VT should get a Discord

I just think that it would be quite a good idea. The site could have help chats on there and hotlines
You could get help right as you need it
People who join just to ask one thing could get faster answers and voice lines could help people a lot too.
I can see it would need a lot of mods though
It would need plenty to make sure voice channels aren't nasty and bots could be implemented to some of the chats to regulate along with mods/admins.
It could be quite helpful for many but I can see some problems
Can I get some staff perspective?

The thing with Discord is that it is not fully integrated into the site, and that could lead to all sorts of moderation issues. I do like Discord, and I think it's a great chat system, but I don't think it's the best thing for VT.

There's also more discussion about this here.

Discord isn't great for VT as a chat replacement. It can't be integrated with the site, so settings within VT won't apply to the Discord.

However, having a Discord server for VT isn't actually that bad of an idea. Discord servers are actually pretty secure, and bots can be used to help moderate. However, I do think a Discord server would need to be an earned privilege. Users can only gain access to the Discord server after 100, 250, or even 500 posts. So while Discord would not work as a standard chat for VT, it would work very well as "veteran members only" exclusive chat. Even in an unofficial capacity.

Originally Posted by PlasmaHam

Discord isn't great for VT as a chat replacement. It can't be integrated with the site, so settings within VT won't apply to the Discord.

However, having a Discord server for VT isn't actually that bad of an idea. Discord servers are actually pretty secure, and bots can be used to help moderate. However, I do think a Discord server would need to be an earned privilege. Users can only gain access to the Discord server after 100, 250, or even 500 posts. So while Discord would not work as a standard chat for VT, it would work very well as "veteran members only" exclusive chat. Even in an unofficial capacity.

Vt used to have a pretty big skype group years ago. Though it was very much those who were approved of and known. That way thimgsmwouldnt get awkward. I think it's a great idea for those people who want to chat together outside of here as people do it anyway. This is by no means a replacement for chat as I haven't seen a real massive amount of people flocking to our current chat. So I guess whatever brings this place together and for people to build better rapport with one another is a great idea.

Given that discord stores all messages, has good moderation tools and is growing more and more popular and doesn't have an annoying Java requirement like the current chat does. I'd personally like to see a VT Official Discord.

I think the Java requirement is what is perhaps turning people away from the VT chat. For example despite downloading Java, for some reason its not compatible for me and I rarely see more than a few people in it.

So I'd like to see a discord server. Okay it isn't fully going to integrate with the site but I think more people would use it.

i am in objection to this honestly. In theory, yeah, it sounds like a good idea, but honestly, it has the potential to turn sour fast.

We could potentially have moderation powers in a discord chat, so it's not so much even that that is the issue.. But from that discord chat, you can get someone else's discord and start a private chat for them, and I foresee this being extremely abused. It defeats the purpose of the chat rule of not exchanging contact info.. And once those chats turn private, we have no moderation, we have no idea what's going on. It's kind of like why we have instant messaging disabled on the current chat.

To go on the suggestion of limiting it to users with 100 or 500 posts, that's not fair at all. Chat has always been something for all VT users to enjoy and partake in. This isn't fair to be like "you can't talk with us", and will probably only more encourage spamming to hit post counts. In addition, we'd have to carefully moderate and look at every user who joined, with usernames different than their VT usernames to make sure people are appropriately joining, because we don't have the integration to alleviate that. Would this be by invitation only? Would we have a link publicly listed?

The fact is I (and we) are well aware of the current chat situation. We know that Java is fucked and access to chat right now is so limited. Believe me, having paid ____$$ for it, it's a lot of money that has been spent on something that isn't usable anymore, and that fucking sucks. We have the new html chat that we've been working with, and it's a future possibility to come in to overtake the current chat. I can't say anything else, because then everyone will start quoting me around the forums and saying I promised things that hiccuped, but it's in the works, and will be so much easier to use.

If someone wants to make a discord group for VT, that's totally fine. I know there's already smaller discords, just like there were smaller skype groups back in my early days. They can't necessarily be "official" but they can (and probably already do) exist for sure.
but no one wants the admins in their chats about vt lmao

Originally Posted by xXl0sth0peXx

We could potentially have moderation powers in a discord chat, so it's not so much even that that is the issue.. But from that discord chat, you can get someone else's discord and start a private chat for them, and I foresee this being extremely abused. It defeats the purpose of the chat rule of not exchanging contact info.. And once those chats turn private, we have no moderation, we have no idea what's going on. It's kind of like why we have instant messaging disabled on the current chat.

I think you are over-thinking this. First, we are not suggesting replacing chat with Discord. Chat would continue to exist as a free-for-all platform. Secondly, we would just need to moderate a group server. If users want to personally chat, they would do that entirely separate from VT. There is no need for you or the staff to manage off-site communication between users, which is exactly what private Discord conversation's would be. Do you feel the need to moderate conversations when two users exchange Skype accounts? Of course not, because that isn't your business. The same thing applies here.

If someone wants to make a discord group for VT, that's totally fine. I know there's already smaller discords, just like there were smaller skype groups back in my early days. They can't necessarily be "official" but they can (and probably already do) exist for sure.
but no one wants the admins in their chats about vt lmao

That is essentially all I'm asking. I'm not even trying to connect it to the chat, I would like it to be it's own separate thing. And while it would be nice to have the staff's blessing and do something more official, perhaps one day when I have time I'll look into an unofficial Discord community.

Originally Posted by PlasmaHam

There is no need for you or the staff to manage off-site communication between users, which is exactly what private Discord conversation's would be. Do you feel the need to moderate conversations when two users exchange Skype accounts? Of course not, because that isn't your business. The same thing applies here..

The thing is, if people join a Discord server, whether they want to or not, everyone else in that server has that person's Discord username. That opens up the opportunity to privately chat, without anyone actually giving permission, and that's not on and that's what I think Val is referring to.

@Endeavour that doesn't really address what I said. Private chat's would be of their own accord, separate from VT'S channel. Users will just have to accept that if they join the group they would be putting their Discord contact out there. I don't see the big deal with that.

However, it has been made clear that an official Discord server ain't happening, and given other threads like this I doubt there would be much changing-of-minds, regardless how much we argue. So I'm not going to pursue this path any more. I'm instead going to look into creating an unofficial Discord server for VT, since Val seems fine with that.

The whole Discord thing isn't really something VT community will benefit much from in the long run, in my opinion.

Sure Val or any other staff member cannot do anything against a member creating any private discord servers. But if those unofficial VT servers will be advertised here...senior staff would become responsible to a certain degree if they allow linking from the official site. And this responsibility issue could become a problem once those discord servers lead to cyber mobbing etc.

If there is no official moderation of the discord servers, forum rules wouldn't matter there and become nonexistent.
So I feel unofficial servers will just lead to continuations of threads which were stopped here for turning inappropriate, off topic or into fights getting out of hand....


Another thing I see is breaking the community up into "private clubs" where it is more convenient to talk since no staff members are around will lead to the decline of the site.

A couple of days ago people complained that the site needs more traffic since it is dying...in this light removing discussion and chatting between senior members off site will lead to newbies feeling the site isn't frequented a lot.
It would be counterproductive to move traffic from the site or official chats to private discord servers, wouldn't it?

So, whatever chatting and creating of discord servers a member does off site hasn't to do anything with VT and would be out of staff's control...but officially promoting it...I'd see that as a problem.