Session Sharing for NodeBB

In a nutshell, this plugin allows you to share sessions between your application and NodeBB. You'll need to set a
special cookie with a common domain, containing a JSON Web Token with user data. If sufficient, this plugin will
handle the rest (user registration/login).

How is this related to SSO?

Single Sign-On allows a user to log into NodeBB through a third-party service. It is best (and most securely)
achieved via OAuth2 provider, although other alternatives exist. An example of a single sign-on plugin is
nodebb-plugin-sso-facebook.

Single sign-on does not allow a session to become automatically created if a login is made to another site.
This is the one misconception that people hold when thinking about SSO and session sharing.

This session sharing plugin will allow NodeBB to automatically log in users (and optionally, log out users)
if the requisite shared cookie is found (more on that below).

You can use this plugin and single sign-on plugins together, but they won't be seamlessly integrated.

How does this work?

This plugin checks incoming requests for a shared cookie that is saved by your application when a user
logs in. This cookie contains in its value, a specially crafted signed token containing unique identifying
information for that user.

If the user can be found in NodeBB, that user will be logged in. If not, then a user is created, and that
unique indentifier is saved for future reference.

Read more at the project repository Updates v1.0.13 released v2.0.0 released

I have setup 2 instances of Nodebb on a single vps, each instance is in a seperate folder namely ("var/www/nodebb1" and "var/www/nodebb2")

When I installed Sendmail on the root, everything installed successfully, however when I enter my Email settings on the Email settings option and try and send a test email I get a "test email sent successfully message" but the email never sends and on the root of the vps when I log in I see a Console message that says "You have new mail"

Anyone able to help out on how I can resolve this?

How do I configure the Amazon SES Emailer using the Default Emailer Plugin

172b1743-c640-487b-b758-757a7166c61e-image.png

Once I select the Amazon SES option it does not give me an option to configure the following:

Enter SES Credentials and Settings:
Access Key ID: Enter your AWS IAM access key ID.
Secret Access Key: Enter your AWS IAM secret access key.
Region: Specify the AWS region where your SES service is located (e.g., us-east-1).

For a lot of things in ActivityPub, there are almost direct parallels in NodeBB. An as:Note object pairs well with a NodeBB post, an as:Person is a NodeBB user, etc.

One thing that didn't map 1:1 was the Delete activity, which at surface level, seems rather straightforward — just delete the object! However, once you dig in, there are some additional considerations:

in NodeBB, we have two separate states for content removal. A delete, where the post is still present (but its content unavailable to non-privileged users), and a A purge, where the post is scrubbed from the database entirely, and all references to it, removed in ActivityPub, there is a single activity, as:Delete Implementors may opt to replace the object representation with an as:Tombstone (how quaint!), but they may also just opt to use a 404

So there are some nuances that are left intentionally vague.

Kaniini on SocialHub makes the argument that a Delete should be treated like a cache invalidation, which has its own merits.

This is how NodeBB will interpret the protocol specification, and how we will align it with our own dual-state post deletion mechanic (delete & purge):

When a local post is deleted, we will federate out an Update(Tombstone) referencing the id Afterwards, if the content is retrieved, an as:Tombstone will be served. Deleted posts in NodeBB still maintain their place in the topic, so when the context is retrieved, the note will still be present in the collection. If we receive an Update(Tombstone), we will delete the local representation of the post When a local post is purged, we will federate out a Delete(Note) Afterwards, if the content is retrieved, we will serve a 404 The note will no longer exist in the context collection If we receive a Delete(Note) (or Article, or Question, etc.) we will not delete it immediately. Instead, as kaniini advises, we will attempt to retrieve the object from the origin: If we see an as:Tombstone, we will delete the post (soft delete) If we encounter a 404 or 410, we will purge the post (hard delete)

I'm writing this out less as a guideline for myself, but to solicit opinions and to give others a chance to point out if I've interpreted the spec incorrectly.

I searched to find out if there is a way to completely remove the user header/image, replacing that with an embedded iframe.
The search results say that this is a bad idea, could cause security issues, could make the site unstable and other problems.
The security issues appear to be related to using https/http mixes and other things which could be insecure but can be mitigated using correctly built headers.
Plus, in my case, all of the hosts would be internal, on the LAN and even if between DC's, packets flowing across secured links.

Therefore, I find what I've read hard to believe so thought I should ask here.

