Parrot is a super easy to use discussion platform that's built to be fast, secure, and simple. It's so quick to install that you'll finally have time to feed Polly that cracker.
Currently Parrot is in the development stage. This means that even though you can use it on your server, it's still going to be missing quite a bit of features. I'd recommend waiting a while. Maybe even check out this parrot if you have time. If you still want to install, though, just download as ZIP and extract to any directory on your server you want, run the lightning fast installer, and start posting!
You may be thinking, "Why should I use Parrot when Discourse has a much larger community and has been in development for years?" Well, for starters, Parrot is much more lightweight. Parrot also is super easy to extend, theme, get support for (just email me at [email protected]), and manage. It's made for the kinds of people who spend their days at coffee shops. Not some f*cked up company with people who are paid to do nothing. Parrot is for the doers. The pixel pushers.
Parrot will never be done. It'll always be getting improvements, updated documentation, and more users. If you'd like to help create the future of community discussion, just start coding! If you don't know how to code, I'm always looking for designers for theme layouts and icons. Head over to the wiki for a list of needed jobs and instructions.