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.