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Comments on Creating new Discord channels

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Creating new Discord channels

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I've been looking at the Codidact Communities Discord channels (see the join us in chat link in the right hand panel of this page).

Is it possible for Codidact Communities Discord users to create new channels? Currently there is a channel per community, but I was wondering if there is the option of creating more narrowly defined topic channels. I couldn't see a way to, but I'm not familiar with Discord.

My reason for wondering is that if it were possible, I would be likely to create a new channel at some point to allow discussion of a specific question. For example, on Code Golf Codidact there is a challenge type called king-of-the-hill, where players' submissions of code compete directly against each other in a game. Such a competition can potentially develop over a period of time, with new strategies and counter-strategies emerging as players respond to each others' innovations. It would be useful to have a channel where players of a specific king of the hill contest could discuss their ideas over time.

Would the ability to create new channels also be useful for other communities?

Is this an ability that should be made available to anyone, or should it be restricted to a trusted group (perhaps moderators) so someone looking to create a new channel requests it from that group?

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Technical questions

Is it possible for Codidact Communities Discord users to create new channels? Currently there is a channel per community, but I was wondering if there is the option of creating more narrowly defined topic channels. I couldn't see a way to, but I'm not familiar with Discord.

No. The specific permission to create channels also generally encompasses editing and deleting channels

Image alt text On the other hand, Discord has threads, which are probably more in-line with your suggestion. They are

  1. Not shown in the server's channel list unless you are following the thread
  2. Attached to a full channel, meaning they can be localized to specific communities.
  3. Have separate creation and management permissions, so users would be able to create threads but not wreak havoc deleting or editing them.

My reason for wondering is that if it were possible, I would be likely to create a new channel at some point to allow discussion of a specific question. For example, on Code Golf Codidact there is a challenge type called king-of-the-hill, where players' submissions of code compete directly against each other in a game. Such a competition can potentially develop over a period of time, with new strategies and counter-strategies emerging as players respond to each others' innovations. It would be useful to have a channel where players of a specific king of the hill contest could discuss their ideas over time.

This, however, comes around to a more fundamental question.

Should Discord be used for this?

Unlike Somewhere Else, we have a more sophisticated comment system, and can create comment threads here on the site itself. Should such question-specific discussion use our comment-thread functionality?

  1. Discussion would be right there with the post itself, easily discoverable by those looking at it
  2. It doesn't require an external account.
  3. Following these threads integrates directly with our notification system.

On the other hand, there are some users (mostly coming from Somewhere Else) who have the mentality that comments should solely be considered as temporary ephemeral messages to improve the post. I personally don't take that opinion, but it is worth bearing in mind that this is as much a community culture question as it is a technical one.

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Threads there or comment threads here (7 comments)
Threads there or comment threads here
trichoplax‭ wrote almost 2 years ago

Thanks for mentioning Discord threads - being unfamiliar with Discord I hadn't realised that was an option.

I'm happy to see comments on questions as long-lived rather than just suggestions for clarification to be deleted as soon as the clarification is made. My reason for wanting the strategy discussions to live somewhere other than question comments is that I thought that would distract from comments about the question itself (querying ambiguous wording, clarifying game rules) but maybe with comment threads that wouldn't be a problem. We could have a comment thread called "Strategy discussion" that keeps it all separate from any other comments.

However, comment threads don't have the ability to reply to a specific comment (only to a specific user). Long conversations could get confusing. I find comment threads work very well for short targeted queries, but they don't seem well suited to ongoing discussion.

trichoplax‭ wrote almost 2 years ago

My previous king of the hill contest, posted Somewhere Else, had a chat room with new strategies and new players being discussed over a period of several months. Would we want comment threads on the question being used for that many messages? Currently, comment threads seem optimised (user experience wise) for short conversations where the user is presented with the beginning of the conversation first, rather than seeing the latest messages from a months-long discussion.

trichoplax‭ wrote almost 2 years ago

A Discord channel would allow notification of new answers, but I don't know if it's possible to set that up in a Discord thread. Maybe it would be useful to have a way of following new answers on a specific question (I couldn't see a way for new answers, only for new comment threads).

trichoplax‭ wrote almost 2 years ago

Having jotted some thoughts down in this comment thread, I'm wondering whether it would be useful to have a separate Meta discussion about whether specific question discussions are better hosted in a Discord thread or a question comment thread.

As you are more familiar with Discord, would you like to post a Meta question? I'm happy to otherwise - people can always edit to fix any misunderstandings I have.

Moshi‭ wrote almost 2 years ago

However, comment threads don't have the ability to reply to a specific comment (only to a specific user). Long conversations could get confusing. I find comment threads work very well for short targeted queries, but they don't seem well suited to ongoing discussion.

This is a planned feature, though I'm not sure where progress on that is - if I remember correctly, the infrastructure is already there.

Currently, comment threads seem optimised (user experience wise) for short conversations where the user is presented with the beginning of the conversation first, rather than seeing the latest messages from a months-long discussion.

True, however this can be changed if there is a pain-point. (I believe this has been mentioned before, I'll see if I can find the discussion)

Moshi‭ wrote almost 2 years ago

A Discord channel would allow notification of new answers, but I don't know if it's possible to set that up in a Discord thread. Maybe it would be useful to have a way of following new answers on a specific question (I couldn't see a way for new answers, only for new comment threads).

I don't understand this point. Discord isn't set up to notify people of new answers, even in the channels; we only have it set up for the feed (that is, what would show up on the category pages). Following new answers is another thing that I believe has a discussion somewhere if I can find it.

trichoplax‭ wrote almost 2 years ago

Thanks for the info. Sounds like most of my concerns are already planned for.

In the Discord specific community channels I see notifications of new questions, which is why I wondered if the same bot could notify of new answers. If it's planned to have notifications of new answers directly from Codidact that would be my preference. Having everything available without having to go off site would be great.