It seems that there is a conflicting plugin somewhere that causes reactions to not fire. Not sure which one it is, but below are the steps I took to resolve

1. Issue ./nodebb reset -t - this essentially resets everything back to default - be warned, as it will strip literally all customisations also
2. Reactivate only the essential plugins (typically those that come with the stock installation)
3. Install and activate nodebb-plugin-emoji, nodebb-plugin-emoji-android and @nodebb/nodebb-plugin-reactions@latest
4. Rebuild and restart

Obviously, these steps are quite dramatic and would mean some downtime for your forum. You’d also need to put everything back the way it was in terms of CSS, Widgets, etc, so quite invasive. My suggestion would be to try a minimal approach on prod to see if we can get that to work without having to use the somewhat “sledgehammer” approach above.

It might be worth at least trying this to see if it gives you a result rather than the previous bulldozer approach. Thinking about it, the previous fix I proposed is along the same lines and disabling plugins does in fact change the order when they are enabled again, so this is definitely worth a try.

Let me know how you get on.

@nodebb/nodebb-plugin-reactions
nodebb-plugin-composer-default
nodebb-plugin-emoji
nodebb-plugin-emoji-android
nodebb-plugin-markdown
nodebb-plugin-mentions
nodebb-theme-harmony

If reactions starts playing ball, then we enable the other extensions.

Obviously you’ll need to perform a rebuild and restart.

Active plugins:
        * @nodebb/nodebb-plugin-reactions@1.0.2 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-2factor@7.0.5 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-beep@0.4.7 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-composer-default@10.0.48 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-contact-page@1.3.0 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-custom-pages@2.0.3 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-customize@3.0.0 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-dbsearch@6.0.0 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-email-blacklist@2.0.0 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-emoji@5.0.6 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-emoji-android@4.0.0 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-emoji-one@4.0.0 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-emoji-vital@4.0.0 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-markdown@12.0.2 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-mentions@4.1.0 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-newsletter@0.10.2 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-night-mode@1.0.7 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-ns-likes@3.0.0 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-ntfy@1.0.15 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-poll@3.0.4 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-question-and-answer@1.0.18 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-recent-cards@3.1.11 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-shoutbox@2.0.4 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-spam-be-gone@2.0.6 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-tenor-gif@3.0.0 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-plugin-youtube-embed@0.6.9 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-rewards-essentials@0.2.3 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-theme-harmony@1.0.1 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-theme-lavender@7.0.9 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-theme-peace@2.0.19 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-theme-persona@13.0.56 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-theme-slick@2.0.2 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-theme-vanilla@12.1.19 (installed, disabled)
        * nodebb-widget-essentials@7.0.9 (installed, enabled)
        * nodebb-widget-ns-stats@3.0.0 (installed, disabled)

./nodebb plugins

I’m specifically interested in the version numbers of the emoji and reactions plugins. However, as dev is a replica of prod, I suspect the same “fix” (as heavy handed as it is) is needed for prod.

However, I do agree that this approach isn’t desirable for obvious reasons.

I couldn’t see that:

Updating NodeBB...

1. Updating package.json file with defaults...  OK

2. Bringing base dependencies up to date...  started

up to date, audited 1113 packages in 7s

131 packages are looking for funding
  run `npm fund` for details

13 vulnerabilities (7 moderate, 6 high)

To address issues that do not require attention, run:
  npm audit fix

To address all issues possible (including breaking changes), run:
  npm audit fix --force

Some issues need review, and may require choosing
a different dependency.

Run `npm audit` for details.

3. Checking installed plugins for updates...Checking installed plugins and themes for updates...   OK

A total of 1 package(s) can be upgraded:

  * nodebb-plugin-question-and-answer (1.0.17 -> 1.0.18)

Proceed with upgrade (y|n)? y

Upgrading packages...

4. Updating NodeBB data store schema...
Parsing upgrade scripts... 
OK | 0 script(s) found, 125 skipped
Schema update complete!


5. Rebuilding assets...  started
2023-05-01T21:02:24.095Z [4567/261222] - info: [build] Building in series mode
2023-05-01T21:02:24.096Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]         plugin static dirs  build started
2023-05-01T21:02:24.105Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]         plugin static dirs  build completed in 0.009sec
2023-05-01T21:02:24.106Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]          requirejs modules  build started
2023-05-01T21:02:24.254Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]          requirejs modules  build completed in 0.148sec
2023-05-01T21:02:24.254Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]           client js bundle  build started
2023-05-01T21:02:24.259Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]           client js bundle  build completed in 0.005sec
2023-05-01T21:02:24.260Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]            admin js bundle  build started
2023-05-01T21:02:24.261Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]            admin js bundle  build completed in 0.001sec
2023-05-01T21:02:24.261Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]         client side styles  build started
Deprecation Warning on line 68, column 52 of node_modules/bootswatch/dist/flatly/_variables.scss: 
!default should only be written once for each variable.
This will be an error in Dart Sass 2.0.0.
   ╷
68 │ $nav-link-padding-y:                .5rem !default !default;
   │                                                    ^^^^^^^^
   ╵

Deprecation Warning on line 70, column 56 of node_modules/bootswatch/dist/flatly/_variables.scss: 
!default should only be written once for each variable.
This will be an error in Dart Sass 2.0.0.
   ╷
70 │ $nav-link-disabled-color:           $gray-600 !default !default;
   │                                                        ^^^^^^^^
   ╵

2023-05-01T21:02:30.523Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]         client side styles  build completed in 6.262sec
2023-05-01T21:02:30.524Z [4567/261222] - info: [build] admin control panel styles  build started
2023-05-01T21:02:35.223Z [4567/261222] - info: [build] admin control panel styles  build completed in 4.698sec
2023-05-01T21:02:35.226Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]                  templates  build started
2023-05-01T21:02:36.223Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]                  templates  build completed in 0.997sec
2023-05-01T21:02:36.223Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]                  languages  build started
2023-05-01T21:02:39.308Z [4567/261222] - info: [build]                  languages  build completed in 3.085sec
2023-05-01T21:02:39.309Z [4567/261222] - info: [build] Bundling with Webpack.
2023-05-01T21:03:07.379Z [4567/261222] - info: [build] Bundling took 23607 ms
2023-05-01T21:03:07.394Z [4567/261222] - info: [build] Asset compilation successful. Completed in 43.284sec.


                                            NodeBB Upgrade Complete!

@phenomlab A complete reset feels a bit like an overkill for one plugin not working which, as julian I think mentioned, could be re-developed soon. But the plugin keeps active on dev, even after activating many plugins again.

Yes, I agree, but I didn’t mean that - sorry.

What I meant was using

npm config set legacy-peer-deps true

On prod and running the /nodebb upgrade to see if that helps.

At the moment I try it the other way around so avoid downtime on prod: Activating plugins on dev to see if reactions stops working. Will keep you updated!

I will try this later and keep you updated.