The New Jellyfin Forum | Jellyfin
jellyfin.org
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We've added a new, and hopefully improved, dedicated forum for our community
fsniper
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241Y

Strange they don’t even mention Fediverse. It just felt too dated.

I can understand wanting to bring your discussion hub in house to avoid something like what’s happened. But bringing it into essentially an old school phpBB forum is certainly, ah, a choice.

@tinselpar@feddit.nl
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1Y

It could be argued that web forums were an answer to older system that came before it and the problems with them. Systems like Usenet and Fidonet BBS’s were federated system, and web forums are actually newer than that.

Dusty
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71Y

There is nothing wrong with forums, they’ve existed (and continue to exist) for decades. They are a great way to have information easily searchable, as well as easily post and contribute.

Just because they aren’t carded like twitter or lemmy doesn’t mean they are dated. Everything has it’s place and every tool has a job. In this case, that place is a forum and the tool is phBB. Also, I wouldn’t call it “old school” as the most recent update is from May 21, 2023.

Not everything has to be federated, and nothing is stopping anyone from creating an instance for Jellyfin ( !jellyfin@lemmy.ml ) . But for the official instance, having it hosted by them, on their hardware, that they control, it’s a great choice to use a forum.

Please note they also have a Mastodon account where they’ve made the same announcement:

https://mastodon.online/@jellyfin/110568058365759513

Let’s support the Fediverse or FOSS alternatives when we can.

@c1b0@beehaw.org
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21Y

right, i didn’t know they were in Mastodon

new_world
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61Y

Good for them. Hopefully this will make it much easier to consolidate guides and helpful info for Jellyfin.

I’m sure Jellyfin considered the Fediverse but some projects like the idea of having more control of the community discussions they participate in so having a forum makes sense. I still think a Jellyfin community on Lemmy can thrive with an official forum in place.

Jellyfin is all about self hosting. I don’t see why they wouldn’t just create their own Lemmy instance if that was the concern. It wouldn’t need to be big if they limited the userbase

techno156
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161Y

Lemmy is pretty immature, and probably doesn’t suit their needs compared to a forum.

They don’t really need a link aggregator, so using Lemmy there wouldn’t really make much sense.

The only thing that they might use Lemmy for is the community, but otherwise, it’s not a great fit for what they need.

Yup, “when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail”. Lemmy and the Fediverse are great, but they aren’t the end all, be all solution to online content.

The Cuuuuube
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41Y

Lemmy and KBin are cool and all, but VERY rough around the edges so I wouldn’t expect large projects or communities not directly related to then to adopt either. Keep in mind for most of these projects, they picked Reddit because the users were already there and the software was relatively polished. These are both things that many of us users are interested in improving, but that projects with communities aren’t going to want to use until theyre already more advances than they are right now

This is probably true. Forum software is a lot more mature then Lemmy etc and probably a better overall option currently for a project like Jellyfin to operate. They just want something that works.

The moderating tools on MyBB is worlds away and better than Lemmy/Kbin.

True but the downside is exposure and footfall. Subreddits work well as people can dip into them easily from elsewhere in Reddit, both new users and regular contributors can keep an eye from their feeds.

A forum is on it’s own and only people out looking specifically for the forum or who know about Jellyfin will go looking for it, and it won’t pop up in people’s feeds. The Internet used to be littered with forums, but social media is the very reason they fell out of fashion.

But users have also created a Jellyfin community on Lemmy: jellyfin@lemmy.ml

Kichae
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41Y

Yeah, but at the same time Reddit is kind of an awaful place for getting tech support for things like this. It’s great for general discussion, but as a mod you have no real power to do things like move support requests from “general” and into a space where it will be highly visible by those willing to lend support.

Forums are better for community management than link aggregators along every axis except for footfall.

davidgtl
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11Y

@BananaTrifleViolin @Hellebert @c1b0 @Nullify9964 maybe ActivityPub plugins will come out for forums? Would be cool to be able to follow and comment on forums around the internet.

plug_world
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51Y

I find the biggest problem with Lemmy and these federated apps is that search engine indexing kinda sucks right now. They get pushed so far down the bottom of the results, you only really see them when you search site:lemmy.ml or whatever.

I believe this was a good decision. Hopefully in the future search engine indexing will improve. Otherwise I can’t see Lemmy being as useful as Reddit.

It makes sense for fediverse instances to have very low SEO (search engine ranking) as the content is split up across many different websites and domains.

Troy
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21Y

It’s also very annoying to crosslink content on the fediverse. So there is far fewer links between discussions. The network graph is way less interconnected, and that hurts search indexing.