Without using a plugin, is there a way to replace the header/user image with an iframe in a way that would survive upgrades too because there's nothing worse than having to constantly re-edit your files after upgrades like I had to when using phpbb and others.

Hello, I'm encountering an issue with my project on NodeBB v1.18.5. The problem arises when a user attempts to respond to a topic, and their response contains a double degree in the name (e.g., Johndoe S.H., M.Kn), wherein the M.Kn is automatically transformed into a hyperlink, as seen in this question.

I've attempted to address this by implementing an edit in the admin panel. Specifically, while the post is still in the queue awaiting approval, the admin would manually edit any instances of double degrees by replacing the period with a special character . (e.g., M.Kn).

However, the client prefers a simpler solution. Therefore, I'm exploring the possibility of creating a function within NodeBB to automatically handle this issue. Is there an alternative approach to resolving this problem?

or its possible when the user make post/topic and the description has a function to convert period into special character . ?

Hello,

I wonder if we can use this blog comments plugin for external blog websites?

Link Preview Image GitHub - psychobunny/nodebb-plugin-blog-comments: Lets NodeBB act as a comments engine/widget for your blog

Lets NodeBB act as a comments engine/widget for your blog - psychobunny/nodebb-plugin-blog-comments

favicon

GitHub (github.com)

Let's say, we have our forum at ourforum.com and our blog at ourblog.com (with Ghost or WP), can we use this plugin to create a comment section in ourblog.com and the comments can be done by forum users directly?

Just like, how it functions here...

https://nodebb.org/blog/

Screenshot 2024-05-06 at 17.48.43.png

And it does not need to create a category/topics on the forum... We would like to have comment section only...

Do you have full root/administrative access to your hosting server?

Let's explain the differences.

Managed
A managed hosting platform, is typically where the hosting provider gives you a control panel with limited access for managing your website or application but does not provide full root or administrative access to the underlying operating system.

This setup is common in shared hosting environments or managed VPS/cloud services, where users are not expected to handle the more technical aspects of server management, like security updates or server-side configurations.

Control panels
Control panels like cPanel, Plesk, or DirectAdmin offer user-friendly graphical interfaces to manage hosting services without needing to access the server directly through the command line.
They are designed to simplify web hosting management, allowing users to perform tasks such as setting up emails, managing databases, and installing software like content management systems with just a few clicks.

When you do not have full access, it's typically referred to as "managed hosting" but can also be behind panels.

Full host control
Conversely, an environment that provides you with complete access to the OS is known as "unmanaged hosting," where you have root or administrator privileges and can install and configure any software you like.

So the question is, do you have full root/administrative access to your hosting server?

Yes means you have full access and manage the server yourself. It also means you can install anything you want on the operating system.

No means you use a managed hosting service and/or a control panel. It means while you can upload files and other things within your hosting space, you would not be able to install a program/binary on the operating system that could run as root or any other user.

The question of having two completely different nodebb forums, (with seperate databases), running on same server has been asked previously... but I am confused on something.
I have zero experience of docker, is docker absolutely required to have two instances, or can the two setups can just be put in seperate directories?
If so does the Nodebb code need to be installed twice, or can they both point to the same codebase?

Suddenly, my NodeBB instance only shows one topic when navigating to recent. Clicking in the category itself lists all topics correctly. Pretty sure I've seen someone else report this as an issue.

Any ideas? Permissions all look good.

I may regret creating this topic but here goes.

If you experience a bug or other unexpected behavior while using NodeBB and its related ActivityPub integration, please post it here so it can be tracked and resolved.

No formal process as of yet, and we're still at pre-alpha so expect many things to be broken or unavailable 😅

Running two nodebb websites now 🙂
I got some help installing the second one and something looks odd to me.
The directories var/www/site1.com and var/www/site2.com both have directories called node_modules.
It seems node has been installed twice.
Does each website need its own node installation?
Surely there is a better way to organise it?

So this is not related to my previous question if nodebb files need to be installed twice, its about node runtime itself.
I just assumed you only need one lot of that per server?

Finally, you are now able to look up remote content and user profiles using the built-in NodeBB search tooling.

In the quick search bar and on the search page itself, you can paste in a URL to a post. If NodeBB can fetch it using the ActivityPub protocol, then it will be immediately parsed and returned as a search result:

057bb06d-4108-4d1e-b715-61d32691959e-image.png

If you change the search type to "In users", or use the search bar in the users page, then you can look up remote users using their URL or handle:

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This change resolves the final hurdle stopping a brand new NodeBB from connecting to the fediverse. It wasn't possible to actually find anyone or anything in order to start those first follow relationships. Now it is possible.

