DONE Delete the Discord and start fresh in a few months

[rollerC]

I know these sorts of suggestions are considered radical and are brushed aside pretty quickly. But considering what happened today, this option cannot be ignored.

I'm sure everyone on staff really genuinely tried to make the Discord a good place to be but there was a huge lack of understanding in how to manage a Discord server, and it felt like many were attempting to manage it like a forum.

Real-time chats pose a significant problem for a moderator, and that is mob mentality and how to handle a platform where people don't think through each and every post. Forums are great because they really self-moderate quite well--a member will often think as they're typing about wording, respect, and whether it's worth even posting at all. This makes it really easy to be reactionary, because there's such a low volume of attention given to rule-breaking posts. In a Discord server, if a staffer doesn't catch it first, someone else will, and then everyone knows about it. Then a moderator is presented with two issues: the original rule-breaking post and all the fallout from it. Without constant activity among the staff, this is a massive problem to handle.

Of course, it goes without saying as well that the #feedback channel also really is a detriment to everyone's mental health. Watching arguments about MFGG play out publicly at least once a week gives everyone a headache, not just staff. And the more arguments we have, the less constructive they become. Slowly but steadily, it's devolved into disrespecting both staff and members, throwing shade, raising hell, and stomping a foot down. We've seen multiple staff members explain how the drama on MFGG has destroyed their mental health, and causes them significant problems in their real lives, and clearly, this has come to a head with five staffers resigning at once.

So now the Discord is left more understaffed than ever, with people ill-equipped to handle it. I think until we heal from this as a community, we should drop the Discord so that we hit the problem at its root--no more unjustified bans, no more spite, no more drama.

Once the staff has everything in order, once things are set in stone and the community has proven that they are ready to try again, then we open a new Discord up.

note: I'm for archiving the Discord, not full deletion--e.g. making every channel read-only.

[Mario]

Doesn't surprise me at all that the staff were having a miserable time running a miserable Discord server. I told everyone to delete it and haven't been back since yet things have only been getting worse and worse. Maybe we can all learn a lesson here about launching something Official just to spite someone else's unofficial efforts and not taking it seriously to begin with.

Please consider it a failed experiment and close it down. If we feel it's worth looking into a live chat in the future, by all means, but it needs to be approached with a clear head, some serious direction, and lessons learned from the past.

Proud member of the Shadow █████████████

Interested in web development? Check out Super Mario Web Development. Wahoo!

 

""We choose to go to the [Suggestions board] not because it's easy, but because it's hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."
- John F. Kennedy"
- gothgirlgangblastermaster

[Syaxamaphone]

I wouldn't mind if the discord suddenly stopped being a thing tbh.

My games | My twitter | My stream | Sprites Unlimited

[The Dark Warrior]

Opposed to this because Discord is p much a fundamental part of MFGG and its not really the problem as is individual users, staff included that make the place hectic. Might as well be driving away also some members of the community by doing so since theres barely anything on the forums that make it worth it to be around where all the action is on the Discord.

The feedback channel having drama isn't a weekly thing actually...its just that focused on that since the bigger conversations do get more focused on than the smaller ones that wastes little effort to post and easily forget about. Removing it is also removing the option for members to quickly say what they want to say about the community and suggestions they have in mind, as toxic as it can be at times.

Also Id argue that the arguments in feedback actually do work in which staff is able to listen and implement changes based on what was said.

[VinnyVideo]

Is the Discord doing more harm than good? Maybe. I feel like the Discord experiment worked pretty well for the first few months, but over the past six months it's become a very unhealthy environment, and no one knows for sure how to fix it.

There are some MFGGers who say they'd leave if we didn't have a Discord, but there's also a good number of forum members who don't want anything to do with the Discord. To be honest, the only reason I'm still in the Discord group is because I'm a staff member here. I also don't know if the Discord would be a welcoming environment for a new person who was considering becoming active on MFGG - we've had to deal with some very spammy or hostile members lately who might be repelling good contributors.

The advantage that forums have over chat groups is on a forum, members are more likely to think before they speak. In a forum, you don't have the same amount of back-and-forth you do in a chat group, so discussions tend to be calmer and better thought-out. In a chat group, it's easy for a bad post or two to snowball out of control, even if a couple of moderators are active.

I'd also like to reassure everyone that we recognize that retiring the Discord is a fairly drastic step, and we wouldn't do that without giving everyone a chance to share their perspective.

Course clear! You got a card.

[Mors]

Was going to write a long ass response but then I realized there isn't a ton I have to say anyways.

