Forums vs discord vs reddit

[AllThingsTech]

I asked this question in the intro thread and @Retro very kindly offered a detailed reply - however I’m afraid I could have phrased my question more clearly.

I thought it was worth starting a thread on the subject.

So I was just wondering about preferences in terms of online social engagement. While I was originally seeking out nerdy Discord groups, I find Discord groups challenging to follow due to the cumulative impact of my own time constraints and rapid streams of messages. I feel the same way about the very few very large forums on the web such as Reddit. Also, I can imagine they possibly get impossible to fairly moderate with the sheer number of users, and it can get toxic quite quickly. Thankfully though, the technology subreddit I follow remains reasonably respectful and so I manage to stay out of the drama !

Therefore I’m glad I found this community So, just wondering about everyone else’s preferences? Do you use social media ?

 

[Tiffany]

Nice thread idea, @AllThingsTech. I prefer the classic forum rather than social media. I can follow the conversation so much better and refer back to areas of a conversation if there was something important I learned. I also prefer niche websites as members are likely interested in the same subject as me and I often learn more with members that are thoughtful and like to share. With large social websites, the conversation gets lost in the numbers. I also like blogs when they're created right as that's another way to communicate on a topic.

 

[Retro]

The only social media I use is a bit of Facebook. I used to be much more active there, but their ridiculous, draconian moderation practices over there that they started applying to me put me right off, so I only look at it occasionally now and hardly ever comment. Did you know that they wack you and don't even tell you which comment it was? You just get the sanction and a generic "reason" that you broke community guidelines in some way without even a link to the offending post. This left me frustrated and not knowing what I did that tripped their poxy automoderation. Infuriating and absolutely useless at achieving its stated aim of rule enforcement. This is one of the reasons that I despise Facebook, or as Fakebook as @Tiffany more correctly calls it.

Note that a forum of NZ's type is actually social media too. All that term means is an online site where people can come together and NZ, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit etc have this thing in common.

 

[AllThingsTech]

The only social media I use is a bit of Facebook. I used to be much more active there, but their ridiculous, draconian moderation practices over there that they started applying to me put me right off, so I only look at it occasionally now and hardly ever comment. Did you know that they wack you and don't even tell you which comment it was? You just get the sanction and a generic "reason" that you broke community guidelines in some way without even a link to the offending post. This left me frustrated and not knowing what I did that tripped their poxy automoderation. Infuriating and absolutely useless at achieving its stated aim of rule enforcement. This is one of the reasons that I despise Facebook, or as Fakebook as @Tiffany more correctly calls it.

Note that a forum of NZ's type is actually social media too. All that term means is an online site where people can come together and NZ, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit etc have this thing in common.

That’s interesting because from what I heard social media platforms in general are not ideal in taking down content that is legitimately offensive. So it seems like they take down and ban for all the wrong reasons! Thanks for sharing, Retro! May I ask you - do you add strangers (this doesn’t include online friends you trust like your mods and admins on your forums) on Facebook? I only add ppl I know in person with the exception of an online forum whom I trust very much and am very close to as he’s guided me through mental health issues I had stemming from social challenges I have encountered recently. I honestly don’t know where I’d be without him! Excuse my tangent please I don’t add coworkers. But I do add acquaintances in person like randomers from university I don’t remember much about.

 

[Retro]

No, I never accept FB friend requests from people I don't know as they're likely to be scammers. In fact, the FB guidelines also warn against this for this reason. You might be interested in this section of the forum:

Frauds, Scams, Thefts and General Crime

Frauds, thefts, scams and scammers hilariously baited to insanity and beyond go here, along with general discussion about criminality.

nerdzone.uk

I'm glad this other forum was able to help you. You'll find this one an equally safe environment and don't worry about going off topic. Normal face to face conversation does that all the time, so it's natural to let this happen online too and helps the conversation to flow. I might gently steer it back if needed, but that doesn't normally happen.

 

[AllThingsTech]

No, I never accept FB friend requests from people I don't know as they're likely to be scammers. In fact, the FB guidelines also warn against this for this reason. You might be interested in this section of the forum:

Frauds, Scams, Thefts and General Crime

Frauds, thefts, scams and scammers hilariously baited to insanity and beyond go here, along with general discussion about criminality.

nerdzone.uk

I'm glad this other forum was able to help you. You'll find this one an equally safe environment and don't worry about going off topic. Normal face to face conversation does that all the time, so it's natural to let this happen online too and helps the conversation to flow. I might gently steer it back if needed, but that doesn't normally happen.

Thank you very much for your thoughtful reply @Retro

I’m an idiot… It’s your off topic rule that confused me to begin with. When I’m around neurodivergent friends in real life, I’ll start singing out of the blue when a topic reminds me of something and they don’t mind. It’s a bit hard for me to read the room at times, but I now understand you just don’t want a thread descending into incongruence that ends up being unwelcoming to other members, or personal attacks towards members

 

[AllThingsTech]

Have you read the book “How to win friends and increase influence” by Dave Carnegie ? It helped me lots as a neurodivergent with communication (though easier to manage online than offline), but I recommend it to everyone for their career too. It helped me a ton in job interviews!!!