initial commitHEADprimary

1 files changed, 248 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/memos/WM-087.txt b/memos/WM-087.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b79470e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/memos/WM-087.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,248 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Document: WM-087                                                 P. Webb
+Category: Self-Host                                           2026-03-25
+
+                        Hosting a forum in 2026
+
+Abstract
+
+   In a world of platform lock-in, self-hosting communities sounds
+   real good.
+
+Body
+
+   For several months I've wanted to setup some sort of community but I
+   didn't want to use Discord. I have an account of course but I don't
+   necessarily enjoy it. I pondered using IRC but nicely designed
+   clients for macOS/iOS are (to me) nonexistent. I host a
+   Matrix/Element server for a few close friends but every other month
+   one of them has issues with seeing messages because of a random token
+   mismatch or something? Telegram and Signal are out of the question
+   because an endless stream of text is not conducive to meaningful
+   conversation and we could all spend less time on our phones.
+
+   The solution I kept going back to was **forums**. But what _kind_ of
+   forum? I was ready to get started with Flarum[1] but I saw they were
+   in the middle of transitioning to version 2 and I didn't want to need
+   to upgrade so soon after setup so I waited. Waterhole[2] looks REALLY
+   good but I didn't feel like paying $300 for something I wasn't sure
+   about doing in the first place. So that left me looking at the OGs of
+   the forum game; phpBB and vBulletin. For the latter, it doesn't seem
+   to be doing too well[3]. The former looks dusty old LOL!
+
+   Somewhere along the way I came across Simple Machines Forum[4] and a
+   theme that took me back[5]. That cinched it for me and now my forum,
+   the WorldWideWebb[6], is online.
+
+   📸[WWW forum][IMG1]
+
+   I'm an HTML/CSS/JS/TS guy, PHP is not my forte. I can figure things
+   out though, and I'm gonna need to figure out more because I do NOT
+   like how the theme I'm customizing is built. Despite some slight
+   annoyances, I'm pleased with SMF for the time being.
+
+   I did consider building a forum from scratch with BBCode support and
+   all that, able to be run from a single executable...I have MORE than
+   enough projects and man, adding this to my plate would've been
+   annoying (this doesn't mean I'm not gonna do it, just not right now).
+
+   ## Tutorial
+
+   So you wanna setup your own SMF forum? The instructions[7] to do so
+   assume you have done something like this before. I haven't dealt with
+   PHP since Wordpress was king in the mid-2000s so I was lost. Here's
+   an actual tutorial!
+
+   1. Get a server. I'm using Linode's 2 GB one for mine.
+
+   2. Run these commands, one line at a time:
+      ```sh
+      mkdir -p /var/www/html && cd $_
+      curl -O https://download.simplemachines.org/index.php/smf_2-1-7_install.zip
+      apt install unzip -y
+      unzip smf_2-1-7_install.zip -d smf
+      rm smf_2-1-7_install.zip
+      ```
+      You just created a directory on your server to install SMF and
+      deleted the zip file. As of this writing, `2.1.7` is the latest
+      version. You should check their site for the current latest.
+
+   3. Set file permissions so SMF can do what it needs to do:
+      ```sh
+      chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/smf
+      find /var/www/html/smf -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
+      find /var/www/html/smf -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
+      ```
+      If you add a new theme, you may need to run these permission
+      commands again.
+
+   4. Time to create the database! I'm not sure if you need the former
+      package but you definitely need the latter...couldn't hurt to
+      install both though!
+      ```sh
+      apt install mysql-server -y
+      apt install php-mysql -y
+      ```
+      After that, open up mySQL:
+      ```sql
+      mysql -u root -p
+      ```
+      DO NOT JUST COPY/PASTE THIS NEXT BLOCK.
+
+      You need to figure some things out first:
+
+      - `your_database`
+      - `your_admin`
+      - `your_password`
+
+      You're going to need these values for the web installer as well as
+      for your database. Plug these into your favorite password manager.
+      Now that that's set, replace the placeholder values in this next
+      block with the ones you chose, and then copy/paste the entire
+      block into the mySQL prompt you just opened:
+
+      ```sql
+      CREATE DATABASE your_database CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;
+      CREATE USER 'your_admin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'your_password';
+      GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON your_database.* TO 'your_admin'@'localhost';
+      FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
+      EXIT;
+      ```
+
+   5. Alright, webserver time! I use Caddy so I had to install a PHP
+      thingy for it as well.
