PokemonDB Discord - A continuation

Question

In January, I asked a question about implementing a Discord server into the DB. I don't think I explained the advantages of Discord in great detail, so here we are today.

1) Very simple to set up and maintain
Creating a Discord server is extremely trivial. Anyone with a Discord account can create a server for free, any time. Discord servers are hosted by Discord themselves, meaning they require absolutely no technical set up. It takes about 5 minutes to create one, tops. Maintaining a server, however, could be considered less simple. In Discord, users have roles which are essentially the Expert/Editor ranks on the DB. The two would fit perfectly together. Expert on the DB? Expert role on the server. Moderator on the DB? Moderator on the server. Roles can be assigned different levels of power too, so basic users can't kick or ban users. Moderators could also have the power to give users rank, for easy and simple promotions (with permission, of course). PM (presumably being the owner and administrator of the server) would be able to do anything, including changing the name of the server and the region. In summary, creating a Discord is easy and maintaining a server is almost as trivial.

2) Lots of people have Discord already
Discord has grown into an incredibly popular program in recent years. I doubt people not having a Discord account is a huge concern. Even then, the Discord server might attract someone to make a Discord account to join the server. Making an account is no less difficult than any other website, so I don't see how this is a concern - at all. In short, loads of people already have a Discord and many would likely be willing to make an account for a server.

3) Focused chat rooms to essentially mimic a forum
A great advantage of Discord is being able to create channels to allow for specified and focused discussion. Channels can be called anything - popular ones include "#general" for general discussion (duh) and "#off-topic" for more casual discussions. The Discord would allow for multiple discussions at once, something that is fairly difficult in the chat room. Channels could even be used for meta suggestions, and simple errors users spot can be reported quickly in the Discord without the need to make a new thread. Heck, PM could have an "#announcements" channel where he can post updates to the DB.

4) Markup (basically) in a chat room
This is quite specific but I feel it should be said. Right now the DB chat supports only basic text and hyperlinks. Discord, however, supports images, different types of text and even emotes. Emotes can be added very easily to a server and are quite popular (from what I can find). I feel this is easier than implementing markup into the already existing chat room

5) Visibility
This isn't a reason to make a server, rather a suggestion on how to work it once done. I think a sidebar link under "Useful Posts" would allow it to be easily seen - and maybe an announcement post when it would be made. This would ensure users would be able to see that it exists and that they can join

4 reasons to make an official PokemonDB Discord server (and 1 suggestion), and I'm sure others can think of more. In general, I think this is a smart move for the community. I can't see any immediate downsides to making a server, and it offers a robust platform for discussion and such. As we can already see, the demand for Discord is definitely there (I think two servers have been created, however I'm not too sure). Anyway, I'm interested to hear what thoughts everyone else has on this potential Discord server

Comments

Since people can check in on a hypothetical DB server without having to go out of their way to go on the site if they're active on Discord, this could possibly increase involvement and activity—people would likely be more willing to take 2 seconds to look for updates to interact with while on Discord instead of coming onto the site specifically. You could consider this a positive reason

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That was another reason, yes. If they're on Discord and see the message notification on the DB server - it might encourage them to chat if they weren't planning on before

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This seems like a good idea, but I feel as though it could get complicated and out of hand. There'd have to be a permanent server invite with infinite uses, or else someone would have to provide a link every time someone wanted to join. On top of that, if the link can be seen by people who don't have accounts here, the server could very easily be raided, trolled, or whatever. You'd have to ban instead of kick people, as they could very easily just rejoin the server, and, even then, I'm sure they could just rejoin on a separate Discord account. People could easily create dupes, and, while you can't do much with multiple accounts on Discord, you could still harass people and nobody would know what other accounts to ban.

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NOOOO! I don't want this! Then I need to delete my server! -1! Jk, jk, +1. I like it, and you have gone in depth.
Like afsy stated, if people are already on Discord for something else, and someone talks on the Discord,
people could easily answer, and that could be great for activity. And like Rick stated, those 'little' suggestions
that don't feel the need being posted on the site itself, could easily be posted on there.

