Public Discord servers and their (for lack of a better word) culture are fascinating to me: A Thread

Generally speaking there are 3 tiers of public discords.

1. Small (10 or fewer active users)
2. Medium (11-50 active users)
3. Large (50 or more active users)

These sizes are obviously not empirical in any way, but I'm sure those of you who have been in many of these servers understand the three very different vibes at play.

To me, there are many problems plaguing discord servers of all sizes. I'm going to refer back to the sizes a few times so bear with me here.

PROBLEM 1: Too many channels

The issue here is very simple. There are just too many fucking channels. Only a large server needs more than a handful of channels and categories, with some exceptions.

Generally speaking, there does not need to be a separate channel for music, fic, art (etc).

The idea is to give each type of media the attention they deserve, but the result is usually the opposite.

Music channels especially have an issue where they are never visited, meaning instead of a special place for music to be shared, it's a barren wasteland of links no one will look at.

This problem is exacerbated by overmoderation and low tolerance of links outside these channels.

Especially for medium and small channels, consolidate your channel into one called "media" or something. This also solves the "where should I post this" problem. Fan art, art, music, and fan music don't need their own channels. It just dilutes interest.

PROBLEM 2: Overmoderation

This plagues large channels. Strange, ill-defined roles like "janitor" and "pseudo-mod" give normal users a sense of power over their peers.

The point of a Discord server is communication, and often I see mods with enormous egos saying "stay on topic" unnecessarily, as though the channel rules are some kind of law code, that if defied, will cause society to collapse.

I also have seen the word "shitpost" thrown around at people's work as an excuse to have it removed. If the board is serious, I understand, but memes as a part of discussion are okay. "Shitposts" is a buzzword for "any picture," generally.

Overmoderation particularly hurts small and medium sized discords, because often times, being told something is a "shitpost" or something belongs in another channel is enough to make conversation completely evaporate.

PROBLEM 3: Undefined Rules

I'm something of a Discord anarchist, but the rules still need to be well-defined and easy to reference. If there is a vent channel, have the channel's rules in the channel description. Have a notice channel with the whole server's rules posted.

A GOOD EXAMPLE:

The Godhead comic official server is medium sized, with about a dozen or more active users.

It has 4 boards for notices and 6 for discussion, with clear, separate purposes. Moderation is light, conversation is easygoing and the atmosphere is pleasant

A BAD EXAMPLE:

I won't name the server out of politeness, because it is still a lovely place BUT:

This She-Ra server has countless channels with overlapping purposes. This is a medium-large server.

Mods can be picky about links and pictures in the wrong chats, and when asked where a certain work might go, there are conflicting answers. There are separate channels for fan art and OC fan art, and many of the channel names aren't clear.

I was going to dunk on HSD for the meme but it looks like they've cleaned up their organization since I last held my breath and ducked my head in. They still have a legendary amount of archived channels for some reason. This isn't even all of them

A RULE OF THUMB:

If the time between posts on a channel is more than a day, you can probably get rid of it or have it consolidated. If no one is discussing anything and just dumping links, it probably can be consolidated or allowed in a #general chat.

@nueclear333 has shared their discord gore with me now you must all look