EDIT 03.09.2020:
In case someone else is also working on an international forum and website I and a fighting team of dedicated forum members currently translating https://safenetwork.tech/ into the following languages:
Language Forum Website Bulgarian https://forum.safenetwork.bg/ http://safenetwork.bg/ Spanish https://forum.safenetwork.es/ https://safenetwork.es/ German https://SafeNetworkForum.de/ https://safenetz.de/ French https://forum.safenet.fr/ https://safenet.fr/ Russian https://forum.safenetforum.ru/ https://safenetforum.ru/ Portuguese https://forum.safenetwork.pt/ http://safenetwork.pt/ Dutch https://safenetwork.club/c/dutch/60 - Greek https://safefora.gr/ http://safenetwork.gr/ The GitHub page for each website:
Hello friends,
why is it important to have local forums?
There are several reasons:
- not everyone speaks English.
- 1 topic per language is extremely non-functional if you want to discuss different topics
- it is not good to centralize the whole community in one place. It is good to have alternatives
We MUST make it easier for ALL to learn about SAFE.
Yes many geeks do have a good grasp of English cos so much documentation is only in English but to get mass adoption we NEED native language forums.
Isn’t it too early for that?
“The day that you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit.”
and
“We were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see. We had to be patient.”
We need fertile soil now, so when people start coming everything is ready
Who can help?
- You if you know a native language well (other than English)
- You if you have 6 dollars a month without which you can live
- You if you have a few hours free to complete the steps on this list
But even if it’s just one of those things, you can get involved by cooperating with someone who has one of the others. (For example, if you know a foreign language and have time, but you don’t have 6$ a month, you can write in this topic and when you find a person with 6$ a month, you can cooperate)
For whom this HowTo is NOT directed?
This guide is not for people who:
- have chickens
- believe that English is the language of God
- believe that everything should be perfect from the beginning
Lets not make the perfect become the enemy of the “good enough to start with” if that makes us slightly fitter.
Basis
This guide assumes you have a registered domain for the forum. Now is the time to call anyone who holds a local www.SAFEnetwork.*** domain to donate it to the community. I’m looking at you .de and .fr person/people
First step create a droplet (cloud server)
I use Digitalocean.com droplet - you can use this referral link to register (the proceeds from it will be used for SAFE). Once you register at DigitalOcean:
-
Choose Create new project. Enter a name and choose a what it’s for:
-
Click on Get Started with a Droplet:
-
Choose Ubuntu 18.04.03 / Plan Standard:
-
Choose $5/mo:
-
Choose a region close to you or to the people for whom the local forum is:
-
Choose One-time password
-
Choose a hostname
-
Choose Enable backups
-
Copy the IP address of the server (in the example it is 134.122.94.110):
-
Go to your domain provider (in this guide it is GoDaddy. Choose the domain and click Manage:
-
Click ADD
-
Choose Type: A / Host: enter the site name / Points to: Paste the IP address of the DigitalOcean server
Second step create a system email
You need a separate email to put on an email server and send the forum system messages through it. It costs extra money, but I can offer you an email from me for free.
Follow this step if you’re willing to pay an extra $ 5-6 a month or write to me to provide you with a free email
In this case, I’m showing you how to create a system email in Google’s paid service: https://gsuite.google.com/.
-
Log in https://admin.google.com/ and choose Domains
-
Choose Manage domains:
-
Choose Add a domain:
-
Enter your domain name:
-
Choose your domain name provider - in my case it is GoDaddy:
-
Choose Connect:
-
if it does not happen automatically you will have to enter the data manually:
-
Verification may take some time. Once verified click on Set up Google MX records
-
You’ll see the information you need to enter in your DNS account at GoDaddy:
-
Go to GoDaddy. Choose the domain and click Manage. Click ADD. Choose Type: MX / Host: @ / Points to:
ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
/ Priority: 10
-
Click ADD. Choose Type: MX / Host: @ / Points to:
ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
Priority: 20
-
Click ADD. Choose Type: MX / Host: @ / Points to:
ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM.
Priority: 30
-
Click ADD. Choose Type: MX / Host: @ / Points to:
ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
Priority: 40
-
Click ADD. Choose Type: MX / Host: @ / Points to:
ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.