HawkMan
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61Y

forums is all around an infinitely better solution for support and discussions on specific tech and interest. It’s also more searchable and less ephemeral. At least reddit and fediverse is better then ephemeral solutions like discord.

plug_world
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51Y

Totally agree, it pains me to see communities move to Discord.

I’ve been using Plex forever. Got the lifetime subscription a million years ago.

Is there anything I’m missing out on by not using Jellyfin? Anything I’d miss on Plex moving to it?

Also a Plex lifetime user. I tried jellyfin not too long ago to see what the fuss was all about. I had heard that they handled her tonemapping better.

The interface is different but more or less just as good as Plex. It’s definitely more for the person that likes to dive in the details of the config of their server. For example, you need to setup your own domain for external users to connect to. It’s not done automatically like on Plex.

The focus on your content vs the “free” content Plex shoves in our face is nice I must admit.

Just a question of preference. In the end I stuck it out with Plex… For now.

I too would like to know…

Same situation

Undearius
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9
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1Y

It mostly comes down to personal preference honestly.

Jellyfin is open-source and more focused on your own selfhosted media. I, too, bought a Plex pass years ago and have enjoyed Plex but they’ve been adding a bunch of crap to their interface.

I’m big on free open-source software but I won’t be biased to say that Jellyfin has some rough edges, but it works well enough for me to watch movies with my wife. Plex is a bit smoother and more production-ready for those power users that host Plex for several others.

I’d encourage you to try it out if for nothing more than exposing yourself to alternatives.

The main reason I use jellyfin over plex is just because they only host my media, nothing else. None of the plex pass bs cluttering it up

Maxcoffee
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31Y

Plex is better overall currently imo having tried both recently. It’s just simply more mature software where things just work and it has a ton more features.

Jellyfin is pretty awesome though in its own right and heading in a great direction.

Briongloid
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11Y

I know people are okay with them not integrating ActivityPub, but personally it would have meant me participating as apposed to not.

I have been eyeing jellyfin for years and easier access to their official forum would have been great.

Dusty
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41Y

easier access to their official forum would have been great.

What’s “not easy” about it? Having to click on their website instead of your own? Having to use a usernamd and password like literally every other site you log into (use a password manager)? Needing an email address (use a throwaway or something like firefox relay).

I get that people love the latest “shiny new thing” (lemmy) but that doesn’t suddenly make everything else “difficult”. Also for the vast majority of people, signing up to a forum is much easier than finding an lemmy instance, figuring out how to browse other instances, figuring out the layout (being cards isn’t always ideal), figuring out the (sometimes slow defintely clunky) search, etc…

In this instance, having a forum that they control, in a format that the vast majority of their userbase is used to, is the way to go. They are a company after all. So providing the best experience for their users should be quite high on their priority list, not using “latest shiny thing that’s still extremely niche”

Aand that’s why we need to make it easier for them so we don’t scatter too much in the long run.

I welcome the return of forums. What a simpler time.

I don’t-

I don’t miss having to register accounts on each one, answer a bunch of questions, give a birthday, give an email, do a capta… etc…

Just for that forum to popup on haveibeenpwned.com a few months later.

Knock on wood, password managers are a thing now, and its easy to give each forum a very unique password. But- still. Don’t really miss those.

That’s a take. For sure.

Password managers have been a thing for like 20 years?

Dusty
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11Y

And services like firefox relay so yo don’t have to give up your own email addres and can easily turn it off if it ends up on a spam list. For a service like Jellyfin a forum is the best way to go.

Not quite- I’d say they really became popular / usable around 10-15 years ago. In the early 2000s, people either used internet explorer, or opera.

Opera /chrome didn’t support extensions until 2009.

NOT- saying they didn’t exist, but, the idea of a browser-integrated password manager wasn’t a huge thing back then, I don’t believe.

I don’t remember the year but I was using roboform quite some time ago, and keepass existed and I actually used something for years before that. Easily in like 2004. It doesn’t have to (and I think better if it doesn’t) plug into the browser. They used keyboards and tabs to input the info.

@dan@upvote.au
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1Y

Roboform was originally released in 2000. It’s the oldest password manager I can think of.

Internet Explorer supported extensions for a long time (at least since IE5, maybe even IE3 or 4), and Firefox did too.

Not only do we have password managers now, we also have OIDC. I can see a situation where a service pops up with no offering other than identity management/verification, and forum-like software can accept log-ins from that service.

Thank you! I feel like I’m the only person who lived through that time. Having everything on one site is way simpler, reddit sucks but that doesn’t mean the concept does.

