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Can we abandon Discord for refurbishing and repair knowledge?

segasonicfan

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Probably a lost cause of even mentioning this, and I might get flamed but...

... one of the reasons I love video game online forums and have been posting on them for the better part of 15 years is because they are an amazing repository of community knowledge.

That knowledge can be accessed at any time, searched, updated, and added to.

I can't count the number of times I have done exactly this, looking up a post from over 10 years ago to solve a repair issue.

Discord, or any other chat based application for that matter, would mark the end of this if they become the new norm. The cumbersome search function makes for poor information cataloguing. And these apps come and go over the years, taking the treasures of their shared repair information with them. It simply isn't the same.

For my part, I will continue to post here on the forums and help those with repair needs. I won't be posting on Discord. I want to keep these forums alive <3
 

Wombat

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Amen to this. It's a real shame how platforms like Facebook (Groups) and Discord have taken a big chunk of the videogame discussions, where knowledge is lost a lost of times. I don't login to Discord that often, but on FB I'm part of a few Dreamcast groups and it's quite infuriating to see how many times the exactly same questions get asked, simply because it's criminally difficult to read old posts.
 

segasonicfan

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I don't login to Discord that often, but on FB I'm part of a few Dreamcast groups and it's quite infuriating to see how many times the exactly same questions get asked, simply because it's criminally difficult to read old posts.

Wombat, you make an excellent point I forgot about. In the past few years, I get repeatedly asked the same questions - far and above the amount I used to.

I don't think this is because people are dumb or because there are more retrogamers nowadays (of course that's part of it).

Mostly I think, like you mentioned, the search functions on platforms are not designed for this kind of thing (in fact, developed for the exact opposite – fast food word blurbs) and lend themselves to a lack of developing sustained community knowedge.

There's lots of great hardware info on Twitter posts, too. but Lord knows I'll never find them again.
Whereas, say I wanted to find the obscure useful info posted here / Assembler on Multi-Mega CD BIOS hacking...I bet that would take me 60 seconds.

May the Gods have mercy on my inbox in the app age of information-loss. lol.
 
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JumpSuit

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Probably a lost cause of even mentioning this, and I might get flamed but...

... one of the reasons I love video game online forums and have been posting on them for the better part of 15 years is because they are an amazing repository of community knowledge.

That knowledge can be accessed at any time, searched, updated, and added to.

I can't count the number of times I have done exactly this, looking up a post from over 10 years ago to solve a repair issue.

Discord, or any other chat based application for that matter, would mark the end of this if they become the new norm. The cumbersome search function makes for poor information cataloguing. And these apps come and go over the years, taking the treasures of their shared repair information with them. It simply isn't the same.

For my part, I will continue to post here on the forums and help those with repair needs. I won't be posting on Discord. I want to keep these forums alive <3
I can safely disagree with this. The search function built into Discord is perfect for searching for what you need. I've been apart of Discord since early 2016, and the platform has grown heavily. I HIGHLY disagree ANY knowledge DOES NOT get lost. If you know what date it was stated, by who, or specific keywords. You will find what you seek. Also, Discord is coming out with a new feature which should remedy this called "Discord Threads" :p
Just my quick 2 cents into this.
 

speedyink

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I can safely disagree with this. The search function built into Discord is perfect for searching for what you need. I've been apart of Discord since early 2016, and the platform has grown heavily. I HIGHLY disagree ANY knowledge DOES NOT get lost. If you know what date it was stated, by who, or specific keywords. You will find what you seek. Also, Discord is coming out with a new feature which should remedy this called "Discord Threads" :p
Just my quick 2 cents into this.
That's not the point. If you need to know when it was stated, or by who, or anything like that, kind of defeats the purpose of the search? A lot of people when searching for answering to a problem go to Google, right? Well if you Google a question and the answer lies in a forum post, Google will lead you right to it. Not the case with Discord channels.
Discord servers to me seem way less organized then a forum. Instead of a stream of chats, forums are organized into many "chats" or threads, so you can browse through hundreds of topics without wafting through all the messages of each topic. Once you find your topic you can drill down into the messages. Discord is a modern day chat room, it is not set up to be a bunch of organized information, because that's not what it's for.

