Happy Atheist Forum

Discord is a free website/app chat that can be used anywhere at anytime with an internet connection. This would be to make it easier for the busy-bodies of HAF to be connected with the rest of the community. I already have a server set up that is not in use that I can convert to use for HAF.

The servers are run privately so only people with the invites can join. However to keep trolls away, the invites will be sent via private messages on HAF. That will keep the visibility down from the public eye.

Very interesting. I'll be blunt. If you got the hump with HAF for any reason would the survival of this element of HAF be under your jurisdiction?

Quote from: Arturo on July 08, 2017, 04:54:30 AM
Discord is a free website/app chat that can be used anywhere at anytime with an internet connection. This would be to make it easier for the busy-bodies of HAF to be connected with the rest of the community. I already have a server set up that is not in use that I can convert to use for HAF.

The servers are run privately so only people with the invites can join. However to keep trolls away, the invites will be sent via private messages on HAF. That will keep the visibility down from the public eye.

When I travel, I always have internet access at my hotel, hence access to HAF. Perhaps I am being dense, but I can't see what the advantage of this will be.

There is another issue here. The element of exclusivity, the invite, could/will create a clique. Cliques are the death of forums, I have seen it on a number of occasions, not least of which was the original Richard Dawkins Forum (RDF) which imploded in a spectacular ego clash among the staff. Of which I was one. It is for this reason that there is no 'Private' area of the forum for general discussion. There is a staff area but only issues related to the running of the forum are discussed there.

The problem is 'Who gets in?' If it is an automatic invite (say post count) then the protected area isn't really protected and slow posters never get in. If it is by invite who chooses who to invite? Staff have to be allowed in because they are aware of the area due to the nature of staff forum access. Do we operate a 'black ball' process where any existing member can exclude any potential member anonymously? If not what is the point of invite only?

I have yet to balance these imponderables effectively.

We've already got a HAF group on Facebook, so why do we need to have an exclusive HAF Discord server?

I have taken the liberty of adding 'Ambivalent' to the poll and reset the voting. Please revote.

Quote from: Tank on July 08, 2017, 10:46:26 AM
Very interesting. I'll be blunt. If you got the hump with HAF for any reason would the survival of this element of HAF be under your jurisdiction?

I can put other's in charge of whatever I want. If I REALLY wanted to, I could ban everyone and take away your privileges. However, I'm not sure if I can put someone in charge of taking my own privileges away. I'll have to look into that.

EDIT: I can transfer ownership to any member.

Quote from: Tank on July 08, 2017, 11:21:18 AM
There is another issue here. The element of exclusivity, the invite, could/will create a clique. Cliques are the death of forums, I have seen it on a number of occasions, not least of which was the original Richard Dawkins Forum (RDF) which imploded in a spectacular ego clash among the staff. Of which I was one. It is for this reason that there is no 'Private' area of the forum for general discussion. There is a staff area but only issues related to the running of the forum are discussed there.

The problem is 'Who gets in?' If it is an automatic invite (say post count) then the protected area isn't really protected and slow posters never get in. If it is by invite who chooses who to invite? Staff have to be allowed in because they are aware of the area due to the nature of staff forum access. Do we operate a 'black ball' process where any existing member can exclude any potential member anonymously? If not what is the point of invite only?

I have yet to balance these imponderables effectively.

The invites can be generated by anyone, lest a person in power takes that away. I guess we could make a sticky thread and put a permanent invite link in there if that's allowed (by discord). Then we can see how that works out.

I am concerned because of an article I read awhile back that says when a troll gets a hold of that link, they can run amok with it and post it wherever they want. I understand the limited visibility was something I overlooked and did not know about it killing off, I just don't want trolls. But we don't get many visitors here anyways so maybe we can come to an agreement. Maybe if there is someway to make the post visible only to those who have registered for access to the HAF forum?

However I am apart of a group that started as a chat, then turned to discord to chat while people were not at their computers. It started off with limited people as well and the community seems to not have suffered but I suppose that it was just a chat to begin with so it may not apply here?

EDIT: I just checked and they have a filter setting for messages sent, so it may be more of an experiment but it could be open for public use.

EDIT 2: Also, a widget can be created so it can be posted anywhere using HTML

Quote from: hermes2015 on July 08, 2017, 11:20:16 AM
When I travel, I always have internet access at my hotel, hence access to HAF. Perhaps I am being dense, but I can't see what the advantage of this will be.

I'm not sure, but the person who suggested this to me seemed to mean when we are somewhere without wifi access. And phone service does not always like to load the lots of images we like to post, plus it's really small on my screen. I may just be hip to the Discord thing because I'm young but I don't like to use the forum app because it sends me tons of notifications without the option to turn them off and I prefer the layout to be consistent when I'm on the forum. With Discord, I can silence the entire server and check in when I'm not busy.

Quote from: Tom62 on July 08, 2017, 11:53:39 AM
We've already got a HAF group on Facebook, so why do we need to have an exclusive HAF Discord server?

I don't particularly like or use Facebook. I don't know how many others share the same opinions though.

Thanks for the responses. I'll have a think.

I don't know... :notsure:
The word, "Discord" [ :argue: ] is not very inviting.
I would probably only go there when I'm drunk.  :-\ --Just for the heck of it.
You guys would probably ban me, real fast.  :drink:
:shifty:

I'm fine here, thank you.
I don't like Facebook, either.

A better name for facebook would be, my giant inflated ego. (https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.stardock.net%2Fimages%2Fsmiles%2Fthemes%2Fdigicons%2FGagged.png&hash=9b545d9c6babbe58bf3eb16c42e338f7edf55876)

Quote from: No one on July 08, 2017, 08:41:45 PM
A better name for facebook would be, my giant inflated ego. (https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.stardock.net%2Fimages%2Fsmiles%2Fthemes%2Fdigicons%2FGagged.png&hash=9b545d9c6babbe58bf3eb16c42e338f7edf55876)

Or, "My inconsequential so-called lifebook"

With the exception of a forum or two I have no interest in anti-social  media.

Though I have to admit the blitherings and blatherings of some of the users can be quite amusing, as can the responses of those who seem to use such media as a vehicle for their wit.

I'm on a Discord server for another forum I go on and it's a lot of fun.  The voice chat is good and it's basically just like a chatroom.  I don't see it as being any different to when some people used to meet up on Google Hangouts TBH.  The advantage over Hangouts is that it is accessible to more people as you don't need an amazing internet connection and people don't have to be on there at the same time.

(https://i.imgflip.com/1s88nd.jpg) (https://imgflip.com/i/1s88nd)via Imgflip Meme Generator (https://imgflip.com/memegenerator)


Couldn't resist making this, even though I'm ambivalent to the whole thing. 8)

Tapatalk works pretty well on my phone. But I like Discord too.