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Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

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Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#111

Post by vladvasiliu »

Roark66 wrote: post #104

At least IRC is usually logged. However, I've noticed a disturbing trend amongst web shops. It used to be common for a shop to have it's return policy and form linked on the main page/menu. Right along side its terms&conditions, privacy policy etc. Now I noticed a couple of popular shops I interact with replaced it with "chat with us" things(IKEA in Poland, a bunch of very large clothing brands etc). I hate it when I…

And then, those same companies, feign having no idea why everybody and their dog orders on Amazon.

I've never had to jump through any hoop or deal with any clueless AI to return a product.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#112

Post by cgriswald »

csnover wrote: post #71
barkingcat wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with banning someone you've asked repeated to change their behaviour while interacting in a space that you host? Nothing!

Right or wrong, it can be a really difficult thing to do when the problem behaviour is not due to malice. You’re taking away a community from someone, and in my experience, usually it’s someone who doesn’t have many other social outlets. It does not feel good to get pleading emails from these sorts of folks, knowing that you have to stand firm and say ‘no’ for the health of the wider community.

Sometimes these people need a hard truth. I’d say most times. They usually won’t “get it” in the moment, but the only way they can ever get it is if someone respects them enough to say it.

These sorts of bans aren’t just good for the community. They’re also good for the recipient. (I’d only say that in the short term, depending on the person, there could be a danger of self harm and people should always be kind and careful.)

It doesn’t feel good. But that pain you feel is you caring about that person. Understanding that makes it easier.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#113

Post by cgriswald »

heavyset_go wrote: post #75
squeaky-clean wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't the same thing happen with old school forums? There are some avatars I remember (I don't remember their user names) on certain product's forums who I know I can't trust, and they show up in every third thread I find on Google. At least they never change their avatar, if they did I might fall for their BS again. Also IMO, on forums that show a user's response count, anyone with several thousand responses shoul…

I feel like it's different on more asynchronous mediums than just chats. Forums could have thousands of personalities and never really feel dominated by any of them, but IRC channels became dominated by a relatively small percentage of regular users.

Forums can also be small. Regardless of size, one or a cadre of like-minded or easily manipulated folks can dominate a forum.

I think the major difference between forums and Discord/IRC is that the conversations are more likely to be seen on the forums because they’re more persistent and can be more easily referenced to see the entire picture.

That’s certainly not impossible in IRC but it’s more work and less accessible to the less technically inclined.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#114

Post by j16sdiz »

d0mine wrote: post #69
barkingcat wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with banning someone you've asked repeated to change their behaviour while interacting in a space that you host? Nothing!

"not really breaking any rules per se"

It's easy.

You are the host, you define the rule.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#115

Post by BanazirGalbasi »

kynetic wrote: post #107
0xpgm wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course, yet another way for the new generation of programmers to relearn the hard way the lessons of the older generation, like happens a lot in software. When I started out, it was pretty clear to me that to solve problems, first read the error message clearly and try understand it, then search the relevant forum or google for someone in the past who experienced the same error. Finally, if unable to solve, post a…

Woah this is an incredibly good point I hadn't even considered before now. After years of finding solutions to problems in obscure threads on forums I'd never have visited otherwise, I had never even considered the fact that the only way to do similar with discord is to not only have an account, but be a member of the specific discord guild, and then search that specific guild for specific keywords. That's actually m…

This is one of the most common reasons I've seen people use to push back on Discord for support, and the article somewhat brings it up in points 3 and 4. It's not publicly scrapable or anonymously accessible, nor can you archive it and host the information elsewhere if it goes down. Even the forum channels they introduced aren't useful in those regards.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#116

Post by nextlevelwizard »

alchemio wrote: post #95
nextlevelwizard wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For now. Just remember who owns Github these days and what their track record is with technology.

Unlikely. At least less likely compared to discord and reddit!

discord makes bank, but not my point.

who cares about reddit.

microsoft has all the motivation to lock down developers. they already got most by the balls with vscode and copilot.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#117

Post by nologic01 »

People forget that there is a fashion and demographic element in these choices that can overwhelm rational argumemts about functionality et al.

Discord had certain features that struck a chord with a generation of gaming communities, thats more or less all there is to it. Now people will pick it just to be trendy and in tune with the times.

Personally I find its manipulative, over-emojed UI distasteful and it is hopeless for knowledge management.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#118

Post by tanepiper »

Sorry but if you think large-scale companies are going to use a platform designed for gaming as their main support channel - no.

We've had one "Enterprise" supplier move from Slack to Discord. Their community manager in this case did not understand my argument of why this is a bad thing and kept pushing it. For example when I said there is no SSO, they said there is (of course not realising WE have to pick up the bill to set that up - also puts the work on CISOs to investigate the tool for larger use).

Now they are on Discord and I will not share any NDA-related material there - nor would our Security and Data Privacy team like us to.

At least they agreed to keep the Slack Connect in this case.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#119

Post by Operyl »

Denote6737 wrote: post #98
Operyl wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried launching a forum, I spent a _lot_ of time setting up Discourse and proper CDN/uploads etc. I didn't go all out, only a few categories based on what was commonly needed (like 5?). I did this _before_ I resorted to Discord as the only point of help. People begrudgingly used it... It got to the point where I was asked "why aren't you using Discord like everyone else in this space?" enough that I asked my power…

Here is the thing. You may be seeing more people seeking help because they are repeating the same questions again. Where as before they found the thread with the answer. To me this is the biggest drawback for discord over forums.

From my experience it happens just as much on forums. Hell, just take a look at Stack Overflow! If someone is wanting to reanswer a question for the nth time, I have no problem with that, and the helpers in my community don't either. As another poster said, as well, sometimes "repeat questions" age out after a certain point, where a newer method is actually more appropriate than an older one anyway.

Re: Don't use Discord as your Q&A forum

#120

Post by wodenokoto »

I think there is a culture shift. When I was young all events would be on Facebook. For better or worse that created a source of truth (worse being that obviously we were forcing guests onto a platform that we shouldn't be forcing them on) and a whole structure that kept track of things for you.

Now a days, I see events being a post across a few chat groups, with no source of truth for time and place (and those often left out!)

I have an impression that there is a whole new generation of people who _don't_ want to post on or interact with a forum/bulletin board style of interface, but want to be part of a "living" and instant group.

I'm not part of any chat group where this is really working, but every meetup I go to, people are asking "which chat group should I join?" or "why don't I create a whatsapp/discord for this meetup?"

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