I'm wondering if I can get away with putting an email server and a #NodeBB forum on the same server that's already hosting GoToSocial and Zipline, or if I should maybe get a second one. The server is a 6-core, 8GB ARM VPS.
#NodeBB
Easily Deploy #NodeBB Community Forum on #Ubuntu VPS
This article provides a guide demonstrating how to easily deploy NodeBB community forum on Ubuntu VPS server.
What is NodeBB?
NodeBB is an open-source forum software platform built with Node.js. The forum offers modern, scalable, and responsive experiences. Here are some key features and characteristics of NodeBB:
Real-Time Updates: With support for ...
Continued 👉 https://blog.radwebhosting.com/easily-deploy-nodebb-community-forum-on-ubuntu-vps/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost #selfhosting #installguide #vpsguide
Topic thumbnails, uploads, and media display
There have been some scattered feedback on a change I made for v4.0.0 that caught some people off-guard: Uploaded media is now shown in addition to topic thumbnails.
I'll start with why this change was made, and then solicit feedback.
The why
v4.0.0 introduced ActivityPub integration into NodeBB. This added dimension meant that content was consumed in a manner that was similar, but unfamiliar to NodeBB, and so much of the work involved normalizing that data into a format that made sense. (As an aside, I tell people that that's pretty much 99% of my job — glueing together APIs. I jest, but it's also basically true.)
One of those unfamiliar aspects was uploaded media in the form of attachments. NodeBB had discrete concepts of inline media and topic thumbnails, but attachments were something different entirely. Attachments were not inlined in the text (they tended to be added before or after the main content), and thumbnails were images only, while attachments could be lots of other things.
The second part was that a lot of the content I received relied on media to do the heavy lifting. Oftentimes the text would be minimal and in response to the attachment. After all, a picture's worth a thousand words.
Given those two things, I allowed NodeBB to consume and store attachments separately, and updated the topic thumbnail retrieval logic to pull media from both post attachments and inline media. That retrieval logic is what governs what you see next to the title. I also decided on the all-in approach because while NodeBB has multiple ways of slotting media, majority of ActivityPub software generally only uses attachments. There is movement toward changing this, and so this rationale may no longer make sense today.
I initially did have concerns that perhaps this would dilute the meaning and specificity of the "topic thumbnail", but I also wagered that the UX improvement of promoting any and all media found would be of greater benefit.
Your turn — feedback!
Maybe I'm wrong!
- Perhaps the media row is best used to showcase topic thumbnails and post attachments only (not inlined media.)
- Perhaps a configurable option would appease all folks (although I'm usually loathe to add options purely for that reason.)
Destroying Autocracy – May 08, 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item(s)
Hamish Campbell writes:
The world we live in is shaped, created by 40 years of entrenched pushing of #neoliberalism and #postmodernism, both of which have systematically dismantled radical change and challenge paths that used to exist.
To reclaim our path, we now need to reject the illusions of “common sense” fed to us by the #deathcult and reboot our social view from a place of clarity.
This is where the #hashtags come into use, acting as conceptual tools for navigating, understanding, and breaking free from the mess we’re in.
Decoding the Hashtags: A Roadmap for Social Change
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, TechnoFeudalism, and other douchebaggery
The Christian Science Monitor reports on:
Origins of Ukraine’s drone creativity
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Book on Soviet dissidents wins Pulitzer Prize
DarkReading reports:
Countries Begin NATO’s Locked Shields Cyber-Defense Exercise
Euronews reports:
‘We are less protected’ due to AI, says Cambridge Analytica whistleblower on protecting our data
Libre Office announces:
Germany committing to ODF and open document standards
Benjamin Hollon envisions:
The Guardian reports:
OpenAI reverses course and says non-profit arm will retain control of firm
TechCrunch reports:
FTC bans hidden fees for live events and short-term rentals, effective May 12
US DoJ wants Google to sell two of its ad products
MacRumors reports:
Apple Faces Developer Lawsuit After Defying App Store Injunction
404 Media reports:
GlobalX, Airline for Trump’s Deportations, Hacked
Tuta announces:
Bert Hubert has a European:
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
Gizmodo reports:
With Its Destruction of Government Data Silos, DOGE Is Building a ‘Surveillance Weapon’
The Register reports:
India ready to greenlight Starlink – as long as it lets New Delhi censor, snoop
Fascist capitalism at its finest.
