• RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I don’t understand why discord is so popular for communities. There is 0 permanence, and google does not index it so not even organic growth.

    Discord is a black hole of knowledge except for the ai training companies.

    • SorteKaninA
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      5 months ago

      It attracts a different audience, so in aggregate it seems like your community is suddenly bigger because 1+1=2 right? What you don’t realize is that you’ve divided your community into two separate groups with possibly different wants, needs and cultures.

      • GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
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        5 months ago

        Or that 50% of the users on the discord only went there to find one thing, and probably won’t ever interact again.
        So it looks like a bigger community, while losing accessibility.

    • recklessengagement@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Stopped using Discord a few months ago. Not for any specific reason, just felt like I wasn’t using my time effectively. Anyone important added me on Signal, and then I deleted the apps from my phone and computer.

      I can’t put words to how much better my mental health has gotten.

      This doesn’t really relate to your comment, I guess, but just thought I would mention it in case anyone else is considering taking a break from the platform.

      • Carnelian@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        What did you do on the platform out of curiosity? I felt similarly when I left other social medias.

        Discord I mainly use to keep an eye on early access games and dev updates, and occasionally ask or answer questions. Although I did get into it after deleting other social media so I may be subconsciously avoiding the more toxic parts of the experience

    • XNX@slrpnk.net
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      5 months ago

      Because its very easy to use and does stuff no other platform does (make it extremely easy to voice/video chat with multiple people streaming screen and essentially make a forum in 2 clicks)

      • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        That’s all good but those features are not what makes a good discussion forum. This, what we’re typing on, is an example of a good forum.

        • Alk@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Some communities don’t need a good discussion forum, they need voice chat with a little text chat. Originally, discord was for gaming groups and it worked amazingly for that. Now, more communities are on it than should be, but its still a good feature set for gaming groups.

          • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
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            5 months ago

            If Discord would add wikis and improve its search it would freaking destroy everything else. It would be the place for everything a modern gaming community could want.

          • aStonedSanta@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            You can actually make forums inside of channels now if you are a community discord. But search is still shit lol

          • lemmyvore@feddit.nl
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            5 months ago

            People who use discord don’t want to use it like a forum. They want instant interaction.

            If you think about it a lot of forum banter is just that, just because it’s slower and persistent doesn’t guarantee a higher signal to noise ratio.

            If Discord were to add wikis so people can add persistent FAQs and guides it would cover 99% of its user needs.

      • Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com
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        5 months ago

        Also their role system is badass. It’s incredibly fine grained and makes it possible to manage large communities with plenty of different user levels.

    • Buttons@programming.dev
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      5 months ago

      Google doesn’t index Discord, which means the billion dollar ad industry makes little effort to push their ads on Discord.