Discourse (software)

Discourse

Developer(s)	Civilized Discourse Construction Kit, Inc.
Initial release	2013
Stable release	1.6.7[1] / November 14, 2016
Repository	github.com/discourse/discourse
Development status	Active
Written in	Ruby, JavaScript
Operating system	Linux
Available in	Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hebrew, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Ukrainian
Type	Forum software Mailing list management software
License	GNU GPL version 2
Website	www.discourse.org

Discourse is an open source Internet forum and mailing list management software application founded in 2013 by Jeff Atwood, Robin Ward, and Sam Saffron.^[2] Discourse received funding from First Round Capital and Greylock Partners.^[3]

From a usability perspective, Discourse breaks with existing forum software by including features recently popularized by large social networks, such as infinite scrolling, live updates, oneboxing, expanding links, and drag and drop attachments.^[4] However, the stated goals of the project are social rather than technical, to improve online discussion quality through improved forum software.

The application is written in JavaScript and Ruby on Rails,^[5] and is released under the GNU General Public License version 2. PostgreSQL is the supported database management system. It also uses the Ember.js framework.^[6]

Server requirements

The following software is required on a server to run Discourse:^[7]

• Ruby
• Rails^[8]
• libxml2
• PostgreSQL
• Redis
• ImageMagick
• Docker^[8]

Notable users

• .NET Foundation^[9]
• Atom (text editor)^[10]
• Boing Boing
• CISCO^[11]
• Docker (software)^[12]
• How-To Geek ^[13]
• Julia (programming language)^[14]
• Mozilla^[15]
• Open Knowledge International^[16]
• SitePoint Forums^[17]
• TalkSurf^[18]
• The Daily WTF (formerly; migrated to NodeBB)
• Twitter^[19]
• Ubuntu (operating system)^[20]

Major Version Improvements

Version 1.6^[21]

• Enhanced Security from formal security penetration testing efforts by Vertex Technologies Pty Ltd ^[22] and Nest Labs
• Vertical Timeline
• Clearer, Easier Polls
• Convert Topics to PMs
• Merge Multiple Posts
• Duplicate Link Warning
• Easy, Contextual Unsubscribes

Version 1.5^[23]

• 5× Faster Topic Page
• Improved Badges
• User Summary Page
• Customize ALL Text and Email Content
• Group and Category Mentions
• Better Incoming Email Support and Group Private Messaging
• Mobile Editor Toolbar and Preview

Version 1.4^[24]

• Better Dark Theme Support
• Improved, Simpler UI
• Full Page Search
• Image upload improvements
• Easier Category Ordering
• Mobile Layout Simplified
• Anonymous User Call to Signup
• Topic Whispers
• Improved Embedding
• Better Performance

Version 1.3^[25]

• Anonymous posts
• Desktop notifications
• Civilized Mute
• Better Polls
• Post Approvals
• Cleaner default style
• User Directory
• Simpler Pins and Banners
• More Flexible Invites
• More Code Language Highlights
• Improved Importers
• Better Performance

Version 1.2^[26]

• Export Your Posts
• Improved Emoji Support
• Better Custom Profile Fields
• Cleaner Category Styles
• Combining Stars and Bookmarks
• Official Tag Plugin
• Official Akismet Anti-Spam Plugin
• Even More Importers (vBulletin, phpBB, Vanilla, Ning, Kunena, Discuz!, bbPress, Simple Machines, Drupal, and myBB)
• Better Topic List Performance

See also

• List of mailing list software

References

1. "Releases · discourse/discourse · GitHub". GitHub.
2. "StackExchange Founder Vows to Reinvent Online Discourse". Wired. 2013-02-06.
3. "Stack Exchange Co-Founder Jeff Atwood Launches Forums Startup Discourse". TechCrunch. 2013-02-05.
4. "Discourse - A new type of forum". ITworld. 2013-04-19.
5. "Discourse - FAQ". discourse.org.
6. "Why Discourse uses Ember.js". eviltrout.com.
7. "discourse/DEVELOPER-ADVANCED.md at master · discourse/discourse · GitHub". GitHub.
8. "The sad state of web app deployment". 2015-09-17. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
9. ".NET Foundation Forums". dotnetfoundation.org.
10. "Atom Discussion". atom.io.
11. "Cisco Learning Network Discourse". cisco.com.
12. "Docker Community Forums Discourse". docker.com.
13. "How-To Geek Discourse". howtogeek.com.
14. "Julia Discourse". julialang.org.
15. "New add-on community forum". blog.mozilla.org/addons.
16. "Directory of Open Knowledge Network members". discuss.okfn.org.
17. "The SitePoint Forums". sitepoint.com.
18. "TalkSurf.com Discourse". talksurf.com.
19. "Twitter Developers Forums". twitter.com.
20. "Ubuntu Discourse". ubuntu.com.
21. "Discourse 1.6 Released!".
22. "Improving Security through Penetration Testing for Discourse".
23. "Discourse 1.5 Released!".
24. "Discourse 1.4 Released!".
25. "Discourse 1.3 Released!".
26. "Discourse 1.2 released".

External links

• Official website
• Discourse on GitHub
• Vertex Technologies Pty Ltd