Welp, this turned out a bit longer than originally intended. This is an article about the pros and cons with using Discord as a place to build a community. Find all the available guides here.
TL;DR:
The approach of locking members into a platform restricts content indexing and searchability is a nuisance at best, and a nightmare for FOSS-enthusiasts. If that’s not an issue to you, Discord offers a versatile platform for building online communities, with advantages such as direct user engagement, customizable spaces, and real-time communication. Depending on what kind of community you are looking to build, there are a bunch of features that you won’t find on a lot of other platforms. Still, there are significant risks, including potential for rapid spread of negative sentiment and getting overwhelmed with support requests. Ultimately, the decision to use Discord should be based on careful consideration of your community's specific needs, resources available, and alignment with your values regarding openness and accessibility.
The Walled Garden vs FOSS
While Discord can provide a vibrant and engaging platform for communities, its inherent nature as a walled garden presents a paradoxical challenge for those in the free and open-source software (FOSS) movement. The lack of search engines indexing Discord servers means you cannot find the information or support you need as easily as you could on other, more open platforms. On top of that, the search functionality in the app is quite basic, lacking the right tools to unearth specific information when you’re in a pinch. The proprietary nature of Discord will create dissonance and might even be flat-out rejected by a lot of users on the fediverse. If you are more interested in FOSS alternatives, consider using Matrix or Stoat. While these apps still seem to be maturing, both provide a better foundation than Discord could ever hope to achieve. If the general drawbacks do not bother you, continue reading to explore some pros and cons of using Discord for various community-building scenarios, offering insights and guidance to help you make an informed decision about whether Discord aligns with your goals when managing a community.
Game Devs and Publishers
As a video game developer or publisher, Discord provides you with the opportunity to foster a more direct connection with your (potential) player base. The ability to create custom roles, channels, and emoji allows for fine-grained community organization and engagement, which can be especially valuable for game developers looking to build a dedicated following around the game’s universe or series. By feeding other social media content to your server it can also act like a hub where people can catch up on news and discuss them directly on the platform.
Whether you’re ready for it or not, having a public server will have players share insights through questions and open dialogue. When constructive, this can be quite insightful as there is a good chance it can turn into a conversation that allows further refinement. Discord's flexibility also makes it an ideal platform for closed beta tests, allowing you to create a focused group that has a dedicated space for them to discuss. Furthermore, organizing giveaways, contests, and other community-driven activities becomes an (almost) seamless process within the Discord ecosystem via the plethora of bots and apps integrated with the platform.
That being said, it is important to acknowledge the potential challenges that come with managing a public server for video games. Just like Steam’s discussion boards or YouTube comments, people of all walks of life will directly or indirectly share their opinions, grievances and preferences, and occasionally members will clash with each other as well. The difference here is that this is a real-time discussion platform where negative sentiments can spread rapidly, underscoring the need for proactive moderation and transparent communication.
If not handled promptly, toxic activity will make members feel less safe and not welcome in your community. While the core active users will probably continue to show their faces, toxicity will result in a lack of engagement by other (newer) members and a greatly reduced retention rate. Aside from moderation it could also prove challenging to juggle the feedback and reports piling in if not channeled properly. Setting up the right infrastructure and guidelines will save you a lot of time and headaches down the line.
Discord Bot developers
Building a successful Discord bot requires more than just technical skills: you also need people that use your product. Hosting a Discord server can help with initial troubleshooting, and it opens up receiving feedback that can help shape development. While you can receive feedback through various means, it’s quite common to see bot support communities on Discord. If you plan to monetize the bot, Discord even requires you to have a support server to be able to provide support to paying clients.
A bot support server means you can talk to your users on the same platform that they are using your product on, allowing for smoother troubleshooting of surface-level issues and deeper insights into how the bot is actually used by your users. This direct line of communication could also foster a sense of co-creation, depending on the nature of the bot and your goals for your project.
As the user base grows, this level of community support and engagement does present its own set of hurdles. You may find yourself inundated with support requests, making it challenging to keep up with the demand for assistance. In such cases, it may be better to consider a platform like Codeberg.org, which offers robust issue tracking and development-focused discussions, allowing for a more structured approach to managing community input and bug reports.
Brand Community
For businesses, NPO’s, and other team projects, the platform can serve as a tool for providing real-time user support and fostering a dedicated brand community. Users can seek assistance for surface-level issues, get news updates, and start networking with fellow community members. While casual, this direct line of communication can still allow you to gather insights and feedback with the goal of enhancing your products or services.
The biggest risk for a business is Discord itself: all data on the server is solely owned by Discord, and there is always a non-zero chance that you will lose access or data in the future. This risk becomes even more of a problem when you use the server to discuss internal relations (aka “corporate” communications). As Discord does not provide any kind of enterprise support like backups, uptime guarantees or account management, relying on Discord for your team’s internal communication should simply be avoided altogether.
If the lack of enterprise support is a non-issue for you, establishing a brand on Discord still has other challenges. Just like video game servers or bot support servers, negative sentiment can escalate if not properly managed, potentially harming your brand. If the space is not used for networking, generating engagement might prove difficult depending on how interesting your brand is to the Discord user base.
Niche Communities on Discord
For hobbyists, sports enthusiasts, or those seeking casual social hangouts, Discord provides a platform to create specialized communities centered around shared interests. By leveraging Discord's server and channel structure, you can establish dedicated spaces tailored to your members’ niche pursuits, like TV watch parties, sports betting or photo sharing forums. The informal and casual nature of Discord encourages relaxed interactions among community members, allowing for organic relationship-building. Growing a community around shared interests as a volunteer can be difficult though, so it might be good to set up community profiles on all sorts of social media that can be found online to direct traffic to the community.
Content Creators and Artists
For content creators working in various artistic mediums such as art, videos, and/or live streams, Discord can serve as a casual platform to connect with fans, share creative works, receive valuable feedback, and share news about upcoming events and content. By fostering regular interactions within a dedicated community, creators can build a loyal fan base that actively participates in their creative journey. However, moderation can become quite time-consuming in these types of servers as the server grows. As an alternative, something like Patreon offers a more focused community experience.
Wiki or knowledge base creators
This one is simple: don’t. As mentioned in the introduction, people who are searching for guides, knowledge articles and support will not be able to find anything until they have an account and are present in your specific Discord server. This outweighs the positive features that you could leverage, as this directly opposes the open nature of wikis and help articles.
I will admit I have done this myself, with the excuse that my content is all related to Discord and require you to have a basic understanding of how the platform works. This meant joining my server was less of a barrier to those wanting to read guides about managing Discord communities. Still, it's ultimately a sub-optimal solution that prioritized keeping users within the Discord ecosystem over providing accessible information, and this was not my intention.
If your goals are similar and your Discord community is already established, consider a dedicated wiki site or even a custom website to index and display your content instead. This makes it more accessible to the web and allows you to focus more on the community building aspect of Discord. Personally, I am also transferring my guides to Lemmy to share my tools and guides with the fediverse, without the need to visit a different website to browse the content.
