Discord Wars: Post Promotion vs. Community
image by rawpixel from source under CC0 licenseI have been moderating the Steemit Travelers' discord together with my co-mods, @livinguktaiwan & @hungry-nomad, and the admins, @for91days & @jpphotography, for a few months now. We have observed a common behavior among newcomers - they want access to the Post Promotion channel right away.
The server was founded by the admins @for91days and @jpphotography to serve as a place for travelers in Steemit to connect. Access to the Post Promotion channel is just a bonus.
Rules, rules, rules..but no one likes rules
Most discord servers have rules to fight spammers. These are either pinned on the channel or there's a separate channel just for these guides (because some miss the pinned messages sometimes). If only everyone had self-discipline not to spam then maybe there will be no need for rules. But as you have witnessed in other servers, that's not the case.
In the Steemit Traveler discord for instance, one cannot just drop a post and leave. A certain rank has to be achieved. That's the easiest way to know that you are active in the community before promoting your post.
So I'm sorry kids, we have to have rules, otherwise the channels will be spam-fested.
Okay, we're all adults here but we still need to maintain such rules NOT because we're power trippers, but because we want you to have the best community experience free of spam (or worse, phishing links!)
You now have access to Post Promotion channel, now what?
Once members achieve a certain rank, they can now access the channel where they can drop their post and maybe get an upvote and even a comment. Yipee!
However, I have noticed that some never went back to the community. There are several channels to chat or leave a message but they only go back to the #postpromotion channel.
Engagement is not a one-time event. Building connections and engagement rarely happen after you reach level 3 in Discord. Connections are like relationships, you have to build it and go back to it. If you leave it, then the bond will weaken.
Post Promotion and/or Community? Let's Do Both!
I am guilty of being inactive in some servers as well. I am a member of several Discord servers and I can only be active in a few. We're only human with work and life (plus Steem life), and there are only 24 hours in a day.
However,if you want to promote your post in a server or a community, I hope you take time check out on the members of the server. There are people there too, there's a community. There's the #general channel where you can talk about any topic, there's the #travel_chat where you can talk about travel, there's #photography channel if you want to talk about cameras and stuff. The list goes on on what you can talk about.
It does not have to be everyday, but I hope you make your presence known from time to time. If you don't know anyone, then maybe it's time to ask who they are. There's an #introduceyourself channel and you can ask about them over at the #general.
If the channels are dead, leave a message. I suggest to not to just "Hi" or "Hello" (then leave) because these rarely get a response. Tell them what you're up to, ask a question, respond to a previous topic... there's a lot to get the conversation going.
Let's keep the conversation going.
Lastly, we encourage you to use the post promotion. This is a great way to know and support other travel content creators too but be reminded of what this server (community!) is all about. As @for91days said at the #general channel earlier today:
"The main purpose of our server is to connect with other travelers which will get you further on the long run."
Think about those highlighted wise words.
So, I'll see you at the discord! Spammers are not welcome though :D
PS. This is the home of #Travelfeed so if you're already a contributor or would like to contribute awesome travel content, we welcome you to join our Discord!
Thank you so much for this write up. I do feel guilty not to engage members more on our server. But I honestly try to say hello to every new member but at the same time I don't want to dominate the #general chat with my presence and want for conversations to develop naturally.
Another thing I'd recommend for new members is to just step back and look to get a feel of the server. Everyone is welcome but if we sense that members only joined just with dumping links in mind... it's a bad start.
I think you're engaging at the server well and you're right, it would be better that we let the members talk to each other too and not just us. We're really just moderators but most conversations must come from them.
And it's now easy for us to get a sense of potential spammers so they better stay away :D
I can sniff a spammer from a mile a way :)
Lol me too I'm starting to develop that skill :D
Well said @wanderlass!!
Moding Steemit Travellers has opened my eyes to another side of Discord, and the rules, like it or not, does help to improve the quality of the channel.
Just think, if you post your link on a discord channel and immediately leave, so will everyone else, so whats the point of doing it?
Thanks co-mod :D I realized the same thing and made me appreciate the rules more.
You've written the right thoughts. But I just want to say that before I can start a conversation with anyone, I just go in and say hi to everyone. And very often I do not receive a minimum greeting in response. Sad! I usually wait for a while, reading previous posts. In the answer - silence... It looks like you've been invited to good company, you've come, and nobody notices you ,or just ignores you. Of course I'm leaving after that. I'm not talking about the travel channel, but in General about how it happens on other servers. I think maybe we should be a little more attentive to each other. As a result, there will be a pleasant communication, and new followers, and our posts will be read and maybe we will get more votes. Thank you @wanderlass for touching upon this topic.
Hi @madlenfox, thanks for your honesty. I have actually felt the same way in other servers. I didn't feel welcome. I don't know if no one's just around or they saw me but just don't find me interesting. It hurts! Although I realized that I tend to get a better response when I say more than Hi. It may be because people are not even looking at the chat channels because if there was someone around some will say hi back. And when people see a Hi after a few hours then they may not respond to it anymore. So I have suggested to try something different.
And this is why I brought up this topic because people seem more interested in visiting the post promotion. This channel has more active users so there should be some activity going on but why are the chat channels dead? But it may be due to different factors too.
I have been thinking of writing about the lack of that sense belongingness in communities. But I haven't pinpointed why I don't usually get a reply. It may just end up becoming a rant post haha. I'm a sensitive person so I need to find more reasons so it becomes a more objective post. But will definitely discuss that if this platform is pushing "communities".
I hope to see you still at the server. And hope people will pay attention to each other more.
Thank you for your thoughts and reasoning, @wanderlass :)
I am very pleased that you took the time to respond to my comment. Feedback is very valuable to me. I wish you a pleasant weekend!
You're welcome and happy weekend! :)
STOPGreat post! I like the servers that have post promotion channels where you have to leave a constructive comment on one or two other posts before you can drop yours in the post promotion channel. It encourages some interactions instead of just being a dumping ground. You are right though, most of the new people I see joining immediately want access to the post promotion channel. This is true on any server. It is unfortunate, but I think also a sign of how hard it is to get your content seen on Steemit.
I also like that concept of post promotions rather than just have bots upvote a post. Encourages interaction which is what a social media platform is all about.
And that's a good point. A lot may be desperate to get attention and they may not be aware that just dropping links isn't so effective. They need to learn that having connections here is important.
most people think the rules are to be broken, but some think the opposite, but most of what I see because they do not know about the rules, there is a violation that you are maximizing, including me at the beginning of entry in this discord. hopefully that breaking the rules is lessened by we remind each other, as you do this, thank you @wanderlass
Yes, some may just not be aware. So we have mods to remind members. And I understand this is a new experience for most of so one can get confused.
I hope to see you at the discord!
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😂😂
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Noted! 😊
Cool! See you at the discord :)
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Very nicely summarised!
The issue of people only wanting to join the group for promoting their posts had to be addressed. Thanks for doing it so well :)
Thank you co-mod! And we see that issue over and over again. I think our server is better in that though because of our rules :)
@wanderlass You have received a random upvote from @transparencybot for not using bidbots on this post and using the #nobidbot tag!
Thank you, cool bot :)
My pleasure .. Interesting article on promotion vs community. It is indeed a complex issue, glad to see some common sense.
I agree it's indeed complex. Some may just be desperate for their posts to be seen or may not have time to chat. But then I hope they realize that engaging in a community would be more beneficial for the longer term. Thanks for dropping by :)
Exactly!