We are already making nominations for a mod, but I haven’t seen any movement here.
IDMF Discord 2.0
Roo_Stercogburn
#25
A lot of people use social media and other platforms.
Considering many forums have outright died, this one is actually doing pretty ok.
White_Noise
#27
Not to come back snarky, but the 2 active communities I’m a part of (Audius and Seamlessr’s Bass Castle) beg to differ. Both run what we would basically term beat battles monthly or bi-monthly. And while I can’t stand discord because I have things a like a day job, a need for sleep, and other things I want to do besides music on occasion, other people can’t stand how slow a forum is by comparison. So I think it’s worth us having an organized Discord presence to capture those people and maybe steer a few here, but I also know I shouldn’t run it.
And most of the current netlabel team came out of the ashes of Oatbag’s How Do Music discord channel. So it could be a good place for us to groom future label leaders. If the history of this place is anything to go by, things would run a lot smoother around here if we had reasonable replacements lined up every time someone had to bail on the netlabel, no two year gaps between releases or sudden massive changes in release style. This is actually one of the things I want to start working on for the netlabel (not that I have any plans on leaving soon, I just want things to run smoothly if I should have to), and I think a strong Discord with it’s own engaged mods is a good step towards achieving that, just based on my experience and how I came into my position.
bbb
#28
Discord is fine but you’re going to have forum members that don’t use it at all. So any project community-wise, like VA comps, etc…would need to be linked to forums but not to Discord. I don’t even know it Discord does a “pinned bulletin” type thing. Probably.
As for keeping the asshattery portion at least within reason, is my only concern. So mod the shit out of it. And get banned from one, it’s the other too. Discord represents the forum and vice versa.
But I feel like discord needs more people to manage because it is more instant, than the forum does.
But if either need a mod or whatever to deal with meh shit sometimes. I’ll help. I just might not really use discord actively as far as chatting, etc.
Qianta
#29
anyways, I’d think a new discord channel would be pretty cool. There were a few missteps here and there made by some people (including myself) on the old one, and I think that if we gave it a second chance we can actually have a pretty cool discord chat 
I also find it easier to listen to people’s tracks there than on the listening booth, I’m not always near a computer. :v
White_Noise
#30
Discord is pretty good at dealing with the speed. One trick is you can have different levels of user with different permissions. For instance, maybe only the netlabel team and/or forum mods would be allowed to add/remove channels, ping all members, etc. But you can have a tier below that of Discord-only mods that can delete and move chats or ban users, and then report that to the higher ups to carry it across to the forum side (which I agree should match).
As far as announcements go, what I see is usually a locked announcements channel where only mods can post that comes up as it’s own heading, and that works pretty well if you @ everyone on the announcement posts. I’m not very active and even I can find them and keep up.
Auto-meh-geddon
#31
This.
We’re all ears, none of the mods/admins is against it, but we still haven’t seen anything more than an idea/wishlist.
We made a few suggestions on how we’d like this conversation to develop, we asked to bring into this thread the currently active discord members, tell us how Discord would add to the forum instead of taking from it and apart from a few interesting points from White Noise, we haven’t seen anything with a bit of substance.
Show us that this is more than an idea that people expect the mod team to develop out of their time for some reason and we can have a conversation.
Judging by the current state of this thread, there’s not much interest.
White_Noise
#32
So if I were going to do a plan (and I cannot emphasize enough someone else has to implement this), it would go something like this:
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Do some research. Take a look at how successful discord servers are organized and managed. Seamlessr’s Bass Castle jumps to mind. We’re going to copy them, put a coat of gray and orange on it, and then say we’re geniusses for coming up with that idea ourselves.
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If there’s not an announcement channel already, make one. Also add forum conduct rules and make sure all new members are forced to see them. Adjust as needed, but since these are both text platforms surrounding music discussion I don’t see much change needed.
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Ping @ everyone on said announcement thread and let them know there’s going to be changes as we try to drum up a discord userbase. If they can behave they can hang out in the off-topic chat, if not they can make their own Discord server. Give them a week to see it.
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We take the people who are either active on our Discord server or have experience on other Discord servers and make them Discord-only admins. They are going to have input on what exactly we do going forward, but it should be along the rough outline I’m giving here. I’d say we start with just one or two and go from there. They will need to develop the processes that allow them to check all the chat rooms regularly and will have authority to respond to any complaints or disputes that occur within our Discord server in a fair and rational manner.