Don't get me wrong, I like Discord, but not for that sort of purpose. It works better for immediate chatting about specific items, not putting up repair tutorials and such. I find when I don't go to Discord for a couple days I don't have time to scroll all the way back up and read what I missed, there's just tons and tons of random messages because, well, it's a chat group. That's what it's for.
Also, even if "Discord threads" gets implemented perfectly (sounds like trying to do something with the service it's not really designed for), if it doesn't allow searches from Google it is still a huge gap in the reachability of the topic
 
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Anthony817

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Amen to this. It's a real shame how platforms like Facebook (Groups) and Discord have taken a big chunk of the videogame discussions, where knowledge is lost a lost of times. I don't login to Discord that often, but on FB I'm part of a few Dreamcast groups and it's quite infuriating to see how many times the exactly same questions get asked, simply because it's criminally difficult to read old posts.
I REFUSE to have a Facebook account. Nothing but toxicity there and it really brings out the worst of people. Plus all that family drama that goes on there for all the public to see. Yeah no thanks. Only thing I have is Twitter and Reddit accounts to keep in touch with the game communities there, but I really prefer forums more as they are an amazing resource for information and a huge part of the community. I know there are tons of people who never use forums, but they are really missing out and limiting themselves to their own little communities like Discord and such.

My usage of Discord is mostly for my Battlefield mod 1944 to keep in touch with the developers on my team. To be able to chat with them in real time ad they export content and to give suggestions goes a hell of a lot faster than using PM's to communicate. But other than that to check in on some gaming communities on there from time to time.
 

segasonicfan

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That's not the point. If you need to know when it was stated, or by who, or anything like that, kind of defeats the purpose of the search? A lot of people when searching for answering to a problem go to Google, right? Well if you Google a question and the answer lies in a forum post, Google will lead you right to it. Not the case with Discord channels.
Discord servers to me seem way less organized then a forum. Instead of a stream of chats, forums are organized into many "chats" or threads, so you can browse through hundreds of topics without wafting through all the messages of each topic. Once you find your topic you can drill down into the messages. Discord is a modern day chat room, it is not set up to be a bunch of organized information, because that's not what it's for.

Don't get me wrong, I like Discord, but not for that sort of purpose. It works better for immediate chatting about specific items, not putting up repair tutorials and such. I find when I don't go to Discord for a couple days I don't have time to scroll all the way back up and read what I missed, there's just tons and tons of random messages because, well, it's a chat group. That's what it's for.
Also, even if "Discord threads" gets implemented perfectly (sounds like trying to do something with the service it's not really designed for), if it doesn't allow searches from Google it is still a huge gap in the reachability of the topic
+100. I'd also like to point out the image /attachment limitations and how much that can screw up the conversation flow as well (unlike forums where it can be a tiny thumbnail).
My usage of Discord is mostly for my Battlefield mod 1944 to keep in touch with the developers on my team. To be able to chat with them in real time ad they export content and to give suggestions goes a hell of a lot faster than using PM's to communicate. But other than that to check in on some gaming communities on there from time to time.
A perfect example of what Discord is good for!

It's great to see all the Forum love here :) I wonder, what can we do to increase new members to forums in the age of the all-consuming app?
I'm toying with the idea in my head of giving people discounts on my PCB designs if they sign up....
 
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StevO9389

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TL;DR, agree!

At least one person had the foresight as there is already a "Resources" section so maybe we could look at expansion there or adopt some kind of format when it comes to asking questions. Thankfully, the posters here are much more disciplined about the use of subject lines than other forums I haunt. Search it, read it, digest it and then and only then if the information doesn't make sense ask questions on the Discord while referencing the original material so the article can be reviewed and edited for clarity. Instilling the forum habit will be difficult for anyone that did not get their start in a pre Google world but it can be done with lots of perseverance.

