It was about ten years ago, around 2015 when we transitioned and rebuilt the Wixiaoduo platform, that I first came across the Discourse forum software. My initial impression was that its UI was too ugly and unattractive. Moreover, I wasn’t familiar with Docker, and our functional requirements weren’t extensive—we just needed something to collect user feedback. So, we opted for bbPress, WordPress’s native forum solution.
More than a decade has passed. bbPress, lacking a clear commercial direction within the WordPress ecosystem, has never received much attention. Particularly after the block editor’s introduction, it became completely incompatible with block themes and simply unusable.
I attempted many times to revamp the Wixiaoduo forum, but a pile of bugs and incompatibility with Gutenberg left me no choice. By the end of last year, I reluctantly decided to abandon it, choosing to take a new direction instead: a new architecture, new software, a new cyber forum.
This is what you can now experience at cyberforums.com.
Over the past few years, Wenpai has launched a bunch of sub-projects, making it increasingly difficult to collect user feedback. Serving advanced users and developers requires more sophisticated solutions. I often reflect on a saying I once saw: “Do you have ten years of experience, or one year of experience repeated ten times?” It serves as a reminder to keep learning and avoid becoming too complacent.
This forum will officially launch next week, making it easier to gather user feedback and propel our new projects forward.