Signal chat app clone used by Signalgate’s Waltz was apparently an insecure mess
Unicorn Riot reports:
Pariah States
Micah Flee shares:
The Register reports:
Super spyware maker NSO must pay Meta $168M in WhatsApp court battle
From Russia with doubt: Go library’s Kremlin ties stoke fear
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Poland faces ‘unprecedented’ Russian interference ahead of presidential election, minister says
The Guardian reports:
Pro-Russian hackers claim to have targeted several UK websites
DarkReading reports:
‘Lemon Sandstorm’ Underscores Risks to Middle East Infrastructure
Big Media
The World Association of News Publisher reports:
Media outlets worldwide join call for AI companies to help protect news integrity
Yeah, right.
Big Tech
The Register reports:
Infosec guru Schneier worries corp AI will manipulate us
Futurism reports:
Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads
Cory Doctorow has:
Mark Zuckerberg announces mind-control ray (again) (07 May 2025)
People wonder why I’m a misanthrope.
Tech Crunch reports:
NSO Group must pay more than $167 million in damages to WhatsApp for spyware campaign
Forbes reports:
200 Million X User Records Released — 2.8 Billion Twitter IDs Leaked
If you are on shitter at this point, you get what you deserve.
Terror
Tech Policy reports:
From Incels to Mercenaries: When Online Hate Becomes Real-World Violence
Cybersecurity/Privacy
404 Media reports:
The Signal Clone the Trump Admin Uses Was Hacked
Senator Demands Investigation into Trump Admin Signal Clone After 404 Media Investigation
The Register reports:
Altman’s eyeball-scanning biometric blockchain orbs officially come to America
RSA Conf wrap: AI and China on everything, everywhere, all at once
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has:
BleepingComputer reports:
Police takes down six DDoS-for-hire services, arrests admins
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
Tim Bray looks at:
Mastodon has:
Coxy has:
Reclaiming the web: Mastodon and the decentralised social movement
Ghost has:
NodeBB asks:
What would cross-posting between instances look like in ActivityPub?
Peertube has:
AlternativeTo reports:
Kagi adds PeerTube video search results, enhanced Assistant UI, and translation upgrades
The Social Web Foundation is:
Reflecting on Our First Year: The Social Web Foundation’s 2024 Annual Report
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
#115 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #deathcult #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #hashtags #Mastodon #neoliberalism #NodeBB #Peertube #postmodernism #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine
@fedidb well done and a good new contact point for interested people 👍
Good advice is certainly not possible on the basis of a single question, but it is a good start.
The details certainly need to be improved, for example:
If you select ‘Forum Discussions’ for ‘What type of content do you want to see or share?’, #NodeBB, Lemmy, mbin, #Piefed and #Lotide are then recommended. That fits well.
But if you select ‘Social Media Post + ’Forum Discussions", #Mastodon , #Misskey and other microblogging services are recommended, as well as #Lemmy. But not #mbin, which actually offers exactly this combination, and also not #Friendica, which can do micro-/macroblogging, but also offers forums/groups and events and federates best with both directions.
#Discourse has federation, #NodeBB has federation, now all we need is a fediverse plugin for #phpBB and we'll be all set!
Easily Deploy #NodeBB Community Forum on #Ubuntu VPS
This article provides a guide demonstrating how to easily deploy NodeBB community forum on Ubuntu VPS server.
What is NodeBB?
NodeBB is an open-source forum software platform built with Node.js. The forum offers modern, scalable, and responsive experiences. Here are some key features and characteristics of NodeBB:
Real-Time Updates: With support for ...
Continued 👉 https://blog.radwebhosting.com/easily-deploy-nodebb-community-forum-on-ubuntu-vps/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost #selfhosting #vpsguide #installguide
One thing everyone should realize when they go on to those places is that these are **not** centrally managed by a corporation which also means that these **cost money to run**
That means that you will have to fork money for it you won't get it for quote unquote free or you pay for it with your data, or your usage patterns
You will have to pay actual USD or EUR for them!
@imdavidpierce Its dramatically under-reported that the newly federated forum software #nodebb went from zero to 2.7 million federated users, and jumped. tobe the 2nd biggest platform on #ActivityPub after Mastodon shortly after launch..
Destroying Autocracy – May 01, 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Happy May Day! Cast off your chains.
Featured Item(s)
Cory Doctorow writes:
The point of AI isn’t to make workers more productive, it’s to make them weaker when they bargain with their bosses.
Tech workers are workers, and they once held the line against enshittification, refusing to break the things they’d built for their bosses in meaningless all-nighters motivated by vocational awe. Long after tech bosses were able to buy all their competitors, capture their regulators, and expand IP law to neutralize the threat of innovative, interoperable products like alternative app stores, ad-blockers and jailbreaking kits, tech workers held the line.