Priority: 50
-
Go back to https://admin.google.com/ . Go to Users / your user / User information. Click on the pencil in the right as in the picture next to Email aliases:
-
Add Alias whatever you want the system email name to be:
-
Go to your Gmail / select Settings
-
Go to Accoints / Add another email address:
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Enter the system email name and address:
-
Send verification:
-
Click the conformation link from the email you get:
-
Click Confirm:
-
Ready. Happy new email!
Now it’s time to register a Email server. I use https://elasticemail.com/ plan Email API $0.09=1000 emails
-
Log in elastice email My account / Settings / Domains / and click Verify Email:
-
Enter the system email name:
-
Click the conformation link from the email you get:
-
Go back to elastice email My account / Settings / Domains / and click Verify next to Domain verification:
-
Go to GoDaddy. Choose the domain and click Manage .
Click ADD .
Choose:
Type: TXT
Host:@
TXT Value:v=spf1 a mx include:_spf.elasticemail.com ~all
-
Click ADD .
Choose:
Type: TXT
Host:api._domainkey
TXT Value: take it from elastice email My account / Settings / Domains / under Domain verification click on DKIM
-
Click ADD .
Choose:
Type: CNAME
Host:tracking
CNAIM Value:api.elasticemail.com
-
Click ADD .
Choose:
Type: TXT
Host:_dmarc
TXT Value: take it from DMARC Generator - free | Elastic Email
-
- Click Generate DMARC:
- Click Generate DMARC:
-
- Choose None / click Next
- Choose None / click Next
-
- click Next
- click Next
-
- Choose No / click Next
- Choose No / click Next
-
- Choose Yes / Enter your Email / click Next
- Choose Yes / Enter your Email / click Next
-
- Choose SPF Relaxed / DKIM Relaxed / click Next
- Choose SPF Relaxed / DKIM Relaxed / click Next
-
- Copy and Paste the DMARK Value in GoDaddy
Type: TXT
Host:_dmarc
/ (the above step)
- Copy and Paste the DMARK Value in GoDaddy
-
Go back to elastice email My account / Settings / Domains / and click Verify next to Domain verification:
-
Go to SMTP / Add Additional Credentials:
-
Enter a username of your choice / Create
-
Write down the Password in a secure place:
-
Add the IP address of the digitalocean server you created in the SMTP Credentials / Set access restriction:
Third step install discourse forum (on the cloud server from step one)
Once you have a system email (whether you did it yourself following the instructions in step 2 or talked to me and got it for free) you can install the Discourse forum software.
-
Open the email from DigitalOcean with access data to your server from step one:
-
Open a terminal and enter: ssh root@the_ip_address_from_the_DigitalOcean email. Click Yes and paste the password from the email:
-
Paste the password again and Enter a new password:
-
you will be disconnected. Еnter again: ssh root@the_ip_address and the new password. Enter:
sudo -s
-
Enter:
git clone https://github.com/discourse/discourse_docker.git /var/discourse
-
Enter:
cd /var/discourse
-
Enter:
./discourse-setup
-
Answer the following questions when prompted:
Hostname for your Discourse? [discourse.example.com]:
Email address for admin account(s)? the email you created in step 2:
SMTP server address?: smtp.elasticemail.com
SMTP port? [587]: 2525
SMTP user name? [user@example.com]:
SMTP password? [pa$word]:
Let's Encrypt account email? (ENTER to skip) [me@example.com]:
If your domain is ******.SiteName.CountryCode (for example forum.safenetwork.bg) you need to make a small change to receive your first activation email. If your domain is SiteName.CountryCode (for example safenetwork.bg) you can go directly to SiteName.CountryCode in your browser.
This step is only for domains type: ******.SiteName.CountryCode
-
Enter:
cd containers
-
Enter:
nano app.yml
-
scroll to #- exec: rails r “SiteSettings.notification_email=‘info@unconfigured.discourse.org’” and delete # from the beginning and change info@unconfigured.discourse.org to the email you created in step 2
-
Press
Ctrl
andX
for exit and enterY
to save the file -
Enter:
cd ..
-
Enter:
./launcher rebuild app
-
Go to your SiteName.CountryCode in your browser:
If you need help, write to me at:
- dimitar@safenetwork.bg
- WhatsApp Share on WhatsApp
- Telegram Telegram: Contact @Dimitar_SAFE_Network_Bulgaria
- or just call +35924111111 (My spoken English is not at a very high level, so… you have been warned )