It's just that I don't think that would accomplish anything. I mean, yeah it would reduce the amount of drama, but the source of those isn't even Discord, it's us. MFGG has always been infested with bitterness and drama, and we should try to fix that, instead of putting the blame to Discord or using it as an excuse to run away from our other issues.

[Vert]

MFGG has always been infested with bitterness and drama, and we should try to fix that, instead of putting the blame to Discord or using it as an excuse to run away from our other issues.

That's essentially what it boils down to. You could delete the Discord but the drama would just keep going on forums instead. Until people aren't willing to get over their silly decade-long grudges, the community will stay exactly as it always was with the same griping and complaining and nothing will get done as always.

If it were up to me I'd just delete everything except the main site but I'm pretty sure I'm one of the few who thinks that way.

[Pedigree]

It'll always be amazing to me how many people are so dim-witted that they'll blame all the drama on the "griping and complaining" because they can't see the bigger picture (and often that they're a big part of the problem themselves).

 

[Vert]

It'll always be amazing to me how many people are so dim-witted that they'll blame all the drama on the "griping and complaining" because they can't see the bigger picture (and often that they're a big part of the problem themselves).

I don't think you read my post properly because never did I state that the drama comes from griping, but from grudges. I also don't see how I'm a big part of the problem when I'm barely involved with the community any more.

[Pedigree]

Anyways, the best reason to get rid of the discord is that the staff created it solely to prevent mit from making one. I was in the staff chat when this was being discussed so try to sugarcoat it all you like, but you know that's exactly why it was created. Staff didn't want an official chat group but mit was gonna make his own MFGG Discord so they just threw the Discord together as quickly as they could to prevent it. Of course staff isn't up to the task of moderating something they never wanted to begin with.

It started with bad intentions and only got worse the more people joined to shitpost and fight each other.

 

[Damarioman]

Why not make a second mfgg discord. Make it off-limits until its ready, seeing as it sounds like it was hastily thrown together. Once the prep is done, announce that the old discord is being deleted but that a new one is in place. That way, we can delete the old discord, and still have a discord.

[Mors]

Anyways, the best reason to get rid of the discord is that the staff created it solely to prevent mit from making one. I was in the staff chat when this was being discussed so try to sugarcoat it all you like, but you know that's exactly why it was created. Staff didn't want an official chat group but mit was gonna make his own MFGG Discord so they just threw the Discord together as quickly as they could to prevent it.

It started with bad intentions and only got worse the more people joined to shitpost and fight each other.

But mit already had an unofficial server by the time the official MFGG discord was created, and it was like, already over a year old. There were also discussions about an official Discord server that went on for months. Am I missing something here?

also why are 1 up and reply buttons are so close to each other smh...

[Pedigree]

Mit was gonna make a Discord as an example for MFGG to show them that it was worth doing, but they panicked because they didn't want Mit to be the founder of the Discord. If I still had access, I might have been able to provide some better context and quotes, but I don't. All I know is they made the Discord because they didn't want Mit to.

---

MFGG staff didn't want an official chat group is the bottom line. So it's no wonder that they would be in favor of getting rid of it (see: Vinny) and that the chat would be so stressful for them.

That said, if the MFGG Discord wasn't here, only the site would be active. The forum is dead and I don't think even deleting the Discord would bring it activity.

 

[Vert]

Whether that may be the case, that still doesn't seem like a good reason for deleting the Discord. I know that's what I'd want to do but it feels more like a band-aid solution than anything else.

[Mors]

Mit was gonna make a Discord as an example for MFGG to show them that it was worth doing, but they panicked because they didn't want Mit to be the founder of the Discord. If I still had access, I might have been able to provide some better context and quotes, but I don't. All I know is they made the Discord because they didn't want Mit to.

OH I remember it now, I dunno how I could forget that whole thing when I was also a part of it, my bad. Though from what I can recall the staff's server was created before and it wasn't told to anyone else, which was why that drama happened. Just another instance of the staff doing things without telling anything to the community...

But I don't think this has uhh, anything to do with why the server should be closed, though. Even if the server was created as a response to that other one that's just something that happened in the past and doesn't really have much relevance anymore. I mean I was in mit's side and giving ideas to that server actively and even I forgot about it lol

[Pedigree]

It's relevant because staff never wanted a Discord.

They just had a staff discord and that was gonna be it until Mit proposed that he'd make one as an example.


