# How minimal is your forum? **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-minimal-is-your-forum/399941 **Category:** General **Created:** [April 4, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-minimal-is-your-forum/399941 "2026-04-04T15:03:51Z") **Posts on this page:** 1 **Showing post:** 9
### Author: ![ToddZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/toddz/32/328350_2.png) [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ) #### Post date: [April 8, 2026, 9:02am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-minimal-is-your-forum/399941/9 "2026-04-08T09:02:53Z")
Auditing my setup was an interesting exercise. While I have quite a bit of custom CSS for decluttering things, there’s also a fair amount of functional stuff enabled: > **13 plugins by Discourse** > > Notable: > > - Automation > - [Data Explorer](https://meta.discourse.org/t/32566?silent=true) > - Details > - Gamification > - Spoiler Alert > - Staff Alias > - User Notes > **2 third party plugins** > > - Betterstatus > - Dark Visitors > **12 theme components** > > Notable: > > - Category Headers > - Custom Header Links > - DiscoTOC > - Right Sidebar Blocks > - Tag Cloud > - Unanswered Filter > - User Card Directory > - Welcome Link Banner But on the minimalist side: 26 tags – added only by staff as content warrants 6 main categories (incl. Site Feedback) 2 subcategories for specialty use 1 private category 1 theme (Foundation) no chat (PMs suffice for the very occasional off-topic convo) no reactions (haven’t felt the need, but open to it) no LLMs 2 additional groups no additional badges --- _[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-minimal-is-your-forum/399941)._