+HT, you can just turn of the thing to have a 10 minutes verified e-mail adress, that could stop for spam a little bit more, and, I don't think that much people would do that, just make a rule on there that people need to state their official DB name, make a wall post on their own wall, or heck, even a thread, because, wynaut. So it can be dealed with easily, users that don't post their real names could be banned in a few seconds.

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As SeeYaLater mentioned, verified email addresses would stop the simple trolls attempting to deface the community. Anyone who joins would have to make a post (on a thread, perhaps) that it's actually them

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Rather than making the rank work based on what people have here, I think it's for the best to base it off activity. Unless of course said Experts/Editors/Moderators are actually active. But in the probable chance that they aren't, basing it off activity seems like the better move.

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I agree, but then again I thought keeping the two consistent would be easiest and would remove any chance of confusion - eg why is X user a mod on the Discord but on the main site itself. Things like activity, trust and general maturity and common sense should be (in my opinion) the factors for candidates on both platforms. However I do appreciate having a unique set of leaders (our Showdown! server does iirc) as Discord activity would not be the same as site activity.

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I totally like this idea. Like a slightly better chat room.
SYL brought it up already, but there are already several unofficial PokemonDB Servers on Discord. I see no problem with bringing in a new, actually official one. Obviously, one of the more trusted users on the DB would have to start the server, so that the mods, if they join, could re-claim their power.  

I agree with the rick roller: "Things like activity, trust and general maturity and common sense should be (in my opinion) the factors for candidates on both platforms.", with the slight addendum of knowledge of discord's inner workings.

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+Orange, couldn't the moderators just join my server? I mean, I'm a trusted user right? Haha, I'm joking of course, and,  my brother could easily do things to that server, so a new server could be neat. And there will be decided if cussing would be on, or off.

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@SeeYaLater Your server is your own personal one, I see no reason to cross it with the official DB one. In terms of cussing/swearing, personally I am not effected by it. I feel the context of how the word is used is more important than the actual word. The f-bomb by itself isn't offensive, but targeting it at someone else is. Saying something is f-ing annoying isn't really offensive - in my book.

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@Rick Gastly My server is a DB server, only one of them isn't from the DB, **and that's your fault eXcess**

And about the cursing. Though, much people on the site are young. And some of them have people around, and all of these. I think only general should have swearing on, and the rest (idk, art or something?) should be off, and a general chat for people that don't want to curse. Wow, I'm a true genius

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Well, genius or not the server will be an "official" one, presumably made with PM and under his authorisation and control. I'm not sure what you mean by "people around", but as I stated prior cursing is largely based on context.

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I think an official Discord would be great for many reasons. It’s very easy to create channels and categories, and it would have a plethora of advantages to the Chat Room or Showdown! server.

If we do end up getting an official discord server, may I suggest  Mee6? It has many useful plugins, such as auto-moderation (eg warn users when they spam or ALL CAPS), logging moderator activity into a specific channel, etc. Also, there is a leveling system option, in which sending messages allows you to earn XP. This could potentially be used to estimate users’ activity.

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I'm not a fan of bots like that, because usually they end up clogging the server up with trivial messages and such, and aren't really needed for a community of our size.

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Personally I would say an EXP system would not be ideal because of constant "level-up" messages that can be spammy, as well as the fact that people could be posting many unhelpful messages over fewer but more substantial ones. If we were to get a bot, I would suggest Dyno for the mod ability to view deleted messages; users would not be able to get away with deleting rule-breaking in a similar way to how posts are hidden here.

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'And if our own chat room here is quiet, I’m not sure that a Discord would suddenly be busy'. @ PM, I'm not sure this is true, as there are a noticeable number of people on Discord from this website that don't necessarily use the website's chatroom. Entire servers have been made consisting of older DB users and also newer DB users purely of the purpose that people find it easier to connect and chat through discord, and these servers are often more active than the chatroom at any given point. Obviously whether any of these people would use a new server is another matter, but there's precedence to say they might.

@eXcess XP systems tend to not be..very good? I'm much more on asfy's idea of using Dyno for the same reason auth can see hidden messages here.

