Some months ago I created my own Discord community for reasons that are now irrelevant. The upshot is that it's now a small but active community of other Zazzle Designers. Since we are creeping up on the time of year when Zazzle traditionally makes these forums Read-Only, I thought this would be a good time to publicly introduce my Discord and invite everyone to join it. Discord never closes, it's 24/7 live chat, so it's a great & fun option for chatting, venting, asking questions ...
I myself did not understand what Discord was until not too long ago when I was coaxed in to signing up to join someone's server. Turns out Discord is just what old-schoolers like me used to call "chat rooms". It's just live chat. Discord is just the name of the platform. Then there are communities, akin to the main Z forum, that in Discord lingo are called "servers". Then in those servers (communities) there can be different "channels", which would be like the different forum sections under the main Zazzle community. My server (community) has a number of different channels (forum topics). if you already have a Discord account, all you need to do is click on my invite link to join my community. If you don't yet have a Discord account, clicking the invite link will prompt you to create one.
These are the different forums ("channels") on my community ("server").
With a Discord account and clicking my invite link to join my server, you can read and post to any/all of them. If you join and click the thumbtack icon in the top right of screen to view Pinned posts, you'll see more info on what each forum is geared towards. With Discord there is no time limit on being able to edit (or delete) a comment, and you can include images, gifs, and emoticons.
I have nothing to gain from this Discord, I am not trying to sell you all anything, it's just a fun way to chat with fellow Designers, and it doesn't even have to be Zazzle related. I just ask that, no politics of course.
*Also Note - while there is a Discord app you can install on your phone and/or computer, YOU DO NOT NEED IT. You can join & participate strictly from your browser. Which is how I use it, as just another browser tab.
Here's the invite link: https://discord.gg/9hAEEHJR5c
There's also a link in my sig if you lose track of this post. 😉
@ColsCreations I had no clue Zazzle's forums will soon be entering temporary the "Read-Only" phase (I guess I had joined here afterwards when that happened last year) but I am surly glad you have created your server as an alternative Col - thanks so much!!
They have traditionally made the forums read-only some time in Dec until after the New Year. To give all the Mods a break I think. Can't know when (or if for sure) they'll do it this year but I am expecting they will.
@LynnRoseInteresting - until Three Kings Day. Seems I'm not signed up for those news letters either, lol. Thanks for posting this here.
From the other server that I am on, I have heard that is very common for people to somehow end up with two Discord accounts when signing up, something maybe with the email verification part, not sure, I was lucky and breezed through it with no problems.
Glad to have you!
That's bizarre. I don't know why Discord has such a troublesome signup/signin process. But we do have at least two members who are much more experienced with that than me and who are willing to help you over such hurdles. If you are verified for Zazzle chat they can reach out to you there.
Hope to see you join us soon.
My server is private, by invite only. The only way people can find it is if they stumble on this thread (or the link in my sig). These forum threads are indexed on Google rather quickly, but I don't think that's a problem. Odds still low of randos digging up the invite link and joining just to spam. [Edited to add: and if it becomes a problem, I can disable those invite links.] As is, noone has joined who can't be identified as a fellow Zazzle designer. And if a suspicious account does show up, I do have the ability to remove/ban them.
As for links - we've been sharing a lot of them but we're all fellow designer so no reason not to trust them. When you click on a link, you get a pop-up that identifies where the link goes, confirms you want to follow it, and gives you the option to check to always trust links to whatever site in the future.
DM's (Direct Messaging) is different. From the way I understand it, other Discord members, if they know your discord name, can send you a DM even if you are not members of a same server. I am only on two servers but haven't had any random DM's. But absolutely, just like with Zazzle chat, if you don't know the person, use caution and common sense.
Also, on another note: I have been calling my server a "community" since "server" sounds so technical. "Community" is easier to understand. 😉 However, I learned this morning that "Community" is what Discord calls a special type of server that IS public. To become a public Community people can find & join without an invite, your server has to meet certain criteria and you have to choose to do it. So I just want to make it clear that my server is NOT public, it's not what Discord calls a "Community". It's just unfortunate that that's what I was referring to it as without knowing it has a specific meaning to Discord.
I purposely turned those options off for all my channels just so people couldn't accidentally do things they didn't intend to. 🙂 Hope you come join us, Barbara, the door is open. 🙂
Thanks, @Amanda23. I think "connecting in a more informal way" really nails it.
It's turning into a very pleasant place for support, encouragement, tips, advice, help, and just general off-the-hip conversation about anything. Everyone's welcome, and we're open 24/7
That was EXACTLY me up until a few months ago. Turns out it's just chat, and so easy I got the wild hair to start my own "server". 🙂
