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)

https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/edb1c651495f601873c3350d146c186873081e16

(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It has been replaced by the admin onboarding panel:

https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/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:
https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/74b3807f60fb63bb02230f2722fbfb984cde7327

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 by pmusaraj · Pull Request #39852 · discourse/discourse · GitHub 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

[tobiaseigen]

This issue just came up on a new community I recently joined. Without bootstrap mode and little to read, engagement has been slow to pick up. One member started a topic because they were confused about receiving a PM email notification from staff and being unable to find the PM to reply. They are still TL0 and will be stuck there until there is enough to read so they can get up to TL1 and access their messages.

A corollary issue is that they are not able to just click a link in the email to access it directly and reply. They say they just got a blank page. I don’t know if this is related to another site setting change they’ve made or to trust level defaults.

Another funny side effect is that my own posts to meta to help educate that community about how all this works just got flagged! I presume that’s because I also am stuck at TL0 on that site. And hilarity ensues..

[merefield (Robert)]

Is a reasonable workaround to make the default trust level = 1 for a spell? Then when you are established switch that to zero?

[tobiaseigen]

Yeah that is what I proposed.