There’ve been half a million US tech layoff since 2023. Tech workers’ scarcity-derived power has been vaporized. Tech workers can avoid the fate of the factory, warehouse and delivery workers their bosses literally work to death — but only by unionizing.
In other words, the workers in re-shored factories and tech workers need the same thing. They are class allies — and tech bosses are their class enemies. This is class war.
The enshittification of tech jobs
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, TechnoFeudalism, and other douchebaggery
Tech Policy reports:
Labor Unions Can Counterbalance the Big Tech Oligarchy, But Only If They Rediscover Their Power
Expats Czechia reports:
Court rules that Czechia collects phone data illegally in landmark decision
Mashable reports:
Elon Musk’s X lost 11 million users in the EU over the past 5 months
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Calyx Institute: A Case Study in Grassroots Innovation
EFF Leads Prominent Security Experts in Urging Trump Administration to Leave Chris Krebs Alone
EuroNews reports:
EU governments discuss action on disinformation over climate policy
Bleeping Computer reports:
TikTok fined €530 million for sending European user data to China
Fast Company reports:
How Big Tech’s Faustian bargain with Trump backfired
Framablog has:
The Verge reports:
A judge just blew up Apple’s control of the App Store
The Register reports:
Cook’d: Judge says Apple lied to court in Epic case, asks Feds to mull criminal charges
Double awesome.
TechCrunch reports:
Apple changes US App Store rules to let apps link to external payment systems
Neutral
The Register reports:
DARPA to ‘radically’ rev up mathematics research. And yes, with AI
The Journal of Online Trust and Safety has:
Science and Causality in Technology Litigation
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
TechDirt has:
Congress Moving Forward On Unconstitutional Take It Down Act
Ars Technica reports:
Trump’s hasty Take It Down Act has “gaping flaws” that threaten encryption
Micah Flee looks at:
TM SGNL, the obscure unofficial Signal app Mike Waltz uses to text with Trump officials
The Register reports:
DOGE may help Elon Musk’s biz empire dodge $2.4B in liabilities – Senate probe
Framablog looks at:
L’État artificiel : la vie civique automatisée
Pariah States
BleepingComputer reports:
France ties Russian APT28 hackers to 12 cyberattacks on French orgs
Pro-Russia hacktivists bombard Dutch public orgs with DDoS attacks
DarkReading has:
Putin’s Cyberattacks on Ukraine Rise 70%, With Little Effect
Adversaries Are Toying With US Networks & DC Is Short on Answers
Billbug Expands Cyber-Espionage Campaign in Southeast Asia
The Register reports:
China now America’s number one cyber threat – US must get up to speed
Open source text editor poisoned with malware to target Uyghur users
Big Media
NPR reports:
Corporation for Public Broadcasting sues Trump after he tries to fire board members
Ars Technica reports:
“Blatantly unlawful”: Trump slammed for trying to defund PBS, NPR
The Daily Beast reports:
MAGA Billionaire Leads L.A. Times to Lose $50 Million
Ars Technica reports:
CBS owner Paramount reportedly intends to settle Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit
Big Tech
Semafor reports:
The group chats that changed America
The Guardian reports:
Meta faces Ghana lawsuits over impact of extreme content on moderators
Meta slowest to remove scam content, says City watchdog
TechCrunch reports:
Report finds Meta’s celebrity-voiced chatbots could discuss sex with minors
OpenAI is fixing a ‘bug’ that allowed minors to generate erotic conversations
404 Media has:
Researchers Secretly Ran a Massive, Unauthorized AI Persuasion Experiment on Reddit Users
Mbin or PieFed, peeps.
This Is Palantir’s Justification for Building ICE’s Master Database
Instagram’s AI Chatbots Lie About Being Licensed Therapists
The Markup reports:
Kids should avoid AI companion bots—under force of law, assessment says
The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:
Report – In Deep Trouble: Surfacing Tech-Powered Sexual Harassment in K-12 Schools
Cybersecurity/Privacy
Lawfare covers:
Advancing Secure by Design through Security Research
404 Media reports:
The Age of Realtime Deepfake Fraud Is Here
The Markup reports:
How California sent residents’ personal health data to LinkedIn
BleepingComputer reports:
Hackers ramp up scans for leaked Git tokens and secrets
FBI shares massive list of 42,000 LabHost phishing domains
Tech Policy Press reports:
Reverse Keyword Search Warrants and the Threat to Online Privacy
The Jacobin reports:
Big Tech Wants Free Rein to Sell Your Data
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
Fosstodon has more on its drama:
ActivityPub for WordPress announces:
V5.8.0 – If it’s on the Fediverse, you can embed it.