Insert anecdote here:
This very problem with Discord became obvious to me when I made a post asking about some error codes resulting in crashing of a CONSOLE game that was released back when games had to be complete and bug checked BEFORE they hit shelves. It got almost no attention and quickly buried in parallel conversations. The issue at the time wasn't really worth starting a thread but in hindsight maybe it could have helped or inspired someone that joined long after the conversation died. AFAIK new members cannot see conversations that took place prior to their joining the channel so what good is relying on Discord if new people cannot benefit from it? Maybe you can search stuff on there prior to your joining a channel but it wasn't obvious to me and not what I use Discord for anyway. Either way, I don't care enough to find out because its primary function is a chat room.

Rant:
Contributing to and maintaining an updated and organized knowledge base was only a secondary function in my last career but took up the majority of my time beating my co workers and subordinates over the head until they actually used it. I didn't care if only asking me directly for the answer was faster or easier because no actual learning took place and those were the same people that never succeeded. Some of the time the subject was too vague, missing key words, strangely formatted, littered with initialisms (a colossal pet peeve of mine) or just written from the perspective that you're already an expert on the subject. Those instances would be reviewed, edited and bumped so everyone knew a change took place.
 
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darcagn

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I can safely disagree with this. The search function built into Discord is perfect for searching for what you need. I've been apart of Discord since early 2016, and the platform has grown heavily. I HIGHLY disagree ANY knowledge DOES NOT get lost. If you know what date it was stated, by who, or specific keywords. You will find what you seek. Also, Discord is coming out with a new feature which should remedy this called "Discord Threads" :p
Just my quick 2 cents into this.

Have to HARD disagree with you here.

Just to give you an example, I dug out an old OEM HP computer from 2001 from a garage this past week to use as a base for an MSDOS/Win3.11/Win9X retro gaming computer. I've found amazing amounts of help for extremely obscure topics on message boards with post dates from 1999-2003. Just from doing general queries on DuckDuckGo without knowing what date it was stated, by whom, or, most importantly, without any clue that these message boards or communities ever existed in the first place. I ended up saving money having to buy a motherboard with my desired features because someone in 2000 in a thread on a forum I never knew existed offhandedly mentioned they were able to flash the BIOS of the board I have with a retail BIOS, and I was able to follow. I really don't think Discord will be as flexible with this in another 20 years if I have to find this kind of information. What if the servers cease to exist? At least with message boards, most of them get archived if they go down (see: assembler)
 
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JumpSuit

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We don't have to agree to disagree. I don't imagine a VoIP application like discord to give topics past its own existence. in 20 years? This will surely outbeat any other VoIP service for general usage as Discord's new aim. Threads are also going to be introduced eventually to help keep conversations separate from the main topics. I've searched across MANY different discord servers and usually find what I need depending on what I cater to. A Search Engine will surely give answers, but it isn't always the same from a closer experienced person in a specific discord.
most of them get archived if they go down (see: assembler)
assembler isn't even fully archived, og's backup got yeeted lol. Cause of unspeakable reasons i am aware of.
 

Trimesh

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I 100% agree with the OP. Discord sucks. Personally, I think it should not only not be used for archive purposes, it should not be used at all for anything because it's that inferior.
Just delete it entirely.
 

segasonicfan

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Loving the conversation here!

I've found amazing amounts of help for extremely obscure topics on message boards with post dates from 1999-2003.

So awesome. I have found SMS-Power.org forums to be particularly helpful too. But I thought I'd share one cool example:

Last year, I was doing some Sega CD model one laser repairs. I was having some issues with the Sony laser and did a search to find these forum posts from 14 years ago:

KSS240A lasers are for sure not the most reliable in the world. The pots on
there are factory set and sealed, and should not be adjusted. With most Sony
lasers, even a modest over-drive of the laser diode can do it permanent
damage, so I would not recommend anyone to attempt adjustment, unless it is
a last ditch "do or die" attempt to prove that the laser is worn out.
This thread is full of amazing posts, which are now backed up here:

unlike Discord you can use the Wayback Machine to save a lot of forums :)

Edit: made a new page on my website to encourage people to join forums like this one:
 
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