Is Flarum a Good Choice for My Upcoming Community Forum?

Kabir

huseyinfiliz Thank you for your detailed reply. Your reply helps me a lot.

Kabir

RelicSystem Thank you for your detailed reply. I hope you can assist me with the Doorman extension when you are free.

About the Doorman extension? Can every registered user create an invite code? Does it display invitation details in the user profile, such as which user was invited by whom and which users they have invited? It is a mandatory requirement to track users and ensure proper moderation, as my upcoming forum may extend beyond known people. We need to maintain peace.

Kabir

I also need at least 10-12 user groups based on their professions and roles in the forum. My upcoming forum community is for civilians of all ages and genders. I may also use the user group names as badges. If there is a way to assign two different user groups to a user — for example, one as Administrator and another as Teacher — and display only the Teacher badge in their profile while still allowing them access to administrator-level permissions, it would be a great feature.
Is this feature available by default, or will I need to add extensions? Sorry for asking too many questions!

luceos

Kabir not visible to you but I hold many more roles than the ones you can see. You can make roles invisible to non-elevated users.

Kabir

luceos So I can assign multiple roles and hide if I want. That's a relief to know.

Spez

Kabir I switched from Xenforo to Flarum and I find there are 2 necessary notes when using Flarum. First, if you install Flarum on your hosting and manage it using cpanel, be sure to sign up for hosting that supports SSH access. Second, you have to learn a little about Composer. All Flarum installations and updates go through Composer. However, if you don't know much about composer like me, there are still other options, for example installing Flarum using a zip file; Install and update Extensions using Extensions manager. However, when updating Flarum, I still have to use Composer, I haven't found any other way.

huseyinfiliz

Spez In Flarum, updating to the latest version can be achieved by simply installing, uninstalling, or initiating a batch update for extensions via the Extension Manager. This process automatically updates Flarum to the latest version. At least, this has been the case in many forums I’ve tested.

Additionally, I believe this will be more noticeable in version 2.0. In the promotional visuals, core updates were shown in the Extension Manager as well. (Currently, when I test it, core updates do not appear when I click Check for updates in 2.0.0.beta1 but auto updated)

Note: When I tested it, it seemed like I could update Flarum through the Extension Manager, just as if I were installing an extension.

I typed "flarum/core:v2.0.0-beta.2," and it updated automatically. For you, this might appear as something like "flarum/core:v1.8.9."

Kabir

Spez Flarum on your hosting and manage it using cpanel, be sure to sign up for hosting that supports SSH access.

If this is the case, it's a big deal for me. The person(s) supposed to maintain the forum once it's finished shouldn't have SSH access to my server. They aren't experienced enough to be trusted with SSH. By the way, could you please let me know the version you're using so I can avoid that version?

SychO

huseyinfiliz core updates were shown in the Extension Manager as well

that is also the case for 1.8, you just have to initiate an update check after some time to make sure the cached results are updated. Although it probably doesn't matter that much anymore..

Kabir

huseyinfiliz I don't like auto-updates. Auto-updates in any CMS can pose a risk of things becoming complicated. However, it's great to display if an update is available, as long as it doesn't update automatically.

One more thing—what is the most stable version I should choose? I prefer a version that doesn't require SSH or Composer for installation or updates.

Spez

huseyinfiliz Note: When I tested it, it seemed like I could update Flarum through the Extension Manager, just as if I were installing an extension.

I typed "flarum/core:v2.0.0-beta.2," and it updated automatically. For you, this might appear as something like "flarum/core:v1.8.9."

New knowledge. Thank you.

huseyinfiliz

SychO This is very interesting. I’ve updated Flarum dozens of times on different servers, but I’ve never seen a core update appear. Usually, Flarum updates automatically while updating a different extension.

If that’s the case, as you can see from this discussion, people are very confused about this. I think a clearer system needs to be implemented.

luceos

huseyinfiliz Usually, Flarum updates automatically while updating a different extension

This is actually true for minor and patch releases. Your composer.json restricts flarum to a major version as depicted by flarum/core set at a certain value.

Kabir

luceos What is the most stable version I should choose? I prefer a version that doesn't require SSH or Composer for installation or updates.

Spez

Kabir As far as I know, Flarum only has 2 versions: normal version and no-public-dir version. It's just different in Flarum's path. Flarum installs and updates using Composer, that's the basics. However, as I said, you can install and update Extensions (Plugins) using the Extensions Manager tool available on Flarum. And as @huseyinfiliz said, you can also update the Flarum version using ExtensionsManager. The version I use is the no-public-dir version, I see a lot of people using this version.

Kabir

Anyway, I am sure of one thing: the community is rich and responsive. Whether the issue is resolved or not, an immediate response matters a lot. You guys are amazing!
@huseyinfiliz @SychO @Spez @RelicSystem @luceos