what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?

[Hari]

@hari i have read the entire discussion and I understood it’s more related to speed.

i would like to add one other point flarum has no good SEO support.

• Solved

[JAC]

@hari Like this platform I too have made the switch from Flarum to NodeBB.

Having tried both platforms out previously there’s a lot more you ‘get out of the box’ with NodeBB in comparison to Flarum.

For example there’s many things like SEO ready, whereas with Flarum you need to install an extension.

As well as a host of other things (which I’m sure Mark will delve into) the ability to control users much more easier is something every forum needs, maybe they are getting better but with NodeBB everything I’ve come across seems much more simple to set up, it just works as it’s intended to do so.

[phenomlab]

@hari I’d have to agree with this point. However, it’s difficult to create an SEO package that ticks all the boxes unless it’s an area you have extensive knowledge in. Personally, I never had that much of an issue with SEO in Flarum, but a huge issue with its performance.

[Hari]

@phenomlab i feel, for any website SEO is mandatory that’s the reason we did not go away from WordPress.

when it comes to flarum I am so much stressed, flarum just indexed 800 unwanted sub-pages with the same page title which is a big SEO mistake. so I had to commission this extension to fix the canonical URL issue. i do not bother sponsoring but, it takes a huge learning curve to find the problem and wait for devs to make an extension to solve the issues.

if we ask the flarum team for SEO support they say it’s not part of the core and it’s the extension job. and no one is ready to fix SEO problems. (I’ve contacted the SEO author too for few SEO fixes but looks like he is experiencing family problems and he will not be available for the next 2-3months for sure.) in this pandemic situation, we can not demand anything from anyone … everyone is facing problems.

all we can do is go forward with what is ready! (nodeBB)

when it comes to nodeBB or Wordpress they provide basic SEO support.

i understand i can not expect too much from a newborn baby (flarum) but hope they will soon start provide basic SEO support out of the box.

The flarum default them is something

now I am fully into flarum and i can not switch. i am so jealous of you guys for switching to node BB

+++ cloudways do not support nodeBB (what kind of people they are? )

hope flarum eventually grows and dominate the forum world.

[phenomlab]

@hari great post and input, thanks. I agree with your frustrations. 4 months ago and prior I asked for a GDPR extension to be created to address the compliance issue. After all this time, still nothing - and, the Flarum Devs insisted it wouldn’t be in the core.

This is totally wrong in my view. For such an important compliance requirement, it should definitely be in the core ! And yet, blomstra is being targeted towards the European market where GDPR is a huge compliance risk if you cannot satisfy the requirements and hold private data concerning users. That, coupled with extensions that simply don’t work properly, or cause speed issues overall is an absolute non starter in my view.

Insisting on keeping the core lean simply means you can blame extension developers file slowing down sites.

[phenomlab]

@jac agreed. The out of the box experience with NodeBB is superior than the same with Flarum Core. You can’t really compete the two. NodeBB speed excels that of Flarum by a mile.

[phenomlab]

@hari said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

flarum just indexed 800 unwanted sub-pages with the same page title which is a big SEO mistake

Can you clean that up ? I expect it’s possible with Google Search Console, but something of an extremely laborious task.

[Hari]

@phenomlab This extension is the fix for that

https://github.com/SychO9/flarum-discussion-canonical-url

I’ve checked how nodeBB canonical URL is … i can see they have done the right job

[phenomlab]

@hari said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

@phenomlab This extension is the fix for that

Yes, but that’s another extension to fix an extension !!

[Hari]

@phenomlab SEO extension does not do deal with canonical URLs for flarum core.

flarum core sets 10 or 20 posts into a group and they add ?page=1 as the 20th post canonical URL

when I took this to askvortsov. he said if something can be done with an extension it has to be done with an extension and we don’t change the core, i was shocked by reading this.

clark also responded in the same manner (I’m sure he is not into SEO) google says you should not have multiple pages with same title otherwise bot will get confused to give ranking.

imagine if someone searches for what is the difference between nodebb and flarum and google shows /24 th post as the first result? user will not understand anything until he scrolls up

https://discuss.flarum.org/d/28600-understanding-canonical-urls-of-flarum-posts/

i don’t want to talk about this further, it is not good to discuss the flarum flaws without their presence. hope they will realise the SEO part soon!

we will continue using flarum for the next 5years

on the other hand if get budget we will be switching to WordPress (gatsby + wpdiscuz with graphql)

[JAC]

@hari does your forum currently have many posts and users?