The bottom line is if staff doesn't want to run a Discord, maybe they shouldn't. It hasn't ever gone well for them. That said, I dunno how the new staff are gonna feel about Discord. Maybe they'll do it better.

I do think at least you could close down the current server and relaunch with a new one that has had some significant changes to the rules and focus.

---

Wipe the slate clean.

 

[Mors]

It's relevant because staff never wanted a Discord.

They just had a staff discord and that was gonna be it until Mit proposed that he'd make one as an example.


The bottom line is if staff doesn't want to run a Discord, maybe they shouldn't. It hasn't ever gone well for them. That said, I dunno how the new staff are gonna feel about Discord. Maybe they'll do it better.

I do think at least you could close down the current server and relaunch with a new one that has had some significant changes to the rules and focus.

---

Wipe the slate clean.

...i just told you that the staff was working on a public server before mit, i know it because i was literally there

[Mario]

ok whoevers saying "deleting discord wont solve mfgg's problems"

WE KNOW!!!!

WE ALL KNOW!!!

YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT WHAT ANYONE'S SAYING TOO!!!

Stop trying to derail the convo with some nonsense that makes U seem so smart. It's easy to derail any convo about making mfgg better and you don't need to prove it here.

Discord is _A_ problem. We should discuss it here. MFGG's seemingly endless(?) other issues can be dealt with on their own.

We *need* to take a look at Discord. I'm not even in it and unlike Vinny I can say without a "maybe" that there's a serious problems with it, from it's superhero origin story to it's every day "antics" which are just... so, so sad to hear about as someone who wants the best for MFGG. I tried to be a part of it and be laid back and enjoy the show but its not even an entertaining show. It's. Just. Sad.

As Pedigree says, the problem is that the staff as a whole aren't invested in it. They want to sit back and not worry about it while writing all the policies for it and be a part of judging anything that goes on there. That's not how you run a community!

If you're not interested in being part of the community. that's totally understandable. Be mature and honest and step down from staff! The community has no reason to respect staff that don't respect them and that shouldn't be a surprise!

Give discord the respect it deserves, ADMIT it's not working (no "maybes" even tho its obvious!), shut it down and let's work TOGETHER this time at making something better.

And no secret staff feedback submissions again. We had two in a rwo. They don't work. Collaboration works. Secret independent bits of feedback have done 0 for the community so far!

Proud member of the Shadow █████████████

Interested in web development? Check out Super Mario Web Development. Wahoo!

 

""We choose to go to the [Suggestions board] not because it's easy, but because it's hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."
- John F. Kennedy"
- gothgirlgangblastermaster

[Pedigree]

Well I was in the staff chat and there was no mention of it so

If true, wow lol

 

[Mors]

ok whoevers saying "deleting discord wont solve mfgg's problems"

WE KNOW!!!!

WE ALL KNOW!!!

YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT WHAT ANYONE'S SAYING TOO!!!

Stop trying to derail the convo with some nonsense that makes U seem so smart. It's easy to derail any convo about making mfgg better and you don't need to prove it here.

Discord is _A_ problem. We should discuss it here. MFGG's seemingly endless(?) other issues can be dealt with on their own.

We *need* to take a look at Discord. I'm not even in it and unlike Vinny I can say without a "maybe" that there's a serious problems with it, from it's superhero origin story to it's every day "antics" which are just... so, so sad to hear about as someone who wants the best for MFGG. I tried to be a part of it and be laid back and enjoy the show but its not even an entertaining show. It's. Just. Sad.

As Pedigree says, the problem is that the staff as a whole aren't invested in it. They want to sit back and not worry about it while writing all the policies for it and be a part of judging anything that goes on there. That's not how you run a community!

If you're not interested in being part of the community. that's totally understandable. Be mature and honest and step down from staff! The community has no reason to respect staff that don't respect them and that shouldn't be a surprise!

Give discord the respect it deserves, ADMIT it's not working (no "maybes" even tho its obvious!), shut it down and let's work TOGETHER this time at making something better.

And no secret staff feedback submissions again. We had two in a rwo. They don't work. Collaboration works. Secret independent bits of feedback have done 0 for the community so far!

It's not derailing, it's just that the other problems of MFGG are what's causing Discord to be like this. You just mentioned the staff's secrecy, do you think that this is something exclusive to the Discord? No, it isn't, it's been a problem ever since I became a part of the community in 2012 and it's been brought up several times even before when Discord was a thing. How would deleting the server solve that? All that needs to be done for that is changing the staff's approach to moderation and making decisions and you can do it without deleting the entire server.