decentralization works, specifically with Discourse

Related topics