Looking for user communities and online forums is one of the very first things any new open source user would normally do after making the switch. These communities can be useful either to provide technical help or just general discussion about various topics in the open source world.
People simply like to share their thoughts and ideas with other people who are interested in the same topic as they are. And open source or Linux aren’t different in that regard.
Let us together explore some possible online open source communities to join.
Table of Contents:
1. FOSS Post Outpost
Shamelessly placing our beloved forum as the first option you should check if you searching for a place where you can have fun and discuss topics related to Linux and open source software.
Our forum, unlike other forums and communities you’ll see in this list, is built using the Flarum script. Flarum is a modern open source forum software written in PHP, and features a very modern look & feel.
What distinguishes our community forum from others in this list is that you can export all of your content and all of your personal data whenever you want. From your settings page on the forum, you’ll see an option where you can access GDPR-compatible options in order to control your data.
In this way, you are not writing content for someone else, or so that it can be controlled or removed by a random Internet moderator. Instead, all of your content is yours.
Visit us at: https://outpost.fosspost.org
2. Q&A Websites
“Open Source StackExchange” is an official StackExchange sub-community that specializes in legal issues and questions related to open source software. Things like whether it is OK or not to use an open source software in a certain way, or simply how to license a work under an open source software license, besides solving any legal issues that may stand in the way.
While one can’t speak for most users, some of them, however, are well-known and specialized software lawyers. This adds more value to the community since you are not just discussing with ordinary folks like yourself who have no legal expertise.
Another good StackExchange community to follow is the “Unix & Linux StackExchange“, which specializes in technical questions related to Linux or Unix-like operating systems. Things like why a certain software doesn’t work well on Linux, or how to perform a specific task using the Linux command line, or simply any technical problem you face on Unix-like systems… All questions about such things are more than welcome on this platform.
Finally, we have the AskUbuntu website, which specializes in the Ubuntu Linux distribution. It is officially controlled by Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) and is recommended during the installation phase as well. This is why most Ubuntu users know about it and can access it at any time to solve their issues or ask for help. There are more than 414,000 questions and 1.5 million users on AskUbuntu as of this moment, and the number is largely increasing each day.
3. Open Source Communities
There are various open source communities out there which specialize in some specific projects or remain a general hub for various discussions.
The next generation of discussion platforms (mainly these using Discourse) are common in the FOSS area. For example, some Linux distributions have their own “modern” community platforms:
- Ubuntu Discourse: Official community platform for Ubuntu users.
- Fedora Discourse: Official community platform for Fedora users.
- openSUSE Forums: Discourse-based forum for openSUSE users.
Other independent forums include:
- Sustain Open Source: Community about ways and methods to sustain open source software funding and solve their related problems.
- Snapcraft Discourse: A community for developers using Snap package format.
- Linux.org: A simple forum about everything related to Linux.
4. Linux Distributions Forums
Most – if not all – Linux distributions host their own traditional user forums as well. These communities generally include anything related to that Linux distribution, besides any other topics that could be beneficial or interesting to them as well.
You have, for example, the following forums:
- Ubuntu forums: https://ubuntuforums.org/
- Fedora forums: https://www.fedoraforum.org/
- Arch Linux forums: https://bbs.archlinux.org/
- Gentoo forums: https://forums.gentoo.org/
Your other Linux distribution of choice probably also has a forum if you just Google for it online (We didn’t list all of them).
5. Open Source Communities on Reddit
While Reddit is known for its low-quality, toxic discussions, there are still a few communities worth a look at. Some of these communities can be for general discussions about a specific topic in the open source/Linux world or they can be about user support, memes, hardware and similar topics.
Of these we can mention:
- /r/LinuxMasterRace: Mostly contains funny memes about Linux.
- /r/LinuxHardware: Hardware questions and consultations related to Linux distributions.
- /r/LinuxProgramming: If you have a plan to develop something on Linux then this is a good subreddit for you.
- /r/UnixPorn: Specializes in eyecandy of Linux and other Unix-like operating systems, where users come and show off the customizations they did to their desktops besides instructions on how to get them.
- /r/OpenSource: Not too large a community, but a positive and healthy one about open source software.
- /r/LinuxQuestions: To help new users with any problem or issue they face in the Linux world (Support forum).
- /r/Linux: The most famous Linux subreddit on the platform. However, be cautious that it is highly toxic and has many individuals with autism problems.
Many more communities exist if you deeply search on Reddit. Most famous Linux distributions do have their own subreddits as well, such as Ubuntu, Arch Linux, Debian, Mint… etc.
Conclusion
So this was a handful of useful online communities for Linux and open source software users. You may join the ones you like and ignore the ones you don’t – after all, it’s all about you and what communities you enjoy the most.
You may join our Telegram channel as well.
If you know any more communities like these then it could be helpful if you add them in a comment below.
Hanny is a computer science & engineering graduate with a master degree, and an open source software developer. He has created a lot of open source programs over the years, and maintains separate online platforms for promoting open source in his local communities.
Hanny is the founder of FOSS Post.
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