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We start experimenting. Mistakes are about to be made. I’d try transplanting stuff like the off-topic thread to a chat as well (which is basically what we have right now). This doesn’t replace the forum thread, it’s just another venue where you can interact with this stuff, and more mobile-friendly. I think the what are you listening to thread would also make a good test subject.
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We continue to make use of the announcements section to promote releases and let forum members who might not get to the forum that often know what’s going on. This might get us some more submissions for compilation projects and improve performance of releases. Or not. I really don’t know of a good way to track engagement directly within the forums.
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After a few weeks, if things are running smoothly and nothing is on fire here or the discord server, we can start to push it more as I mentioned earlier. Take it to Reddit. Tell your mom’s sewing group. Call this the grand opening. If there’s any issues, we look at what it would take to resolve them to make the final call on whether this is worth our time or not. Maybe this does take too much away from the forums. Maybe we need 6 more mods to make it happen and we can get 2. IDK what could happen unless we try, so a test run would be in order.
That should be a decent outline to work off of for whoever can run with this. Again, not it though. Label is enough for me.
EDIT: Step 9-q: Remember those guys we booted back in step 2 who couldn’t behave themselves. They made a better discord server. Time to get out your orange and grey paintbrushes, because we’re about to make IDMf Discord 2.5 Alpha Build.
nose
#33
Well, I kind of wanted to stay out of this… but given we are talking plans and other ideas about Discord, I think this is on a good track.
I’ve brought up discord quite a bit, but yeah, no solid ideas or plans have been discussed until now.
I personally use discord everyday. I help run a server, I’m part of another label server, and various other development or game related channels alike. In fact, I probably have an addiction to the platform because I’m on it literally every day from when I wake to sleep. It’s a problem, but a testament to its power.
The IDMf discord has gotten a bad rap because it was simply underdeveloped. It was created, with a basic channel (and later a LB) but was never moderated heavily and with no features added - at no fault to anyone, I understand this was just an extension of the site.
I’m going to build a list below that shares some of the benefits, and features that I think could really help in building stronger, higher quality releases. This is based purely on my experience only.
For those that don’t know, with discord, you can implement the following features:
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Private text and voice channels. This can be used specifically for upcoming releases, upon which only the artists are allowed, and the curators. This has multiple benefits.
1.1 - Inclusion of artists involved in a release. This allows for real time conversation behind the scenes between artists that are all collaborating on a specific theme/comp or release.
1.2 - Sharing of WIPs, feedback. Discord allows for drag n’ drop sharing of audio files. No hosting needed, and can give integral feedback with regards to mixdowns.
1.3 - Artwork creation is much more fluid, without the need to wait on PMs with ideas, posts, or general opinions.
1.4 - Voice channels are great, its what got a lot of traction for the “IDMf podcast” that was heavily supported and I ended up getting a great amount of users on there. I remember talking to Rixtr, Vlantis, Tsachi, Gomesr, MS, Fid, and others through this. -
Pinning posts, channel features, and moderating rules.
2.1 - Discord allows pinning of any post to specific channels, along with channel headers for community direction.
2.2 - Channel features can have auto-mod capabilities, and you can ban people in a purgatory if conduct gets out of control. Discord has every moderator feature available, for easy control.
2.3 - The User list in the server can give people roles, tag people as artists, contributors, users, moderators/admin. This gives people a sense of role, and community involvement. -
Bots and Filesharing & more
3.1 - While still fairly new, there is a multitude of bots you can add that give people a bigger sense of contribution. Remember the amount of thanks and points from the old forum? There’s leveling bots that let people flex their involvement. While stupid, I kind of like it. It’s fun.
3.2 - Discord is a great service to host stems, WIPs, and releases. It’s an all-in-one forum, effectively, with the channels acting as subforums.
3.3 - Screensharing is possible with discord. I’ve been able to watch live production streams from @_ms and learn about a new production technique. For educational purposes, it’s a live platform to stream on and help others as well.
Other aspects:
- Discord is one of the most widely used platforms currently, largely due to its accessibility. Joining discord (if you already have it) is a simple link. It’s easy to gain new members, and retain them immediately. A forum requires them to find the site, register, check email, sign in, and check a website. This is old architecture and a lot of new blood will not use this at all.
