Discord Beta Testing!

[Emily]

As I'm sure you all know, last month we switched network providers for our IRC chatroom. We know that it was a big change for some of you, but we have also been looking into alternative forms of community engagement that may be more suitable. Our chatroom is meant to be a place that can foster community growth and discussion. While IRC has done a decent job for us over the past few years, with our expanding community, we think that it's getting a bit outdated for our uses.

We are currently exploring alternatives to IRC, but right now Discord is at the top of the list. If you're unfamiliar with Discord, it basically combines key features from IRC, Slack, and TeamSpeak. It records all conversations in channels, and if you "leave" the channel, you can still see logs that were recorded in your absence. This can help people who aren't always around for monthly meetings and when you join our chatroom, you don't see a blank room. This allows users to jump right into discussions we're having and also gives more accountability for what people say/do. It offers voice chat, even though we understand some may not be privy to that form of communication, it's there if you'd like to use it. Another cool thing Discord has is uniform apps across pretty much all platforms (Browser, Mac, Windows, Android, IOS), so no more having to find clients that work for your device.

We're going to be opening up a beta server for our community to test out and see the application in action. We'd love for you all to sign up so you can give us your feedback on the application and tell us if you think that it is a suitable replacement for IRC. To clarify, this is not yet replacing IRC and it should not be used over IRC for the moment. In the long term, it's going to be up to you guys whether this is something we want to implement or not. So if you have suggestions for other forms of communication, let us know.

If you'd like to check it our and be one of our beta testers, click this link! You're welcome to create an account with the server, or chat as a guest. If you have any questions or comments about Discord, feel free to leave a reply here or come find me on IRC/Discord for feedback!

EDIT: Made this into a poll so we can gauge what the overall reaction is! Please test Discord before you vote!

[Kai1701E]

Discord looks AWESOME.

[Grissom]

Hey there,

Having been a longtime simmer, IRC has always been a big part of it. I first started using IRC back when I joined Scorpion Fleet... this is going back 20 years or so now. I've played games via IRC and met some of the nicest people I've ever come across via IRC. Some of those friendships have lasted to this day. I've got a lot of happy memories associated with IRC and this isn't the first time doing away with what I feel is a vital resource to any fleet or sim has been broached. Before now, Bravo, Obsidian, Horizon and even during the early days of Pegasus Fleet have discussed doing away with what many feel to be an outdated. Some of the Fleets and Simming groups went blindly rushing into alternatives which ended up killing the sense of community that IRC has helped shape over the years.

With that said, having used Discord for a couple of days, it is a nice bit of software, user friendly, well designed with functions far beyond IRC's somewhat archaic functionality. You haven't rushed your decision which has helped in selling the switch idea, whereas other fleets and groups simply said "Do this cos we said so." It gets a thumbs up from me. Have a lot of good memories with IRC, but as I said IN IRC: All good things...

Here's to many more happy memories in discord!

Kind regards,

Grissom
(I know... haven't got a proper signature yet!)

[Nate]

Alright, I'm about to drop some realness on everyone.

I join Discord the first time when Obsidian Fleet made the switch over. I appreciate that PF is testing it with the general fleet population instead of saying this is what we're doing.

I'm an Android user, so I can't speak to the user-friendliness of the iOS App, but this time around I downloaded the app on my tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab, if it matters) Despite having used the app previously, I found it confusing and set up in a friendly fashion. Perhaps this is different on other platforms.

I am an avid user of Slack, which is similar. In my opinion slack is an easier model to moderate, etc.. While it has been pointed out that Slack isn't the best for larger groups (an entire fleet) it has merits for smaller focused groups (Individual sims, Task Forces, smaller communities).

I feel rambly, so I will end with this. In my opinion there are more user-friendly options out there.

[Joe_Rhimer]

Hi Nate!

Thanks for the feedback. Slack actually was considered, but when compared to what Discord had to offer overall in terms of management and general ease of use (Slack's extra secure setup makes it very clunky for common community use, to me), it lost the fight.

I'm really surprised that you're having a hard time adjusting to the Discord app on Android. I'm an Android user as well, and it's very similar to the Slack app in most respects. I'm wondering if this isn't a case of it being so close to the familiar, but not the same that it feels wrong?

It looks like the overwhelming response right now is to move to Discord. If that changes, we can revisit slack, but otherwise I'd be more than happy to try and help you figure out why the app isn't working for you like you'd like

Thanks for the feedback!

[Taylor_Isley]

I agree with Joe_Rhimer on the security aspect. It is the reason That i am having Oberon test out Discord as well. With Slack, I need to send you an invite via email and I can't just post a link allowing anyone to come visit. For the fleet you kinda of need the ability for anyone to join with ease and for my sim I like the idea of having a link so that new potential members can come drop in and chat.

[Williams]

I know with Slack you can set it up to be able to send somebody a link to teamname.slack.com - though I don't know if that's linked to how we use the security settings at work, whereby you can set it so that anyone can join, so long as they have a particular domain name on their email address.

[Nate]

It's able to be set up to recieve guests.

[Taylor_Isley]

It's able to be set up to recieve guests.

oh well then I remove my comment then. I have yet to figure our how but fair enough.

[Emily]

Thank you for helping to test Discord and help us figure out which path to take, everyone! I'm happy to announce that Discord has officially taken over as host of Pegasus Fleet's chat (see the monthly update for more)! If you have any questions, please visit our Discord FAQ. The IRC channel will stay open through the meeting, but only to help those confused about where to go!

Enjoy!