discussions-vue

This project contains the code base for the https://discussions.app project. It is fully open source and uses blockchain technology to provide a censorship resistant free speech platform.

Posts are written to the blockchain not to a centralized database and are then imported by the watcher (see below) into a local database for querying. This means if multiple parties host their own interface, content will not fragment. Someone who makes a post from interface A will also be making a post visible to interface B and vice-versa. This means even if an interface imposes strict moderation rules/censorship, nothing stops you from starting your own private community without content loss. This is completely different than getting kicked off of Reddit and then when your users move to your platform, they need to use a different interface all together to still read Reddit posts.

Public interfaces should comply with local laws, this means by hosting a public interface you take it upon yourself to comply with said laws. Freedom of speech does not mean lawless content, spam, etc.

Discord: https://discord.gg/PtXzUVr
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thenovusphere

Come chat with us, feedback is appreciated!

Project setup (interface only)

Install

nodejs: https://nodejs.org/en/download/
vscode: https://code.visualstudio.com/download

npm install
npm run serve

You should now be able to access the interface on http://localhost:8080/

Since you are not self hosting the API, it will use by default the API provided by https://discussions.app

Project setup (compiled interface + API)

Install

mongodb: https://www.mongodb.com/try/download/community
nodejs: https://nodejs.org/en/download/
vscode: https://code.visualstudio.com/download

Execute

npm install

Create ./config/mongo.json

{
    "connection": "mongodb://localhost:27017",
    "database": "discussions"
}

Note: At some point we will implement EOS support for Hyperion as well

Create ./config/watcher.json

{
    "dfuse": "server_DFUSE_TOKEN"
}

Create ./config/server-alpha.json

Note: If you wish to post from your interface and you're not running via npm run serve you must relay your own transactions as you'll be connected to your own API. To do this, you must fill in the relay object below.
relay.account is the EOS account doing the transaction relay
relay.key is the private key of the EOS account (active permission)
relay.pub is the public key which to pay fees to. This should be your own wallet public key which you can get from https://discussions.app/wallet/assets
Optionally you can create ./config/server-beta.json as well, with the same format as below.
```
{
"port": 3007,
"relay": {
    "account": "",
    "key": "",
    "pub": ""
}
}
```

Optionally Generate the sitemap.xml file:

npm run sitemap

In a new terminal run the watcher and wait for it to catch up to the most recent time. You will know once it's caught up when you see multiple Idle for... messages.

npm run watcher

In a new terminal build the interface and run the server

npm run build && npm run server-alpha

Once fully synchronized you should see the same state position = ... repeated multiple times. At the time of writing this guide, this takes about ~20-30 minutes. It's currently unoptimized.

Now you can visit http://localhost:3007/ which should host the interface and API. You can verify the API is running by checking http://localhost:3007/v1/api/data/test?ping=pong which should look similar to:

{"payload":{"ping":"pong","time":1595190481877}}

Commands

Compiles and hot-reloads for development


npm run serve

Compiles and minifies for production


npm run build

Runs compiled build for production


npm run build && npm run server-alpha

Runs compiled build for (server) testing


npm run build && npm run server-beta

Runs watcher to monitor blockchain actions


npm run watcher

Runs discord bot

Create ./config/discord.json

Note: See https://discord.com/developers/docs/intro for creating bot token

Example:

{
    "token": "DISCORD_BOT_TOKEN",
    "lastPostTime": 0,
    "ignoreTags": [
        "test"
    ],
    "channel": "discussions"
}

Execute:


npm run discord-bot

Runs twitter bot

Create ./config/twitter.json

Note: See https://developer.twitter.com/en/apps for the Twitter developer API
options.consumer_key, options.consumer_secret, options.access_token_key, options.access_token_secret are all fields from the Twitter apps API
key is the brain key your bot will be posting from. This can be a newly generated brain key specifically for the bot or your own existing brain key
watch.screen_name is the Twitter handle to watch
watch.tags is an array of tags to include in the Discussions post, on top of any tags used in the Tweet