15 votes

best option for a bare-bones message board/forum?

hello tildes,

i am searching for a bare-bones forum/message board. i'll describe what i need and perhaps someone can point me in the right direction:

must have the ability to

  • create an account
  • create topics with the ability to reply
  • fully customizable front-end (html/css) so i can make it match my website
  • either self-host or use a custom domain on ext hosting

unimportant but nice to have

  • display images in posts via external urls
  • different boards (categories?) to post into (would be nice but not vital)
  • nested replies (or some visual way to see what you're replying to)

free would be ideal (dreams are nice) but probably wouldn't want to spend more than $5/month as this is a supplement to a website where i don't expect much traffic at all due to the nature of the project. no images/video/audio will be hosted ideally.

i'm ok with "hacker news" or "reddit-like" software but my backend knowledge if very limited. for instance, i looked into self-hosting lemmy but i don't understand how to setup docker. options like phpbb would be fine if i could strip away everything aside from the above-mentioned features.

i want it to be extremely simplistic in appearance and for the end-user (tildes is a great example of the simplistic end-user experience). tildes could be a cool option but i think getting it setup is a bit out of my skill-range.

can anyone offer any suggestions/guidence?

edited to emphasize important aspects and clarify things that are not vital but would be nice to have.

8 comments

  1. [2]
    overbyte
    Link
    Flarum and NodeBB are the closest to stripped down forums that's still actively developed. Flarum is the successor of esoTalk and FluxBB (which the Arch Linux forums currently use). Both lean into...

    Flarum and NodeBB are the closest to stripped down forums that's still actively developed. Flarum is the successor of esoTalk and FluxBB (which the Arch Linux forums currently use).

    Both lean into the Discourse-style layout (flat layout, scrubber, infinite scroll) than old-school phpBB/vBulletin forums, so that's something to keep in mind if nested replies are a dealbreaker.

    Running forum channels on Discord is another option and extremely easy, but running a community on Discord comes with its own tradeoffs (like out of the box search engine visibility).

    5 votes
    1. rip_rike
      Link Parent
      seems like i should look into discourse. it needs to look and feel exactly like the website, so discord wouldn't be that. thank you for the suggestions!

      seems like i should look into discourse. it needs to look and feel exactly like the website, so discord wouldn't be that. thank you for the suggestions!

      2 votes
  2. [2]
    FlippantGod
    Link
    There was a project, BrutaLinks, working on a stripped-down old reddit / lobste.rs style site. No categories and to my knowledge, no images. Meets all hard requirements. The project page details a...

    There was a project, BrutaLinks, working on a stripped-down old reddit / lobste.rs style site. No categories and to my knowledge, no images. Meets all hard requirements.

    The project page details a core goal of being easy to install and operate, but I'm not sure if the documentation is there. I suspect you could easily contact the author and get the details, however.

    Alternatively, you could trade relative ease of install for administrative overhead and try something like Akkoma or another fediverse project.

    Finally, simple imageboards should offer everything but threaded comments.

    2 votes
    1. rip_rike
      Link Parent
      thanks for your suggestions! i can't find any instructions on how to install brutallinks but i will reach out to the developer like you suggested. i'll also give akkoma a look. being able to post...

      thanks for your suggestions! i can't find any instructions on how to install brutallinks but i will reach out to the developer like you suggested. i'll also give akkoma a look.

      being able to post images is not vital as this would be primarily text-based.

      1 vote
  3. [2]
    bl4kers
    Link
    I'd check out the Gemini protocol or something like Boardhost might fit your needs. I know Discourse is pretty popular but is probably about the same effort as a Tildes fork

    I'd check out the Gemini protocol or something like Boardhost might fit your needs. I know Discourse is pretty popular but is probably about the same effort as a Tildes fork

    1 vote
    1. rip_rike
      Link Parent
      i need something that can be made to look indistinguishable from the rest of my website, so i dont believe baordhost and gemini will work but i will look into discourse! thanks for taking the time...

      i need something that can be made to look indistinguishable from the rest of my website, so i dont believe baordhost and gemini will work but i will look into discourse! thanks for taking the time to help!

      1 vote
  4. [2]
    ambliopia
    Link
    You could try Postmill or Libarea

    You could try Postmill or Libarea

    1 vote
    1. rip_rike
      Link Parent
      i’m going to give postmill a try - thank you! also love the “this wiki is gay” and “this site is gay” lol

      i’m going to give postmill a try - thank you! also love the “this wiki is gay” and “this site is gay” lol

      2 votes