Discord - rules of behavior
If you are on steemit and not using discord, you have it harder than those who are. People who are using it rarely visit trending pages, we have our "trendy" pages someplace else. You guessed it, discord. This is a magical place where you can actually talk to people and your bandwidth will not go down since it is not related to steemit. There are some great posts about different discord groups you can join. Almost every country has one and you know those colorful banners for groups like @thesteemengine, @ecotrain, @thealliance, @steemitbloggers, @steemsugars, @steemiteducation, @steemitramble etc. ? They are all on discord too.
This post has a purpose to tell you some basic information about discord and to introduce you to rules of behavior there. It is a mini Universe and if you want to be a part of it, you should know how to behave.
If you have not already, visit https://discordapp.com/ and step into a world of online communication like nothing you have seen before. It works on your computer and your phone so you can basically take it anywhere with you and always be connected, if that is what you wish of course.
Discord is a freeware voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) application. It specializes in text, video and audio communication between users in a chat channel. It is basically an app with which you can communicate with people. Remeber those old chat room servers? They grew up and are now bigger and better than ever with a fresh new design and purpose. It was first created for gamers to allow them to easily communicate with each other while playing and still has the bigger part of its users in that group but it did branch out to folks connected with other topics, steemit is one of them.
Discord has over 130 million users and if you want to become one of us, just visit the link and create your account. You can use discord in your browser or download the app. There are more than enough guides online for the use of it, and a lot of them are fairly user-friendly since discord is like that too. When on Discord, you can either join an existing group or create your own server and send invitations to others. I am currently in 23 different groups and I know people who are in over 50 of them. Besides groups, there is also an option of direct messaging a specific person or several of them. All of that can be done by chat, voice, video, and even screen sharing.
Almost every server you join will have a room with general rules for that group. You should read them. Should is an understatement. You MUST read them. Those rules are not guidelines, they are orders and are there for a reason. Leave your anarchy attitude behind and follow along, obeying the rules is an absolute must. If you do not like the rules, leave the group.
People who created a particular server had a plan what to do with it. You will either behave according to that plan or will not be welcome there anymore. The story is very simple, just ask yourself what do you want. Being a part of any group holds a certain set of benefits, in order to use them you have to play nice with others, especially the boss. If there are rules that state how you should not insult others or use bad words, do not. If there are obligations to upvote or comment other members in order to receive the same, do it.
Besides general rules, different chat rooms in group server can have rules too. They are in the description of that room or in the pinned messages. Read those too, obey them and reinforce when needed. If the rules clearly state how you can not put a link to your steemit post more than once a day, do not. If there is a rule on how you need to upvote and/or comment on one/two/whatever posts before putting your link, do so.
By typing @username in chat, the user whom you mentioned will get a notification and probably come and see who mentioned him and why. This is useful to get someone's attention when needed. When you use @everyone, you will notify every person in that server.
Some people are in many groups and lead important conversations in some of them. They always respond to notifications or have been waiting for some important feedback. It is time-consuming to check every notification when most of them are useless. Using everyone tag to say hello to everyone or to say how you are having the best coffee in your life is not ok, not ok at all. People do not like it. They hate it actually.
Everyone tag should be used only for important info that actually concerns everyone. The best way to know if it is appropriate to use is to ask the moderator or administrators of the group.
Discord is not Twitter, you are not limited so use as many words as you need to get your message across. Please keep in mind that most servers are in English and you should probably have a basic understanding of the language. Good thing is, discord will underline most of your mistakes when you type and there is also an option to EDIT your message after it has been sent and correct it.
If you want people to understand what you are saying, be understandable. Using your slang will work with people who know it, do not presume we all do because we do not. The most important thing to remember here is that written communication is "dead communication". This means that people can not hear your tone of voice or see your facial expressions. All we have to work with is what you have written so use your words carefully. You can always use emojis for help.
Having a sense of humor is great, expecting that everyone understands it is delusional. Again, EMOJIS! Whenever you doubt that a person will maybe have troubles with knowing you are just kidding, put that smiley in there and help her. We are not mind readers, if you want us to understand what you are saying, be comprehensive.
Ok, this is the most important rule. If you break any of the previous ones but are polite, everything can be fixed. We are all humans here and we all make mistakes sometimes. Saying sorry goes a long way and you do not have to worry about making mortal enemies as long as you are able to be nice to others. Be polite and have some manners when talking to people. Do not be a jerk.
When sending a direct message to a stranger, a person who you never talked to before and do not know, please be polite and do not make a terrible mistake or ruinning a first impression. Some things cannot be unseen...
do not propose marriage to strangers
do not beg for upvotes or resteems
do not type "Hello who are you"
do not type "hi" and nothing else (does not work no matter how many i letters you type)
do not send links or spam people
do not send "Pls give me some tips to polupar and more upvote"
do not send links to your posts and type "check this out"
do not send invites to discord groups and when asked what the group is about respond with "ask the moderator when you join"
do not type "happy new month"
do not send "would you like to be my friend"
do not freak out when a person does not answer you in the next 3 seconds, we have lives and are not on discord all the time, be patient and wait for a response
Yes,
I have received all of those...
When you send your first message to a new person by DM keep in mind that the person does not know who you are. Yes, say hi or hello but then explain in short who you are and what you want. You could say something like this:
After you get to know a person, your style of communication will probably change and you can even begin to develop some great friendships. Discord is like that, you never know who you will meet. Good luck with your future discord endeavors and as always...
