Is Discord a terrible alternative to forums or am I just using it wrong

[Gunboat Diplomat]

This is really a bit of a self-indulgent moan about the internet not being the way I like it anymore, I expect the appeal of this thread (or otherwise) will largely hinge on your age, but anyway...

 

I'm in a few airsoft related Discord groups, namely because they contain info I can't get anywhere else and are by and large far more active than forums.  But for the love of Christ, the experience of using them is painful.  Having an ever scrolling wall of text, out of context replies to prior comments punctuated by sporadic memes just makes my head hurt. 

 

I just can't fathom why anyone would prefer this over a forum thread, other than the low-effort barrier to entry.

 

What am I missing here?  

[Tackle]

Never used them, & on the basis of your post, I'll probably stay away from them, given my age lol 

[Enid_Puceflange]

I suppose it depends which Discord you are using

Im also a member of a few, most of them are exactly what you say

Some groups are very good, a hive of knowledge and helpful

Others are packed with gobshites and trolls

[Gunboat Diplomat]

It’s not so much the groups themselves (some have some really useful info and knowledgeable contributors) but the actual platform that I dislike.

 

The entire UX design is just a shit experience for the kind of long form discussion that nerdy hobbies like ours benefit from. 
 

[Skara]

Well it's up to the server owner/mod, there are ways to make locked threads with guides and stuff like this, have threads dedicated to pictures/videos and anything in between.

 

I'd stay away from huge servers like Airsoft International, that place is an absolute shithole and everyone there is mega entitled.. I prefer smaller servers, where new people are invited to (can't publicly join) and where discussions are actually enjoyable and knowledge is actually shared.

[Lyndication]

As someone who remembers the IRC and Forum heyday, you just described an awful lot of old forums ngl. Some sites you could have a page of discussion fly through a thread between starting and ending your post. Plus all the etiquette like never double posting, giving fully paragraphed answers to things that aren't as relevant now because, well, forums are a shadow of what they were sadly. 

 

I find Discord useful for getting answers to questions but I definitely find a lot of servers a bit too high tempo to keep up with. 

 

Better organised ones can have things like slowmode channels for preventing inane prattering, and much like the old forum days, the quality lives and dies on how diligent the mods are about actually enforcing the rules.