[Hari]

@jac Yes, i would not be able to share my domain since I’ve singed a non disclosure agreement with my organization

we do deal with my posts every day, I have a great bonding with flarum

[phenomlab]

@hari said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

i don’t want to talk about this further, it is not good to discuss the flarum flaws without their presence. hope they will realise the SEO part soon!

And in the same sense, this site was not created to bash Flarum in any way. It was borne out of a lack of fundamental basics in Flarum that require a shed load of extensions to gain the required experience, where in contrast, NodeBB has all I need out of the box.

[JAC]

@hari Wow, very good stats . I was going to suggest moving to NodeBB would be a simplier option if having trouble with flarum although it seems moving isn’t an option with that may users / posts.

[JAC]

@phenomlab said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

@hari said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

i don’t want to talk about this further, it is not good to discuss the flarum flaws without their presence. hope they will realise the SEO part soon!

And in the same sense, this site was not created to bash Flarum in any way. It was borne out of a lack of fundamental basics in Flarum that require a shed load of extensions to gain the required experience, where in contrast, NodeBB has all I need out of the box.

Absolutely, although by the same token forums like this simply work because we’re all here to gather advice and find solutions to our tech issues we face, I’d say opinions are welcome I’m not speaking for the platform I’m generally saying it’s good to have an opinion on something and for us it started with Flarum and quite frankly that’s why we’re here because we’ve used Mark’s services before.

What I’m trying to say is discussions and opinions are mostly healthy .

[Hari]

@jac a year ago we devloped a WordPress flarum like theme to switch to (Wordpress + wpdiscuss)

everything works perfect but the page size is ending up around 5mb and load time suks. (do not laugh at me )

recently we explored gatsby and graphql, wpgraph ql now supports wp comments … if gatsby can generate a static page of WordPress comments in future we will switch to it.

recently bbpress got graphql support too.

using gatsby someone may build good static forum. it will be a great experience with Yet another related post plugin and a static page lets see wp graph ql need to grow

google loves related posts and too many links in a page.

and each discussion page should have more content in a way related posts work as content too. quora does this a lot.

even if qoura has 1000 posts they don’t change URL (like nodeBB or discourse)

[JAC]

@hari said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

a year ago we devloped a WordPress flarum like theme to switch to (Wordpress + wpdiscuss)

Sounds interesting! I used to mainly run wordpress sites but haven’t done for a few years properly anyway.

Forgive me if I’m wrong but are you looking for a solution away from Flarum?

[Hari]

@jac said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

Forgive me if I’m wrong but are you looking for a solution away from Flarum?

we will continue to use flarum for existing forums.

in future, we will plan something with wp graphql & gatsby

static site with a commentator that would be good enough for our needs.

we may close resignations on current flarums and redirect new users to the wp graphql powered forum. old installations will act as archives not sure.

no thoughts for next 1-2 years

[JAC]

@hari said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

@jac said in what is the reason for choosing node BB over flarum?:

Forgive me if I’m wrong but are you looking for a solution away from Flarum?

we will continue to use flarum for existing forums.

in future, we will plan something with wp graphql & gatsby

static site with a commentator that would be good enough for our needs.

we may close resignations on current flarums and redirect new users to the wp graphql powered forum. old installations will act as archives not sure.

no thoughts for next 1-2 years

It sounds like you have a clear goal, flarum isz a good option and if it irons out its issues it could be big.

Personally if your project with WordPress and flarum don’t go fo plan to id definitely say go for Nodebb as a solid choice.

[phenomlab]

@jac @Hari my thoughts around this are that with any platform - be that WordPress, Flarum, or NodeBB, there is an inevitable “lock in” - very much like Hotel California (“you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”).

What I mean by this is that you are buying into an ecosystem that offers no easy or readily available path out. If you plan to stay for the long term and there is a clear progression path from that project meaning it’s a viable route, then great.

However, all of these platforms (except WordPress perhaps) have a way of ingesting data from other sources, but little to no way at all of taking that data somewhere else. This is nothing against any of those platforms, but the fundamental issue here is that whilst it’s probably easy to move into another product, it’s a different story altogether when you want to leave and take your data with you.

Most FOSS based platforms can realise this and make money out of migrations. I know for certain that wpForo does this, and I also know that it’s something that one of the developers at Flarum has been touting for some time.