+      ```sh
+      apt install php-fpm -y
+      ```
+      With that done, open up your `Caddyfile`:
+      ```sh
+      nano /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
+      ```
+      ...and replace its contents with:
+      ```caddy
+      chat.webb.page {
+        root * /var/www/html/smf
+        php_fastcgi unix//run/php/php8.3-fpm.sock
+        file_server
+        encode gzip
+      }
+      ```
+      `chat.webb.page` is there for illustrative purposes, replace with
+      your own domain, obviously.
+
+      Reload Caddy and check on it (press `q` to escape the
+      status screen):
+      ```sh
+      systemctl reload caddy
+      systemctl status caddy
+      ```
+      You should be able to navigate to the domain you listed in your
+      `Caddyfile` to finish the installation process. I think you got it
+      from here.
+
+      For security purposes, you'll want to delete `install.php` if the
+      system didn't do this automatically. This is so no rando coming
+      across your forum can grief you.
+
+      This should take care of things:
+      ```sh
+      rm /var/www/html/smf/install.php
+      ```
+      Finally, lock down your settings files:
+      ```sh
+      chmod 640 /var/www/html/smf/Settings.php
+      chmod 640 /var/www/html/smf/Settings_bak.php
+      ```
+
+   6. Email time! I don't scambots signing up so I checked whatever
+      thing in the SMF settings to require email authorization when
+      signing up. You need an email sender to do this though, and I'm
+      with Fastmail these days. Surely there's an easy way to get this
+      working, right? No, but that's why I'm here. You're welcome.
+
+      Head to `Administration Center` → `Mail` → `Settings` and here's
+      what you put in:
+
+      - Mail type: SMTP
+      - SMTP server: `ssl://smtp.fastmail.com`
+      - SMTP port: `465`
+      - SMTP username: NOT your Fastmail alias, your ACTUAL address
+      - SMTP password: your Fastmail app password
+
+      Boy, the `SMTP username` thing had me going in a spiral. I assumed
+      the Fastmail aliases were perfectly fine to put there since the
+      email is going to my original address anyway but on Fastmail's
+      end, you're logging in with invalid parameters.
+
+      If it wasn't for Claude I wouldn't have figured this out. LLMs are
+      great for finding where documentation is lacking (and teaching you
+      how to troubleshoot things you never knew how to check for).
+
+      Also, when using Linode you need to send a support ticket to
+      request the opening of email ports. This friction step contributes
+      to why their reputation is great, unlike DigitalOcean's where my
+      email on the mail server I'm still hosting gets treated as spam.
+      The more you know, right?
+
+      Linode is pretty good with unblocking the ports. I requested this
+      late one night and by the time I woke up I was good to go.
+
+   ## FIN
+
+   And that's it!
+
+   After naming my forum "WorldWideWebb" I suddenly thought, "Why did I
+   make the url `chat.webb.page` when it should be `www.webb.page`?!"
+
+   Making this change broke my forum for a good 5 minutes as I tried to
+   figure out where to fix things.
+
+   First, I had to update `$boardurl` in `smf/Settings.php` to match the
+   new domain name.
+
+   Next, I needed to navigate to `Administration Center` →
+   `Themes and Layout` → `Theme Settings` and update the URLs of
+   the theme.
+
+   ## Epilogue
+
+   I guess I should explain my intent with this forum, I didn't fully
+   touch on it at the jump.
+
+   Most of my creation happens in isolation, which is fine, but my best
+   ideas come when telling others about my ideas and getting feedback or
+   opposing views. Selfishly, I want y'all to help make my shit better
+   haha! On these other platforms, we all look the same and our real
+   estate is confined to algorithmic boxes with high walls that have
+   constantly moving peepholes. It's exhausting trying to reach anyone.
+
+   In high-school (2002-2006), I had accounts on several forums, from
+   REO[8] to music production to DJing and more. Some of the best online
+   experiences of my life started in that era. WorldWideWebb is my way
+   of evoking that feeling again.
+
+   Also, with the constellation of projects I have going on and am
+   working on at any given moment, I just do not feel like blasting my
+   Mastodon feed with RFC-length posts. That's what my blog and (now)
+   forum[6] are for!
+
+   As an aside, it's funny that my browser URL just reads `webb.page`
+   on my forum because browsers these days treat `www.` as invisible. 🕸️
+
+References
+
+   [1] <https://flarum.org>
+   [2] <https://waterhole.dev>
+   [3] <https://xenforo.com/community/threads/i-regret-buying-vbulletin-6-0-7-latest-version.226753>
+   [4] <https://www.simplemachines.org>
+   [5] <https://custom.simplemachines.org/index.php?theme=3014>
+   [6] <https://www.webb.page>
+   [7] <https://wiki.simplemachines.org/smf/Installing>
+   [8] <https://rockman-exe.com/online>
+   [IMG1] <https://cdn.webb.page/blog/2026/wm-087-b.jpg>