KEEP YOUR SMILE ON!
Image sources:
- cover image is from pixabay and free for personal and commercial use, you can find it by following this link: Clker-Free-Vector-Images
- discord image is from DISCORD BRAND
- the bitmoji is well... my bitmoji. Get yours at https://www.bitmoji.com/
- discord image is from DISCORD BRAND
- the bitmoji is well... my bitmoji. Get yours at https://www.bitmoji.com/
PROUD MEMBER OF:
@steemitbloggers
I had to laugh at the marriage proposals ones!! So far I have not received any of those lol.
I have received the please upvote me as they take a high reputation meaning as high upvote lol
I have also received so many Hi and nothing else but with the number of DMs I get then they get mad if I don't answer right away. First of all I don't know you and I do have a life outside of Steemit. also I have so many messages so most likely it I saw it then forgot about it since there is no question or statements.
This comment was made from https://ulogs.org
lol - I don't know what image do you use on Discord, but if it's the same one as this one on Steemit, consider changing it - I'm sure, marriage proposal would arrive! 😉😂
@maverickinvictus you have it good with no marriage proposals, I had just one and I know a girl who was proposed a couple of times. She is blond, young and pretty. Africans seem to adore her, Aceh people too :D
Thank you for your lovely comment 💚
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@zen-art
hihihi, thank you honey 💚
Wooowww.....what a lovely way to explain discord importance. No doubt discord help manybto buil a strong community.....👍
It really did 💚
This is a great article for new comers! Not many new steemians know the secret to steemit is discord communities and I feel like more people should be referring newbs to discords to keep them active on steemit. It keeps the community close and helps keep our articles somewhere it can actually get seen, instead of lost in the sea of spam on steemit.. ;)
Yes, discord kept me here in the beginnings when I was about to give up and is clearly doing great things for retention. I hope new people discover it. Thank you for your great comment 💚
Ha, great guide for Discord! I think you forgot the @here tag as well in addition to the everyone tag. Do people really propose marriage in Discord? not really my idea of romance!
I will be typing @zen-art upvoted and commented soon on a Discord!.... DING!
Yup, they propose, more times than you would think. You men are missing a lot :D :D :D
Thank you for the DING 💚
Apparently! I hope you find true love in Discord! It will be a great romance story to tell future generations...
Nice info. My early discovery of the use of discord has added more to my success on the steem platform.
#thealliance
I am glad to hear that, I discovered it on my second day on steemit and I cannot imagine how my journey would have gone without it.💚
Without wanting to sound flattering, I seriously don't know how you do it - ie, consistently publish great quality posts AND keeping active on Discord (I know that you're a very active member) - as well as getting on with your daily business.
When I'm writing or making videos, I tend to go into a "black hole" and ignore everything else. When I'm finished, I usually have to whizz off to do something else. The first thing I was going to say about Discord has been eloquently said by @ana-maria: Discord often gets on my nerves! The reason is that if I'm working on my tablet, I repeatedly get those beep alerts from it (even though I tried to turn them off). When I eventually look at them, it's a comment saying "Tired today" or "Cool!"
When I properly pay attention to it and find a great discussion, it's usually one that was taking place 3 hours ago, in the early hours in my country (but late at night in theirs). If I reply, no one spots it, as they're all asleep!
I know - I need to organise my time better. I have actually had some great chats on Discord, great responses to my cries for help with some of the more technical apps and I've found great content through post promotion threads as well as finding great readers/viewers and followers.
Discord is great. I know it can be hard sometimes but the way I am handling it is to silence most of the channels in every discord. That way, only when someone mentions you there is a notification. Without silencing, it would be bipping all the time :D Thank you for your lovely and kind words 💚
I guess this is the downside to being visible and popular. I am astonished that all these things happened to you. (But I have to believe it.) Cw gets annoying ones occasionally. I really don't. (Maybe it's because I am constantly invisible -- for a reason. I am on Discord a lot. But I don't have time for a lot of superfluous chit-chat.)
I also tend to cultivate genuine friends (they know who they are) -- not a bunch of buddies ... and if a message pops up from someone I don't know, there had better be a good reason.
Terrific post, Petra. You always do fabulous work. (I know. You already know that.)
You are a sneaky little one, always somewhere in the background, silent and observing. If I feel a sudden breeze, you probably joined the room hihihi :) Thank you for your lovely words and support, much love 💚
Haha @zen-art your post is relevant and yet funny. I love the part about proposals. You mean people actually get those? Oh my!!!
Having been on discord, it has made me come out of my shell more to connect. I have learnt to engage better and not too much of hit and run, that is me forcing myself to do that. I truly agree we should always play by the rules of the different discord servers and have courtesy whenever we approach anyone. It sometimes may sound scary when a stranger suddenly comes to approach me too so I want to try to think the same for the other party.
I love being on Discord these days compared to when I first started, I remember the many features it has got me all overwhelmed. My first thought was: No wonder it is a gamers'"den"! Hahaha I was wrong some of the discord servers make my days big time!
Love the details you pin pointed out in your post about this wonderful freeware!
I am glad you are enjoying discord now and that you appreciate what I wrote. Yes, when I started, it was weird for me too :) Nowadays, I am more on discord then on steemit :D