Aside — I'm frankly surprised by how long it's taken for me to actually do this. It goes to show you just how much you'll put off doing something if it's not really critical.

Does the NodeBB PWA app send push notifications? We hope to have this feature for our new forum.

Please see below for minutes from today's Forum and Threaded Discussions Task Force monthly meeting.

Apologies in advance if I misrepresented anybody or missed any crucial bits of information

Participants

in order of appearance

Dmitri, @[email protected] Angus, @[email protected] Julian, @[email protected] Rimu, @[email protected] Evan, @[email protected] Mattias, @[email protected] Emelia: @[email protected] a: @[email protected] Dmitri invited participants to the regular SWICG call tomorrow; best place to be informed of upcoming events: SocialCG calendar — "please come by, it is free for everyone to join or listen in" Angus provided an update to the working group's inclusion under the banner of the Social Web Incubator Community Group (SWICG), revised name would be the Forums and Threaded Discussions Task Force, or "ForumWG" for short. Julian provided an update on this past month's usage of the fediverse to hold asynchronous discussion, a number of threads have been started on the respective forum categories (both of which federate out) for the working group pertaining to discussions re: agenda items, and have been fairly well received. Angus and Julian will update the respective handles of their categories to reflect the new working group name "Lay of the Land" survey reports Angus: The general spirit of these surveys is 'these are the existing X approaches, the plurality may indicate the need to converge' Nomenclature Rimu: Document continues to be expanded upon Evan re-iterates that it is unlikely any implementors will change their nomenclature to match Angus asks whether participants find utility in the list Evan indicates that whatever is decided upon is best used "on-the-wire", Julian agrees and notes that the agreed-upon terminology would be used in the "Definitions" portion of any report written by ForumWG; suggests the list may be best kept as a living reference Rimu indicates that as the list grows, alternative ways to represent the data may be required Round of applause for Rimu for taking the initiative to start (and now maintain) the list Object Type (Article vs. Note vs. Page) Impetus for topic: WordPress sending out as:Note when as:Article would be more suitable @[email protected] (in topic, paraphrased): Mastodon values microblogging UX and locked down their allowed html to satisfy this constraint, despite Hubzilla's pleas @[email protected] (in topic, paraphrased): Raised issue in 2017 to address issues with inline images being removed. Suggested a compromise: treat Article and Note differently (Note, text only with attachments; Article, full HTML) — Eugen 7 months later closed issue with change to further hamper treatment of Article, by showing only title and link back to source. @[email protected] (in topic): "You can choose 'Note' if you want to have the best compatibility" Evan: Whether a note or article is federated, it shouldn't hamper implementation; but as:Page should not be used Mattias: Choice is given to user as to how WP maps the native Post object to ActivityPub. Historically sent out Article but received a lot of pushback from early adopters. Difficult to reconcile UX with technical limitations Evan: "An as:Note is a Tweet (we just couldn't call it that), an as:Article is a blog post" Emelia: "Should software publish different objects based on content length, even if using the same mechanism?" a: Big picture view — it doesn't seem complicated, but it is, because the line between them is completely arbitrary. Mattias: We try to autodetect (no headers, content length, etc.), would prefer different content types based on what users write, but the advantage is being able to read content natively on the user's platform of choice Dmitri: "I think we've got several questions in parallel: What SHOULD these things (Note & Article) be used for. What to do about Mastodon who only seems to consume Notes." Emelia: Don't Articles usually have titles? Everyone else: crickets (made us think!) a: https://wiki.trwnh.com/tech/spec/activitypub/confusion/note-vs-article/ (also indicates using title to discriminate Article vs. Post isn't 100%) a: The reason we're talking about this is because of various differring implementations - for example, in one implementor's mental model, you have a thread with a title and that is separate from the posts contained within; posts that may also have titles of their own. How do we reconcile this? Julian and Rimu note that @[email protected] replied in-topic: "... we would like to improve how non-Note objects are processed/displayed in Mastodon." Julian mentions a compromise put forth by @[email protected] where Notes are smaller pieces of content with limited markup and attachments, and Articles are (sometimes) larger pieces with formatting, inline images. Additional survey/spreadsheet to be created, but we could as a group (Mastodon included) converge on a path forward and a report to the SocialCG could be authored. To be continued next month. Group Actor characteristics 1b12 - announcing the activities of their actors, this is what Discourse and NodeBB do, other implementations have taken this approach @[email protected] (paraphrased): "intent of 1b12 is to describe the existing status quo" 400e - Pubicly appendable collections; Picked up by a few other folks, also potentially Mastodon (with their new groups implementation) How do we treat group actors in forum/threaded implementations? a: 400e - Groups send Add activities, 1b12 - Groups send Announce activities, otherwise, a Group could even send regular Creates (editor's note: this is a dramatic simplication of the actual post here) Evan: announce style makes the most sense, understanding that folks use both - suggestion: document both but let consumers know they'll see one or both Rimu: Implementors can make opinionated decisions on how it should work, and adjust based on the reality of how the major players adopt Angus will continue collating responses into a spreadsheet re: group implementations Open item: feedback on desired UX (@[email protected]) Can a group be multiple different things? e.g. a context/thread has some recipients, a context could be an actor. How forums choose to (or could) represent these relationships via ActivityPub is what is currently being solicited a: Boils down to "Collections, please use them", but best to start foundationally: Notes in Collections, first. Due to lack of time discussion of this will take place asynchronously on the fediverse: https://community.nodebb.org/post/99491 (if this does not open in your client, paste it into the search box) Julian provided one user story: "If you want to share a context to others, one should share the higher-ordered collection, and not what we do today, which is to share the url/object uri for OP." A suitable implementation could see that and backfill the entire context locally, and redirect the user to the first object. Angus noted that Discourse already has some support for Collections, will provide details async on forum topic (linked above) Action Items @[email protected] and @[email protected] will update the respective handles of their categories to reflect the new working group name @[email protected] to collate responses to Article vs. Name among implementors, supply recommendation at next meeting. @[email protected] to collate responses re: Group federation among implementors, continue discussion next meeting @[email protected] to solicit feedback asynchronously via the fediverse

