tl;dr: In early March, we are launching a new Vaadin Forum for all community discussions. It will replace the Vaadin Discord server and the old Vaadin Forum.
At Vaadin, our community is at the heart of everything we do. As an open source company, we rely on feedback, contributions, and conversations with developers like you to improve our products and better support your needs. That's why we're so excited to announce the launch of the new Vaadin Forum - a central place for our community to connect, collaborate, and support each other.
Announcing the new Vaadin Forum
The Vaadin Forum will be a central place for the community to get help, share information, and have fun.
- Forum and chat in one place. The Vaadin Forum brings both forums and chat together in one place. Whether you need help developing a Vaadin app or want to share pictures of baby reindeer, this is the right place.
- A growing knowledge base. All conversations are automatically indexed by search engines to help future developers quickly find answers to their questions. We're also importing all existing discussions from Discord forum channels and the old Vaadin Forum to the new Forum so you can find everything in one convenient location.
- Get relevant notifications. You can configure email and push notifications so you don't miss replies to your questions.
- Access with your existing account. You can access the forums and chat through your browser using your vaadin.com account.
Questions & answers
When are you launching the new Vaadin Forum?
We are aiming to launch the new Vaadin Forum in early March 2024.
Why are you changing things?
In April 2021, we announced the archiving of our legacy Vaadin Forum and shifted discussions to Stack Overflow and Discord. We wanted to move Vaadin questions to Stack Overflow so a broader audience of experts, including those from other communities, could join the conversation. Discord was intended for more casual conversations and questions not suitable for Stack Overflow.
Initially, the plan worked well. Vaadin questions on Stack Overflow increased by over 400%. However, as time passed and Discord added support for forum channels, we noticed many discussions we envisioned for Stack Overflow were now happening on Discord. Today, the number of Vaadin questions on Stack Overflow has returned to pre-change levels.
While it was great that community members could get help, none of the answers were indexed online or available to assist others with similar problems. New AI tools were unable to train on the data to provide up-to-date and helpful Vaadin development information. In short, we couldn't fully utilize the great insights to help other developers.
We've also received feedback that using Discord is inconvenient as it requires a separate account and keeping it open continuously.
The new Forum will address these issues and consolidate all discussions into one searchable platform.
Does the Forum replace Expert Chat?
While the Forum is ideal for quick help and support, it's not intended to replace Expert Chat for projects requiring hands-on support from Vaadin experts. Expert Chat guarantees access to the Vaadin team and a private channel to discuss aspects of your project not suitable for public forums.
Why are you closing the Discord server?
The new Vaadin Forum combines forums and chat in one place. Keeping the Discord server would split discussions across two platforms, spreading the community thin and making conversations difficult to track.
Can I use the new Forum though an app?
Yes. Discourse supports installation as PWA on most devices, and you can also use it through the Discourse native app.
What happens with the content currently on Discord and the Vaadin Forum?
We are migrating all content from the old Vaadin Forum and Discord forum channels to the new Vaadin Forum. The imported content will be archived and searchable but won't clutter new discussions.
All Discord usernames will be anonymized as we move chats to a public forum. You can request us to merge your accounts if you want your account associated with imported Discord messages.
See you on the new Vaadin Forum!
We are aiming to launch the new Vaadin Forum in early March. Stay tuned for the announcement on our blog. We look forward to connecting with you there!