- It’s a method of getting live feedback, and real time contribution to conversation. Discord is a very modern version of IRC, if you can think of it that way.
Moreover, to comment on some of the things already said :
Entirely untrue. While discord started as a gaming companion, replacing Vent and Teamspeak, it also replaces Skype for the most part. I am part of Label discords, Game Devleopment discords, and just general chat. Hell, I even own some Udemy courses and the professors themselves have their own discords to communicate with students. To say Discord is for gaming, is completely ignorant.
This is an interesting hurdle. I would honestly wager if Discord took off, it would have a much more active userbase than the forum itself. What happens when we have compilations in the works and forum members who don’t use DC, say “who the fuck is this person?” and vice versa. Granted, the entire forum could operate on a platform like discord, it would certainly split the users one way or other, as not everyone would use both.
This is actually a way to lose users on discord. The forbidden “@ everyone” feature is a sure-fire way to get people to quit your server. Not everyone likes being pinged, and I’ve actually left servers that use it too much. It’s the responsibility of the server and content to engage people to come back. Nobody wants to be pinged all the time.
A Plan
The discord needs a team. It needs people who know discord that can create the channels we need, with established privileges, and add the features necessary to operate fluidly. It needs moderation in terms of “toxic” content. To be honest, toxic content isn’t as much of a problem on discord as it is on most forums. Generally toxic behavior in real time is really shit upon and most people don’t act up as much as you’d think. If they do? Put them in purgatory for a while, or ban them. Simple fixes.
The server needs channels set up for each new event or release, adding interested parties and keeping up with progress. This is much easier than it sounds.
Promotion. I’ve personally reached out to a lot of old time soundcloud buddies and redditors, that initially joined the discord, and were completely shunned off due to the lack of features, channels, events, and content that was being posted. With so many servers out there that have a lot of engagement and features, it will take work to flourish. It won’t be amazing overnight.
Example
Here’s a small screenshot of a new breakcore label I joined. They’ve only been around for 3 months, and with some small reddit posts and out reach, they have already printed the first physical of their release, and the second one comes out soon. Bandcamp effectively works as their namespace in addition to the discord. We have the benefit of the entire forum behind a discord channel.
edit here’s their bandcamp for reference. https://megataperecords.bandcamp.com/releases
With the options of any text channel group being endless, you could literally have main channels for genres posting (side room) general talk, spaces for people to share, and really anything you want. It’s endless opportunity.
Summary
Discord for promotion and user engagement is the future. Being part of the team label, we’ve had the opportunity to experiment quite a bit with the way releases have been handled, from community voting, to having a guest judge, etc. We reach out to Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and Reddit. It’s really fucking hard these days to simply get people to dive back into old architecture like a forum and be active.
As odd as it is that the internet went from IRC, to forums, with social media, and is now back in an IRC phase, this is the current modern method of communities online. I don’t know a single other artist out there who is signed that doesn’t have their own label discord of some sort, for all team members to stay in real time communication with each other.
Given the experimentation and efforts pertaining to the past 7 releases this year, I would see it as a missed opportunity to at least not TRY and give discord a realistic shot. What is there to lose?
Auto-meh-geddon
#34
Thanks for the input, at least we now have a possible plan/idea.
Now, I’d still like to see the other current Discord users being involved in this conversation.
Even though I just had a look at Discord right now and it is pretty much dead. Oddly enough one of the last posts is by Thom…
bfk
#36
adaptation…
also i blame my political shitpost thread…really sorry about that…
also im from the gen of the broducer dubstep era…(skrillex)…when errybody wanted to be a broducer…
but net music is dead/or changing and the wonders of the internet has faded…and adult ppl…who i will say are in the 20’s-40’s demographic experience a priorities shift…of which art tends to take a back seat…so im guessing that and dealing with toxic content is a combo for off putting…
also nowadays the tracking of social media is common knowledge…so im gonna say the shitpost game is old, a little fun once in a while…but everything in balance…and post semi- responsibly
GomesR
#39
Not really much to add past what Nostro said. Damn nostro, I’m going to have you write up my business plan when I need a bank loan btw.
Rooster does a good job there, just needs some more channels, and a little bit of positivity from the forum. Somehow I just get the vibe that no matter what anybody says, it’s just something you guys don’t want to do, so, don’t do it. I’m certainly not willing to write an essay up about it. Even if I was, it would be redundant at this point.