I think a good reason to have a server is...I mean why not have one? As stated it'd take like 5 minutes, and wants it's done, auth roles are made and channels created, PM could never touch it again if he wanted.

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Personally I would say an EXP system would not be ideal because of constant "level-up" messages that can be spammy, as well as the fact that people could be posting many unhelpful messages over fewer but more substantial ones. If we were to get a bot, I would suggest Dyno for the mod ability to view deleted messages; users would not be able to get away with deleting rule-breaking in a similar way to how posts are hidden here.
commented 5 hours ago by afsy

There is an option to get the level ups in DM's. Mee6 is not an that needed bot, *okay I am so silly, I made the shortest post out there

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It's a server to talk in - I've always found loads and loads of bots unnecessary and levelling up is pretty silly to me

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I have to say I'm not too keen on the idea of being DMed periodically by a bot to tell me I've gone up on an arbitrary level either, and levels can still be a poor reflection of a user's value in the server. In my opinion the use of bots should be limited as they can be flawed and should be instead replaced by an active moderation staff.

On another note I would like to ask, what kinds of channels would we have? I feel as though it should mainly function as a more complex chat system with things for battle, trade, off-topic discussion, and questions not allowed on the main site (e.g., "What's your favourite Dark-type?"), with legitimate questions kept away and still submitted to the site itself for obvious reason, but I'm not sure if everyone is on the same page here

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@Afsy

My channel ideas:

#rules - This is what you first see, describes the rules and roles of the server
#announcements - Mod or PM announcements
#general - general discussion (about Pokémon)
#off-topic - more casual discussion
#battle - battle with other users and set up matches
#trade - fairly self explanatory

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Those sound ideal to me, I'm in

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Yeah, for me too, but I think there could be a place to share art too, and your projects. Sine I don't think off-topic will do something great for that. Besides that, I like it, easy and little, and I like that. Though, a minor-minor-minor suggestion channel could be nice too, I mean, you don't make a thread about: ... eh, I don't find anything for that, but you get what I mean.

I'm in (of course)

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Lmao guys the leveling feature can be turned off. The bot still has a lot of moderating uses that I still didn’t discuss, and it won’t “clog the server with trivial messages” if we just choose what plugins we want enabled. But if the Dyno bot somehow does a better moderation job than Mee6, I guess it could work?

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art channel sounds kind of niche and unrelated to me but if there's a demand for some reason and people use it I support it also

To be clear I don't have any strong aversion towards Mee6, I just mean to say we should try to keep bots at a minimum and stay away from an EXP system. I'm not familiar with Mee6 nor Dyno's abilities as I don't use them on my server, but simple moderation help (e.g., tracking of deletes/edits, warning/ban system) would be nice regardless of where it came from.

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Yeah, we don't really need the level system. And Mee's auto-bot didn't work too well for me. I am not familiar with Dyno but it's the basic bot, so I trust in it.
In short: I feel the same as afsy.

Ooh damn, if PM isn't gonna accept this question that got 11 upvotes in one day I'ma weird out a bit.

Answer 1

Thanks for the more detailed explanation, I'll check out Discord when I can. The main reason I dismissed it before is because you suggested using it as a forum, which I don't think will work. Maybe as pure chat it will be better.

A few people mentioned existing PokemonDb servers, can someone give me a list of them?

Comments

There's no "official" PokemonDB server, or at least any named that. Several users have created their own servers and simply invited people from the DB in - they're not actually DB servers, they just contain people from this site. From what I can recall, the largest one is SeeYaLater's server (at approx 30 members) but that's their server rather than an actual DB server

Edit: Thanks for the response, should've said that anyway but here we are

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https://pokemondb.net/pokebase/meta/65346/whats-the-official-db-discord-server?show=65347#a65347

Yeah, SYL’s server is the closest existing server to a DB one.

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It’s worth adding that virtually our entire staff team uses Discord already, so we have personnel to run it from the getgo. We can work with you to set up roles, permissions, bots and the like.
We already run a DB staff server through Discord — we could even turn that into the official thing.

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@Fizz we could keep that server, modify it slightly and have a locked channel for authorisation only