Hi everyone!
I have a problematic nodebb forum with the mongodb database. Since I raised several topics on my question and could not resolve it, I chose another way. Already installed a fresh nodedeb forum(3.7.4) with postgresql.Now, It is necessary to migrate data from mongodb to postgresql. Is the any easy and correctly way to do it? In my problematic forum aproximatly 10 000 groups and categories. I reached 16Mg limit in mongodb and may be becouse of this cpu is always high and 503 error displayed

The NodeBB Affiliate plugin allows you to integrate some of best and most well-known affiliate programs available. You'll be able to monetise links on your forum to over 35,000 retailers.

Configuration screen:
affiliate-plugin.png

Optional product information in posts for Ebay, Amazon, Aliexpress and Flipkart links.
productInfo3.png

You'll find more information about it below:

I've just been cleaning up [email protected] as it had a number of orphaned replies that had been turned into topics. The immediate fix for this is to discard a Note if I don't have the Note it's in reply to (instead of creating a new topic) (PR for that is here), however I know that some implementations try to "walk up" reply chain. I guess I'm thinking out loud here as to how much reply chain walking makes sense in a forum context. I mean ideally we have a collection in a context property to work with, and the Discourse plugin actually checks this already, but we don't live an ideal world. This is what I'm currently thinking for reply chain walking: Go back N number of replies (perhaps 5) to see if there is a Note already associated with an existing post. If we find a Note (say at the 4th iteration) we import ALL of the intervening Notes, and add ALL notes as new posts in the relevant topic. So we'd end up with 5 new posts in the existing topic in this example. Curious what others think on this.

As of today, the NodeBB-ActivityPub implementation now supplies both context and audience properties with every post.

N.B. When I say context and audience, these are also terms used by the ForumWG that refer to "topic" and "category", in NodeBB parlance.

Early indications from the last ForumWG meeting indicate movement towards the inclusion of context in a low-level as:Note object (a federated NodeBB post), resolvable as an as:Collection or as:OrderedCollection. The latter is what NodeBB will send, ordered by post time.

Discussions with @[email protected] also suggest that Discourse has the ability to parse an as:OrderedCollection context if provided, but currently does not if encountered as a property in a Note.

A minor change today also updates the audience property, which used to erroneously point to the context/topic, but now points to the audience/category. This change aligns usage of this property with FEP-1b12's expectations.

This change should allow other implementors to:

automatically group objects together given a the provided context, and more thoroughly backfill a given object's context, without relying on inReplyTo traversal

Among other oddities, nodebb also sends out Announce activities without an "id" property.