The Muse podcast recently had on Logseq’s community manager to discuss this, among other things.
Spoiler: Logseq realized they were hurting their community by having a Discord server and not a forum. The chat starts off lively and light, but the repeated common questions wear down long-time members more quickly than a forum because chat users don’t search the chat and it’s harder for chat members to refer back to past discussions.
Using Discourse in particular for a forum also gets a lot of content search indexed due to the quality of the design. This helps head off a lot of common questions because the community’s answers show up in Google.
(They also liked that Discourse has features that scratch the wiki linking itch, naturally.)
Is it a pricing thing that people are using Discord instead of Discourse?
I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed when I got an invitation to a Discord group from Sparky Labs. I was hoping he would continue with Discourse.
same with me. The Obsidian (and other) Discord is a mess. Recently Eleanor Konik shared on the Obsidian Roundup that there is a new book club and is being orgazised via discord. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to join but gave up at the end
Could you explain the differences, if it’s not too much bother?
I ask because I don’t get it, and I’m wondering if there is something wrong with me! My heart sinks when I see someone is running a course, say, and they set up a discord (or slack, or Facebook community) because some people thrive in those groups but I just get lost and bewildered.
Discourse provides asynchronous civil conversation, Discord is discordant at best and a PITA at worst and is impossible to follow a thread or an interesting conversation. Plus it’s real time and I don’t live on my phone/laptop/ipad.imac so I miss out on a lot.
Discourse has organized conversations that are easy to follow. Discord always feels like I’ve walked into the party too late and I have no idea what’s going on or how to find my friends I’m supposed to be meeting.
I do wonder if it’s an age thing though. At 55, I fondly remember forums (and before that, message boards) before Facebook took over and everyone started a “group” instead. I feel like there’s a movement away from those groups now, with the younger folks opting for Discord or Slack or Circle, while the older ones are finding a renewed interest in forums.
Discord is best for real-time communication that’s mostly synchronous. It most definitely has its place within some communities. Discourse is more like a traditional asynchronous discussion forum; it’s a completely different thing and really almost. the only thing that the two platforms have in common is that their names are similar.
tl;dr:
Discourse is better for sharing ideas and knowledge.
Discord is better for having conversations.
Web forums such as Discourse are OK, but they’re still a pale modern echo of proper text Usenet groups, downloaded and read on a decent Newsreader like Nature intended.
I can’t remember the name of the first one I used in the early 90s (probably something provided by Demon Internet), but for a long time I used Gnus on Emacs. Happy days!
The DejaVu came along and spoilt everything - people got the strange idea that you could read Usenet on the web, and it’s been downhill ever since. Bah.
I don’t believe this is fundamentally an age issue; it’s a quality of conversation issue or a purpose of the medium issue (per @ACautionaryTale).
There is a tendency to adopt what has been called chronological snobbism; something newer must be better than what came before, or in reverse, the old traditional ways of doing things were always better. Both are wrong as measures of right and wrong or of value. The quality of something is determined by its intrinsic value or value to those engaging with it.
I think of it this way, Discord is real time so if I need an answer right now (say I’m working on a deadline for today), then this is the appropriate place to ask for help. Discourse is less time sensitive, where you can wait a day or two for your answer, let’s say your deadline is 2 weeks away instead of today. Discourse is also a better reference tool, where you can search the database of already asked and answered questions.
To add to the “they are different platforms” commentary…
In a big server, Discord is an informative, informal party. People chatter and talk over each other. Replies are rarely long. Conversations involve many people and happen across multiple channels at the same time.
It can be awkward to show up at a party, especially if you don’t know anyone and it’s your first time there. And it can be draining to hang out at a party, even if you’re engaged in something. Still, if you get into it, it can be a fun way to participate in a community and experience a subculture.
Plus, the chaos of a party leads to a lot of “collision space.” That’s the real value of Discord: serendipitously learning things you didn’t know you didn’t know, or having spontaneously valuable or entertaining exchanges with one another.
Discourse is a formal conference. Contributions tend to be more substantial. You aren’t typically allowed to have short replies. Off-topic comments are rare. Conversations are slow-paced. Folks start and “host” discussions about specific topics.
It’s easier to show up in a Discourse instance and figure out where to sit, who to listen to, and what to say. Because it’s slow-paced, it’s easier to dip in and out without losing connection with the culture. And because it’s typically browsable and searchable on the web, Discourse serves as a better repository for learning over time.
It’d be weird for someone to dislike Discourse because it’d be like disliking a formal conference about a topic you cared about. On the other hand, it’s easy to hate Discord in the same way that it’s easy to hate a party even if it’s filled with people you like.
This is an interesting thread in that this has been on my mind with the MacSparky Labs. I’m currently rolling out a Discord server for the labs and I’ve had a lot of feedback from members on it. I can tell you that a lot of people really dig Discord while for others it doesn’t really land. My experience has generally been in that second category but I’m curious how to use it effectively.
The other thing for those of us running Memberful-backed sites, setting up a Discord is stupid easy. You literally push a button. Memberful and Discord talk to each other to manage permissions and it really is simple to administer.
Discourse is not so easy and requires cash investment and a knowledgeable administrator. Stephen and I spend a significant amount of money keeping the lights on here.
Memberful has recently added a feature where members can like and comment on labs content. That is one thing I could do with Discourse, but Discourse could do a lot more. My intention with the labs, once the Discord gets running smoothly, is to investigate adding a separate Discourse forum.
So I guess this is the long way around for me to say that I think they scratch different itches.
