Assuming you are on both, which easy are you leaning right now?
Discord and Discourse obviously have different strengths and I’m not trying to prompt a discussion comparing the merits of the two. Rather, I’m interested in what people are feeling about where they’ll post and whether you’ll continue to use both.
It’s strikes me that there is the possibility that discussion could become fractured?
For myself, I’ll probably post mostly here, but I don’t want to miss out on any goodness that happens on Discord, so I’ll be checking there very regularly too (unless/until it dries up I suppose).
The forum format feels a little stiff and formal to me so far, so I imagine I’ll start threads here when I feel like being serious or when I want the discussion to be easy for others to search and archive. Otherwise I’ll probably opt for Discord.
Oh, and yeah, the discussions will become fractured. It’s a feature, not a bug. People are comfortable in different formats and there’s nothing we can do about that, the important thing is just giving everyone places to speak.
The Discord is more like a chat room. It’s good for chatting and banter, and that’s fun.
I agree with @flyrefi that this here feels more formal, but I like to be able to write a few paragraphs without feeling like it’s stopping everything else in its tracks. Here at the Cauldron, people can start new threads with great ease but it’s better for surveys and in-depth question and answer. At the NSR Discord, people can chit chat, which is important.
Feeling it out still, but when I have something that feels Big or that’d I’d like to see people continually answer/interact with this place feels more appropriate. While I can use the discord for random ideas, quick questions, and the like.
It really depends on how much I have to say about the subject. If it’s a paragraph or more, I’ll put it on the Cauldron. I’ll use the Discord to do things like sharing links, but if I want to talk about the pros and cons of a new technique I feel like the longer format of Discourse is better. Discourse topics are also easier to sort through, so they can work as a repository of knowledge going into the future. Honestly, I think that is the main benefit. Somebody interested in these things in the future can see what we discussed, and hopefully that will lead to less re-treading of old ground and constant re-stating of positions that Discord and Twitter topics.
I think that at the speed I look at things for NSR, discourse is definitely more my speed. Once I see channels in discord with 50+ it is too daunting. …but that is just me. I also like more thought out replies to things rather than hot takes (not that that happens so much in NSR, but does happen in mediums like discord).
I have a day job and family things. So this fits my use case for more considered replies and speed.
Similar to what other people are saying, I will continue to discover my own balance and probably lean towards using Discourse when I want to write more than a few sentences and be able to know how to reference material in the future, and use Discord for shorter form and less permanent banter.
I’m definitely leaning more towards Discourse at the moment, but that’s mostly from being Discorded out after a few years. I’m sure it will reach more of a happy medium after a bit.
I tend to get a little overwhelmed by the pace of the discord, and have a harder time keeping up, so this feels a little more comfortable to me. I’m interested to see whether the existence of this forum has a casualizing effect on the discord and funnels more serious conversation here, or whether we can maintain the Deep Stuff on both ends.
Despite the lovely ppl involved at the discord channel, I much prefer this forum. Instead of clusters rapid fire one liner messages we actually get 4+ thought out sentences from one person with grammar and all. Takes much less mental fortitude from me to read this nice, well laid out, spacey forum and get something out of it… Also after a short while interesting discussions are still readable and not buried under chatter as they are at discord. Thanks again for setting this up!
In the future, I could see readable summaries of NSR Discord discussions being posted here in The Cauldron. Indeed, maybe a weekly community thread on Discord specifically designed to collate responses to a topic that would then be posted here.
I think discord has its place aswell, maybe to spur new topics and chats that have a short life span, but discourse could be a place - once the ideas/thoughts have potential to grow into “trees/evergreen content” this would be the place for those questions & answers to have a home, and keep fostering with new people adding to it like “watering”.
Tried to do a plant metaphor, turning a bit convoluted Attempt 2:
Discord = Local grocer
Discourse = Community garden
Yeah in a way, if you think the seeds have the potential to grow into trees that would add value in being archived for longer-form conversations, then discourse would be the home.
I think once a conversation needs a “thread” on discord, it should be moved onto discourse in my opinion.
Discord would be a way to check in on the community quickly and daily catch-up.
It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. O to feel that Discord often moves too fast but I can quick and dirty ideas there, which I sometimes appreciate.