I do not miss having to sign up for a specific forum, wait for the email, no email, check spam folder, no email, 15 mins later email shows up in spam, go to post, “sorry you can’t make a post without interacting with at least 5 other posts”, post random shit on 5 other posts, finally get to post, "this question has been answered. Post archived "

I still see a legacy of that when a forum for game modding requires you create an account to download.

Another factor, is…

Well, Especially for users in large communities, or those with lots of interests, they will end up on LOTS of forums.

And, that turns into either, a lot of notifications, or a lot of ignored interactions due to the number of notifications.

The last thing people don’t seem to remember, half of the damn forums wanting to put damn ads everywhere.

I guess I did forums a little differently. I had 2 main forums where I posted a lot and then a handful I would peruse occasionally. If you had a good forum, there would be a very ‘reddit-like’ feel because they’d have general discussion, fitness, gaming, etc.

One of the things I liked about forums back in the day is that, while they didn’t have the scale of Reddit, the engagement and interactions seemed better. You got to know posters.

I couldn’t tell you another redditor’s username.

@sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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21Y

Yeah but that’s the old way. Today you’d sign in with one of the big accounts, or, even better, a passkey that seamlessly moves around with you.

It felt so much better to engage on forums. felt a bit slower and more intentional. And signatures, the signatures! Love their choice here.

a indie game i support refuses to use a forum, only discord. i hate searching thru threads in discord when a forum would be easier.

i wish people wouldn’t shun the idea of a forum just because it’s a “old idea.” good on the jellyfin folks for doing this.

Yep unpopular opinion I hate hate hate discord for anything but normal chat. The threads they added recently are neat and I hope they keep going in that direction.

I hate Discord full stop, because it’s a centralised proprietary platform just like Reddit and is going to hit the exact same issues one day, and it’s going to be even harder to recover all the conversations that have gone on there.

Sadly this is very common for small game developers (and even large ones) to move entirely to Discord to avoid paying or managing a dedicated forum

exactly. it’s not hard to install SMF or PHPBB on a small web server, however actually maintaining/managing a forum is a bit harder.

it’s easier to round up Discord moderators, but good luck finding anyone with forum moderation experience.

terrrmus
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21Y

I miss forums too. Discord has kind of taking over that role for my friends and I, but Discord makes it feel like you are posting something with everyone staring at you through a window. I hate that it notifies that you are actively typing.

haruki
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21Y

And my questions got lost in a flood of messages… Even Discord now has to implement forums feature to prevent this problem.

The Cuuuuube
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21Y

Discord sucks for what forums are good for. Forums are great for durable discussions that can be indexed, searched, discovered, and referenced. Discord? It’s only good at real time conversations

The Cuuuuube
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71Y

Discord sucks for what forums are good for. Forums are great for durable discussions that can be indexed, searched, discovered, and referenced. Discord? It’s only good at real time conversations

BarqsHasBite
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11Y

I don’t get the popularity of discord. You have to wade through so much casual conversation to find anything of value.

Not in this day and age where me and my grandma have our own.

There are so many, you can’t keep up to date with your hobbies unless you are willing to follow 50 platforms with 60 different UIs and community rules.

I prefer the aggregation of data like fediverse where we can follow topics and not platforms.

I’m so excited for forums to come back, just need to make sure there is a great mobile app to handle them.

OrangeCorvus
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81Y

Well it’s a good decision. As they say, never put all your eggs in one basket, especially if you have no control over the basket.

I’m surprised to hear people don’t like Discourse, I really enjoy the layout and find following threads much easier than a traditional forum. Maybe it’s because I was never really into traditional forums lol

@c1b0@beehaw.org
creator
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3
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1Y

an alternative is flarum. https://discuss.flarum.org/

Kinda sad they didn’t settle for something like Lemmy, but at the same time happy that they realize the value of a forum and didn’t just move to Discord.

I can see the argument in favour of classic forums. Keeping everything chronological can help for certain kinds of discussion, and it’s easier to sort content by subforums in a way that doesn’t scale well with Lemmy. You’d need to create a lot of different communities to keep it all separated, which is messy.

The biggest thing forums lack is multi-threaded discussions. That said, simple chronological helps people at the bottom of the thread get assistance since it doesn’t disappear into the web of conversation, so this might also be an advantage of single-threaded forums.

Also, voting gamifies the whole experience, so people are reluctant to post in older threads since they won’t get “points”.

Finally, threads on Lemmy also don’t get bumped, so old content effectively dies. This sucks for troubleshooting since people very frequently have the exact same problem many years apart.

