2c:
As a regular contributor to the Noisebridge Discord I can say this: The
time sink/overhead in participating with the very unwieldy and distracting
platform that Discord is, is completely at odds with the relative and
sometimes near total neglect by most members, and all but the most
committed and engaged folks. Even when communicating with board members and
interest group stakeholders, for example, I often can't get a response from
them, on pertinent issues.
I have not seen, as many assume, that because it's hip to have a Discord
server, you'll attract folks otherwise not attending to their email inbox.
Noisebridge has some 5,000+ members, of which I'd estimate there are 25 or
fewer individuals who post regularly and with useful content.
I think it's an awful platform, where everything is grotesquely gamified,
and one can't avoid nudges to purchase "Nitro" and other digital
doohickies. You do not own your data. And the data is not at all portable.
Certainly, there must be other usable options. Anything marginally more
functional that IRC with some threading and topic capabilities would be
sufficient.
In terms of participation in these platforms -vs- email, socials, etc: I
think there's a shift in culture away from paying attention consistently to
pretty much anything that's not being force fed into one's doom-scroll
feed. Asking people to thoughtfully participate in a forum, email list, or
chat discussion platform* will attract those who already would put the time
in, no matter what platform is used,** so the platform selected should
cater to those who make the most effort* (and probably don't need
entertaining features).
Anything more would require a shift in the culture around our commitment to
communication and collaboration.
*--Justin Morrison*
*w: justin.dance <http://justin.dance>i: @justindances
<https://instagram.com/justindances>*
p: 213.700.6385