ActivityPods shares:
Key learnings from building social apps with ActivityPods
Forgejo has:
Forgejo monthly update – April 2025
The Social Web Foundation has:
Steps Forward in Long-form Text
Mastodon is:
Matthew Tift has:
Finding an Ethical Path Through Social Media: Why I Choose Mastodon
PieFed has:
PieFed development update Apr 2025 – S3, OAuth, Federation retry queue, Stripe
NodeBB has:
NodeBB v4.3.0 — Remote Categories are a go!
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
WinBuzzer reports:
Bluesky’s Decentralized Network Faces Major Outage Caused by Centralized Servers
The Internet Review asks:
Where Does Bluesky Go from Here? What is the Bluesky of 2036?
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
#114 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Mastodon #NodeBB #PieFed #StopChina #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #WordPress
Ein neuer Forumbeitrag: https://linux-nerds.org/topic/1692/nodebb-4.3.0 #nodebb #linux
NodeBB v4.3.0 update, mentioning this community
NodeBB v4.3.0 update, mentioning this community #Fediverse, #nodebbNodeBB v4.3.0 — Remote Categories are a go!
We're happy to announce the release of NodeBB v4.3.0, which contains native support for remote categories, bringing better integration with other NodeBB forums, WordPress, Lemmy, PieFed, mbin, and other "group-based" implementors on the ActivityPub network!
What does this mean? :thinking_face:
It means that starting with this release, you will be able to "browse" to other categories simply by searching for them in your /world page. Just like with regular categories, you can "track" or "watch" remote categories — the former will show up in your /unread page, and the latter will also send notifications on new topics.
Prior to this change, remote categories were rendered just like regular users, and there was some confusion over who was a user and who was a publisher.
The integration with blog platforms like WordPress also mean you'll be able to use NodeBB kind of like a feed reader, with built-in notifications when new content is received. We're hoping to also extend this to support Ghost as well :hand_with_index_and_middle_fingers_crossed:
Some examples of categories loaded remotely in this NodeBB:
- "Fediverse" on piefed.social (running Piefed) —
@fediverse@piefed.social - "ActivityPub Protocol" on SocialHub (running Discourse) —
@protocol@socialhub.activitypub.rocks - Vivaldi Browser Blog (running WordPress) —
@blog@vivaldi.com - "General Climbing News" on community.openbeta.io (running NodeBB) —
@news@community.openbeta.io - Fediverse memes (running Lemmy) —
@fedimemes@feddit.uk
Other notable changes in v4.3.0
Chat allow/deny list :left_speech_bubble:
There was some desire for more fine-grained support for allow/deny lists for the chat system. This is now available in v4.3.0. Per @baris:
Leaving allow list empty would mean anyone who is not in deny list can message you.
Leaving deny list empty would mean anyone who is in allow list can message you.
If both are empty everyone can message you.
Current restrictChat toggle can be turned into a toggle to disable chat completely.
Upgrade script can add the users following to the allow list if they have restrictChat turned on.
Show number of topic watchers :eyes:
You are now able to see the number of users watching a specific topic alongside the existing stats (posts, views, etc.)
Accessibility updates
- Avatar background colours are now selectable via keyboard navigation
- Post drafts are now accessible via keyboard navigation
... and of course
- Bug fixes and security updates
Ein neuer Forumbeitrag: https://linux-nerds.org/topic/1691/nodebb-4.2.2 #nodebb #linux
Wix Forums being sunset, what's next?
Is there no search function built into in #nodebb or am I just blind? Can't find it neither on the demo page nor on the community page. o.O
Easily Deploy #NodeBB Community Forum on #Ubuntu VPS
This article provides a guide demonstrating how to easily deploy NodeBB community forum on Ubuntu VPS server.
What is NodeBB?
NodeBB is an open-source forum software platform built with Node.js. The forum offers modern, scalable, and responsive experiences. Here are some key features and characteristics of NodeBB:
Real-Time Updates: With support for ...
Continued 👉 https://blog.radwebhosting.com/easily-deploy-nodebb-community-forum-on-ubuntu-vps/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost #vpsguide #installguide #selfhosting
Trying to get #NodeBB running on my #FreeBSD #NAS this morning. Following the official instructions on their website; installed the dependencies; Cloned the git repo; Had a bit of a kerfuffle with installing GCC, but I think I got that sorted; The build went without a hitch, but starting the server barfed an exception about an inspired eslint library version :-(. I tried a bit of version adjusting in packages.json but that just caused another, different exception, because it seems the versions are all pinned. I'm no expert on npm or node so my troubleshooting abilities are limited, so I've filled a bug report.
Client Info
Server: https://mastodon.social
Version: 2025.04
Repository: https://github.com/cyevgeniy/lmst