I have just purchased a virtual server on Hetzner (2 CPUs, 4Gb, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS). Installed Discourse. Opened registration. Starting to invite early adopters, knowing that nothing has been done yet.
Next: basic review to the Discourse settings, draft a welcome message explaining the basic idea of this project, and create a skeleton of categories. Post a first version of the code of conduct.
If you are reading this, WELCOME! If you have any questions or want to help, reply here or open a new topic. We’ll figure out everything one step at a time.
I also sent a couple of private invites (this is where YOU can help inviting music lovers from your circles; I’d rather put my time fine tuning the site based on your feedback and needs).
First steps toward a truly multilingual forum: a plan, two meetings points in Spanish and Catalan, and an encouragement to create more in other languages.
Fixed our mail server configuration thanks to a hint by keef, hopefully reducing the risk of our email notification being marked as spam.
As the basic features start to be in place, the big question emerges, now in more detail: what else we need to attract more musicians and music lovers to the social side, and support them in their journey?
(I’m hoping to do this until we reach one week. Maybe by then this site can be considered a beta and from that point we can take it easier with changes in features / ux / structure, and focus on conversations and outreach.)
Users map, with all users who have entered in their profile their location (city level, not your full address).
With Locations and Events combined, we can start seeing how event topics look like in the middle of the other topics (and I wonder if the Events will get enough activities to make these features useful, we’ll see):
We are four people on Punto de encuentro en español! You can see this as a small number or as a promising number, and I can’t avoid being optimistic.
I keep proposing topics for discussion that genuinely interest me, and that I also hope that serve as examples of the types of conversations we could have in this place. It’s nice to start seeing music makers that see the site for the first time, and sign up after a few clicks because they like what they are seeing – without needing many explanations.
I can see the light at the end of the bootstrapping tunnel. I’m hoping to be done by the end of tomorrow.
I wasn’t happy with the categories I had originally envisioned. Not a good taxonomy. After some notes literally on the back of an envelope that was laying around, I made some changes and I think it is better now.
Also, I have added a Mastodon profile custom field, and now members can have a tiny Mastodon icon in their user card, linking to their Mastodon account – using another theme component.
I have borrowed No English? Click here! 🌐 to help non-English speakers to change the interface language and translate texts.
This is my last bootstrapping report. Now that it’s published, we start the beta phase. The focus will be on polishing details based on feedback. The (7) days of enabling features and making big changes without prior discussion are gone (there is one exception – see below).
Yesterday I forgot to mention that we have the experimental Shared Edits enabled, and available for real-time collaborative writing.
I have restricted the creation of new topics under Members to Members aka Trust Level 2 users. Huh, I hear you say? See Understanding Discourse Trust Levels. The idea is to encourage a place for self-promotion and loose community groups (i.e. guitar players), but only those who have been around for a while can start them. This reduces the risk of opportunistic people who come, post their stuff and leave not to be seen… until their new song or something. Let’s see how the idea plays out.
@prinlu and @Mel brought the We need a logo brainstorming to an amazing conclusion. Thank you so much!
If there is appetite, now we can start discussing Colors and themes.
We also completed a first version of our statement, driven by @prinlu’s vision and a focus ultimately on the artists’ right to be fairly compensated for their work in order to live a decent life.
I am half way writing What we offer. The part about individuals is ready for review, and the part about projects will come soon.
Ok, so what is the exception I was talking about above?
I haven’t got time to create custom badges during this week of bootstrapping, and there is one I wanted to create today, but it’s past 1am and I need my brain fresh for this. It’s a badge of gratefulness to those who have signed up (hence believed and supported) during this first week of life of this project, when it wasn’t even a beta. Without you, I wouldn’t have got the motivation and the guidance to get where we are now. And I’m so thankful for all of you being here already. Digital badges are cheap and silly, but I believe you will cherish this one.
For the record, the last member that will get this Bootstrapper badge will be @conniptions, who signed up 12 minutes ago. If you arrived later, no worries, you still can get the also upcoming Betatester badge.
If you have any questions or want to help, reply here or open a new topic. We’ll figure out everything one step at a time. 
icon at the bottom of a post, you will get an automatic translation to your language.
