There has been quite a bit of discussion about what purpose this server should actually fulfill for this community, what should or should not be included, and how it impacts this community. - NF
This is an excellent idea. It's been a long while since a discussion like this took place. Given the ever changing nature of the community, how much different it now is from when any formal discussion such as this last took place, the self-evident interest in this topic, and growing concerns about the Discord we are long overdue for this talk. Thank you NF and Dom for initiating this.
I would divide this discussion in two, between the purpose of the Discord and the practical application of that purpose. I see a lot of discussion about the arrangement of channels which is a fascinating and worthwhile discussion in its own right but puts the cart before the horse without first discerning the purpose you're trying to put in place. While I do think that as the Discord is currently utilized by the active members of the community it needs some minor/major channel reorganization, this first presumes that the purpose of the Discord is solved--that it ought to stay as it is. Before we jump into changing anything about the organization, I would like to propose a question to the community that would dramatically shape how the organization would go.
The question I propose is: Do we want the Discord to prioritize casual conversation or Marble Blast discussion?
This discussion has happened many times amongst the staff, indirectly, about the placement of the #general channels, if it's placed among Marble Blast channels then casual conversation is prioritized, if it goes among the off-topic channels then Marble Blast is prioritized. Ultimately the decision was made that because off-topic discussion seems to happen more frequently it made the most sense to leave it first in the Marble Blast category. I believe that's still the case.
As it currently stands I think the server as is used by the majority of active users currently reflects a casual conversation as the first priority. The general channels being among and above the topic specific marble blast discussion channels I think shows this most clearly, furthermore that these channels see more activity than marble channels points to this as well. Additionally, Yoshicraft said this in this thread in a back and forth about creating another #adults-only channel and other discussion topics like #politics.
I absolutely don't think we should rely on branch servers for anything. For the purposes of making a community Discord server for PQ, we should honestly just pretend that they don't exist. This server should be self-sufficient for everything it needs to be a Marble Blast community server.
Firstly, there will not be an #adults-only channel created, nor #politics or anything of the sort. This server is not the place for that kind of discussion, and discussions that go against the rules absolutely should be hosted elsewhere in branch servers. But concerning off-topic discussions and branch servers, this comment points to the sentiment of many of the members of this community that our Discord ought to be a hub for every kind of discussion people might want to have. Not that marble-based discussion is ignored or forgotten, but that this is a place for us as a community to talk about anything and everything and that that's primarily what this Discord is or should be. Because the pool of people in this Discord is selected from those who love the Marble Blast games and that's obviously going to be one of the topics we discuss, but in practice what gets the most attention is the casual/off-topic conversation so that gets prioritized.
However, there's been an increasing concern from a growing number of members of the community who are frustrated by the casual conversations and wish that they were given less attention or were eliminated entirely. These people might argue that there should be a focus on Marble Blast before anything else, that off-topic conversations should be sidelined or even removed. As a moderator of the community I've paid attention to these complaints and would like to take this feedback and propose a change to the Discord.
I propose that the Discord changes to prioritize Marble Blast above casual conversation, even if casual conversation receives more activity than Marble Blast discussion in practice.
The off-topic general channels would be moved to the "Other Discussions" category in the Discord. The casual conversations would not be eliminated as they're much too popular to outright remove. However, sidelining them in the channel list would draw less attention to them from those less interested in the goings on of the general channels, and would still be available to those for whom their interest is primarily in them. As their interest in those channels is in the discussions within them, them being in a different place within the channel list would not dissuade them from using it nor lessen their interest in the discussions that take place there.
Supposing we moved the general channels to Other Discussion, the main concern that comes up is that this change would invite more off-topic discussion, from new players particularly, into a the topic specific channel #marbleblast. As rule 4 (staying on topic) is probably the most broken and least enforced rule on the server this concern would be exacerbated. Moderation being a bit lax seems to be the primary issue in this instance. I understand there's some tension regarding the lack of activity from the moderation team which I might address another time in another discussion. In response to that I propose that stepping up the moderation for this channel seems the most straightforward and simple solution to this problem. The community can even step up and gently correct offenders--as I often see in the server already--which would further enforce this rule, particularly the more minor offenses. Were this change implemented, immediately following the rearrangement of the general channels a concerted effort by the moderators and the community after the change the situation would correct itself fairly quickly and end up not being as big a problem as might be perceived to be.
Additionally It has been mentioned that other large community Discords use the same practice of putting a general/off-topic channel above all their topic specific channels. My rebuttal to that is that many servers also sideline the off-topic channel as I'm proposing.
Regardless of which focus we choose, our channel organization ought to stem from a clear understanding of the purpose of this Discord. I'm mostly agnostic about the 'proper' organization of the channels, I think channel organization of little importance in the grand scheme of things. The shift of focus from casual conversation centered to Marble Blast centered is of far greater importance.
I see a growing distaste for our Discord and wish to see it changed to better fit the community as it slowly changes over time. This discussion brings to light many of the issues with it and I'm glad to participate in it. My contribution to this discussion is that the purpose of the Discord ought to be shifted from what it is currently, casual conversation as primary, to one that focuses its efforts to fostering Marble Blast discussion above all else. Not to eliminate casual conversation, merely sideline it so that Marble Blast may take center stage as that is ostensibly what this community is about, Marbles. This might be a sentiment against much of the community but is one I think would benefit it after a short period of coming to accept the new purpose of the community--should we choose to make this change. I'm happy to go either way the community wants but for that I need your feedback. Do you think this would be a good idea for the community? Why or why not?
Before I close out my contributions to this conversation I'd like to say something about this comment from Yoshicraft.
Some other people also brought up the return of #opt-in, which, if this were to happen, I think would be done much better using Discord's built-in community features. If this was done, I think #suggestions and #bug-report could also be finally turned into proper forum channels, and #new-releases could also probably use the same treatment. Worth noting is that Hailey's old OpenMBU server also used a forum channel for its version of #new-releases, and this worked beautifully.
I'm not outright against the idea of changing the Discord Server to a community one, however I have some hesitations about such a drastic change, and they stem from my ignorance on the subject rather than any 'proper' organizational reasons. I've never created a community server and I've no idea how to do that. It would take some experimentation on my part to get things set up in a way the community would like on top of figuring out how to do it and learning all the features it offers. I'd like to experiment with that in a separate Discord server and figure that all out before jumping right in to something like that, perhaps with the help of someone more knowledgeable about it. I would appreciate the help if anyone has experience with this. Furthermore, what would this actually change? If we can achieve something similar with #opt-in as is, what really is the benefit? I want to know more about community Discord's, what they have to offer, and how they could help us.
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