Locking this thread -- I've seen @Apple-Pro say negative things about NodeBB and upping Flarum (nothing wrong with that, you're entitled to your opinions) a month ago on social media.
Now that this thread happened, I'm not sure if there's something a bit more dubious involved.
If you are still interested in using NodeBB, please feel free to open a new conversation about the steps you took and where you got stuck, and we'd be happy to help as soon as we can. Thanks.