Bootstrap mode is legacy?

[merefield (Robert)]

Can someone please help me understand why this was removed, what the rationale was and what initiative/functionality replaced it? (If any)

UX: Remove Bootstrap Mode (#37694)

(no particular axe to grind, just keen to know)

[Ed_S]

For background, see previously:

@fefrei

To help a new install get started quickly, bootstrap mode boosts new user’s initial trust level to 1 as long as there are less than 50 members (and for an additional 24 hours after that). After that, you hopefully have enough posts for users to gain trust level 1 naturally

Additionally, daily email digests are enabled for these users so they are pinged to return to the site a bit more urgently. Once bootstrap mode is turned off (which happens automatically once you have more than 50 members), this digest setting is reverted to its default.

[Moin]

Bootstrap mode was more than TL1 and more frequent activity summary emails. Those can quite easily be replicated by changing site settings. But I don’t know any setting for updating the user directory.

@Discourse

Effects of bootstrap mode

During bootstrap mode, specific aspects of your Discourse site are automatically adjusted to encourage user engagement and community growth:

1. User trust and permissions:
   • New users are given Trust Level 1, allowing them to bypass typical new user restrictions.
2. Communication frequency:
   • Users receive daily summary emails instead of weekly digests.
   • Moderators are notified about users awaiting approval after 5 minutes instead of 8 hours.
3. User directory updates:
   • The user directory is updated more frequently, ensuring new members are visible sooner.

[pmusaraj (Penar Musaraj)]

Bootstrap mode had been effectively disabled for a long time, the site setting was default: false for at least a year. And as a setting for new sites, that essentially means that we weren’t using the feature.

It has been replaced by the admin onboarding panel:

UX: Enable onboarding panel for the first admin user (#39423)

It’s a lighter touch to nudging new admins to do some key first steps: inviting users, sharing links, starting some topics. This banner displays for the first admin on the site, can be dismissed by the little X in the top right corner.

We should have announced this change, but since it’s a feature for new installations only, it felt a little unhelpful to “announce” it to existing admins. That said, meta is not only for existing admins, and it certainly is helpful to get feedback from the community.

So, thoughts, suggestions, ideas are welcome as always. Thanks for the question!

[Moin]

@pmusaraj

Bootstrap mode had been effectively disabled for a long time, the site setting was default: false for at least a year.

That statement really surprises me. Especially since, about a year and a half before you removed it, one of the product managers had noted that more documentation was needed.

That wouldn’t have made much sense if it had already been disabled back then.

I think the setting was default: false even when it was added 10 years ago:

FEATURE: new bootstrap mode settings for brand new Discourse community (#4193)

Could it be that there was a job that enabled bootstrap mode instead?

app/jobs/regular/enable_bootstrap_mode.rb

So had bootstrap mode been disabled before it was removed?

[pmusaraj (Penar Musaraj)]

Good question, I need to research better how this used to work.

[pmusaraj (Penar Musaraj)]

Ok, you are right, I completely missed how this used to work.

@Moin

Could it be that there was a job that enabled bootstrap mode instead?

Yes, you are right. It was enabled at the time that we removed the feature. (We had disabled it on some scenarios for our hosting.)

And on closer look, there are a few niceties in the bootstrap mode that we should keep, marking the first admin as a moderator and granting TL1 to the first group of new users stand out to me as desirable features.

[Moin]

@pmusaraj

granting TL1 to the first group of new users

That’s actually what I found least helpful. The “first day” limitations apply to users at TL1 just as much as they do to those at TL0; if you want users to be able to post more on their first day, you have to promote them to at least level 2.

I also liked that the user directory was updated more frequently. I understand why it is not possible with many users. But wouldn’t it be possible to do this until a certain number of users is reached? Especially in the beginning, it can be helpful to see your test users right there instead of having to wait for them. This makes it easier to configure what should be displayed there.

[pmusaraj (Penar Musaraj)]

@Moin

I also liked that the user directory was updated more frequently. I understand why it is not possible with many users. But wouldn’t it be possible to do this until a certain number of users is reached?

Yes, this is possible. Currently we update the daily user directory view every hour, and the other views every day. This PR DEV: refresh user directory more often for sites with few users · Pull Request #39852 · discourse/discourse will update all views every hour for a site with less than 100 users (hidden setting for now).

@gabriel also has a PR for marking the first admin as a moderator.

[darkpixlz (Pyx)]

@pmusaraj

This PR DEV: refresh user directory more often for sites with few users · Pull Request #39852 · discourse/discourse will update all views every hour for a site with less than 100 users (hidden setting for now).

What is it set to normally? I never even noticed that /u doesn’t update instantly, but I guess it’s never been relevant.

[pmusaraj (Penar Musaraj)]

It depends on the view. The Daily view is updated every hour, the other views are updated every day. So when you join a site, if you go quickly to the directory and you land on the weekly view, you won’t see yourself there immediately.

[Moin]

Most time spans are updated every 24 hours. “Today” is updated every hour.

app/jobs/scheduled/directory_refresh_older.rb

app/jobs/scheduled/directory_refresh_daily.rb