I feel like “release” and “discussion” threads would probably benefit from Lemmy’s structure to allow for deeper engagement in sub-conversations, but the core of their use is single-topic requests and, frankly, forums are better at that.

The advantage I see with the Lemmy approach over Discord is comment longevity. At Discord your comment has little time before it falls off the radar. It’s longer with Twitter, but still short. At Lemmy you get a reasonable trade-off for comment longevity and convenience. On a phpBB style forum comment longevity can be quite long, but you have to go to a dedicated site with it’s own address which lacks convenience.

TWeaK
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41Y

Yeah but really it makes more sense for an official forum. I kind of miss the days before reddit, when everything had their own private forum. The good ones were great.

For sure, before these modern forums took over the scene, dedicated forums like phpBB were all I used. Though there is definitely something to like about Lemmy and the fediverse. Just super convenient. You can talk about everything in one place. The longer exposure of comments with the old style was nice, but I can trade that off willingly enough.

As far as dedicated official forums, I don’t know. Think I’d still rather have access to them here. The Fediverse just makes a lot of sense serving as a centralized communications hub. Kind of reminds me of Usenet back in the early internet days, but a lot better. Usenet could be pretty kludgey.

TWeaK
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11Y

I dunno, whynotboth.jpg is kind of my catchphrase. I think we could have high quality niche forums, but also link aggregation sites with meta commentary.

demvoter
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91Y

And they announce it on Twitter? 🙄

The irony in this is massive. It’s so weird to see that you are the only one pointing it out.

They also announced it on their Mastodon, I guess OP didn’t realize they had one.

Fair enough I guess. Though them having Twitter at all is still a bit ironic…

They announced it on their website. Why OP chose to link the tweet instead is beyond me.

I wonder why those chose mybb over discourse. I definitely prefer the latter.

JelloBrains
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21Y

Here I am wishing they had chosen VBulletin or Invision, lol. I think it’s just a case of what I’m more familiar with in terms of forums though.

I get their decision, forum software is stable, has plugins and tools to help with moderation, has been around a long time and they don’t have to worry about things like LemmyNSFW or other instances they don’t want the hassle of because they control all the content that shows up in a forum space.

I’m just glad it’s not a fucking Discord thing.

st3ph3n
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31Y

I think vBulletin is - at best - dormant these days. I spent about 10 years on a vBulletin-powered forum before I went over to reddit… 12 years ago.

neo (he/him)
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11Y

It has been superceded by XenForo

@priapus@lemmy.one
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2
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1Y

I definitely agree with them not using Lemmy. I think one centralised forum makes sense for large projects to use. Much easier to organize and manage.

I find discourse incredibly unfriendly to use. Ardour use it for their forum and it puts me off visiting.

I personally find it very easy to use, but to each their own! Is there any forum software you prefer?

Having never used Discourse before, I don’t like that the default view is “Latest” and when you view “Categories” it only fits 1 at a time on screen for mobile, since it previews all the top posts still.

The MyBB instance Jellyfin has set up is much more user friendly if you’re trying to get help with a specific thing.
People don’t doom-scroll on forums like they do other social media, so I don’t see the need to see all the latest “Why doesn’t my Jellyfin work?” posts.

@sunbeam60@lemmy.one
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31Y

Discourse is impossible once it gets to a certain size. Four groups trying to have four different conversations on top of each other.

sourcerer
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11Y

This reminded me announcement of Gear Grinding Games about moving from reddit… but this happen long before blackout.
Some people have luck or talent to feel the $h17 before something happen.

I thought this was an announcement they were moving to the Fediverse.

Agreed. Lowkey disappointed.

Seriously, how about they stand up a lemmy instance? That way peeps could follow their forums without having to travel to a proprietary place.

brie
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101Y

According to the footer they’re running MyBB so although it is more centralised, I wouldn’t call it proprietary.

What advantages would Lemmy have over the traditional style of forum for their use case?

Yeah it’s not the end of the world. It’s slightly disappointing that you have to create yet another account unnecessarily.

You can log in to their forum with Discord, Github, Google, Reddit, Stack Exchange or Twitter accounts. It would be better for them to support logging in with any OpenID provider using OpenID Connect, but they do support some of the major ones at least (except for Facebook and Apple).

reric88🧩
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61Y

The only real advantage I can see is they would be another mass of users on the fediverse, which is what we want I suppose. I mean I do want it to be populated, and if more people migrate, it ensures survival of their community. I don’t like how we have all scattered to the wind, but it’s their choice where to go

I’m happy that forums are making a come back. Missed visiting all my early forums, in my early Internet days.

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