Discord for Dummies

Hey, I see you've finally found your way onto Discord and you're ready to hop into discussion—well not so fast buddy. Discord is a harsh wilderness and anyone who embarks on a journey through it unprepared will surely perish, so take a seat and listen as I teach you the nature of the beast. With this guide in hand new users can learn all about Smogon's premier live chat platform and old IRC-goers can check out said application's successor.

Getting Started

At a glance, getting started might seem fairly simple: introduce yourself, state your purpose, and then hop into discussion; however, anyone who thinks it to be so simple is gravely mistaken. Too many times I have seen an unnecessarily long-winded introduction go unnoticed, and not to mention it reeks of newness. I've always been a firm believer that the best way to get involved is to take it slow and act how you normally would, since you'll get to know everyone in good time, but it is of utmost importance not to rush things along. In a similar vein to not forcing things, the best way to fit in, quite ironically, is to not try so hard to fit in. The harder you try at this the worse you’ll probably end up doing and the more awkward it will look—take it from someone who's seen it before. That being said, Discord is a fantastic tool to help you integrate yourself into Smogon's community, so don't shy away from getting to know others.

Contributing to chat

Once you've familiarized yourself with your surroundings you should try your hand at contributing to the chat, which at its core is very straightforward. This usually entails starting a conversation or getting involved in an ongoing one as well as adding to the overall atmosphere of the chat in a way that is positive. Once you have the basics down you should try to contribute to conversations as often as possible, and if no one's talking feel free to start up a conversation of your own. Debating with other users is also okay and you should never be afraid to share your opinion, but as a general rule of thumb you should try to avoid causing friction. If things get too heavy handed or people start arguing, don't be afraid to step out of the chat for a few minutes until things cool down, since getting into fights with other users reflects poorly on you and is something you should generally avoid doing. You're not guaranteed to get along with everybody, but it's best to stay out of trouble, trust me.

Don't be obnoxious

Riding on the coattails of some of my previous points, you should try not to be a nuisance. You'd think that this goes without saying, but if that's the case then you'd be surprised. There will always be bad eggs, as this is true of both online communities and real life, but you should try your best not to be one of those eggs. For example, being unnecessarily edgy by spamming formatted text, making illegible posts, or constantly trying and failing to make sometimes provocative and largely unfunny jokes is a huge detractor, same as being overly abrasive, rude, or pushy. All of this not only is bound to piss people off but also could get you banned, which I assume is something you don't want.

Emojis

One of the unexpected and rather unusual benefits of Discord is the inclusion of emojis and the ability to implement custom server-specific ones. It's easy to see how some emojis would lose their charm over time, but the novelty of a few of them just hasn't worn off yet, and thus some emojis are viable as a means of expression depending on the situation.

:thinking:

"Thinking" emojis are an essential element of Discord culture and take form in a variety of different emojis that can be used in a variety of different ways. There are currently four different thinking emojis on Smogon's Discord server: :thinking:, :thonkang:, :thirnking:, and :shrugking:. The vanilla thinking emoji is the first of many and takes the shape of a face in the midst of deep thought while stroking its chin and is often used to question the logic or legitimacy of another user's post.

:thonkang:

:thonkang:, however, is different. :thonkang: is a much more crude version of the aforementioned thinking emoji and is primarily used to express extremely intense thought or the inability to comprehend a particularly perplexing or questionable concept. Although it was pretty much exclusive to the GP server originally, :thonkang: has made its way into people's hearts, eventually becoming one of the most popular custom emojis on all of Smogon-affiliated Discord servers.

:thirnking:

:thirnking: is reserved for adding insult to injury when you dumpster someone to the point of no return; therefore, it's only seen on rare occasions, so consider yourself lucky if you manage to catch a glimpse of it.

:shrugking:

:shrugking: has a very similar use to the shrug indicating a lack of knowledge in response to a question, but the added novelty of having the timeless thinking emoji appended to it makes it much more popular.

:lussy:

Don't let the extensive amount of thinking emojis deceive you, they're not the only important ones. Drawn by Scrake, :lussy: is a Pokémon-based spin on the cover of a New York Daily News issue covering the leaked audio of Donald Trump.

:fukyu:

Originating from the depths of Tumblr, and one of the most comical emojis in my humble opinion, :fukyu: is perfect for people who want to get a bit cheeky with their friends.

Channels

The Smogon Discord has five channels, all of which were created with specific purposes in mind. Here are a few brief overviews of each channel and its purpose.

#general: Feel free to talk about just about anything here, this channel hosts a broad range of discussion topics from politics to weather to just about anything else.
#pokemon: Originally created for in-game and leak-related discussion, #pokemon is probably the best place to talk about competitive Pokémon, especially Nintendo-organized formats.
#insidescoop: Badged users have access to the #insidescoop channel on Discord. Don't expect much more than nonchalant chitchat about Smogon and the occasional shittalking though.
#directory: A comprehensive index of all of the official Smogon-related Discord servers.
#news: Pokémon- and Smogon-related news goes here.

Other servers

There are a number of other servers that serve different purposes to the main Smogon server, ranging from quick and easy access to certain types of forum staff to simply integrating into the community of certain section of the site. Here are some of the more interesting ones:

Social Forums

This server's purpose is to act as a hub for various activities pertaining to the social forums. In a lot of ways the server is similar to the Smogon server, albeit without the same types of restrictions. User groups pertain to jokes or the user's personality as opposed to badgesets (for example, the hot pink "GAMER BOY" user group is a joke about Martin's old username which dates back to the early days of the server, whereas people with hot sisters are in the hot sister club) and are commonly exclusive or semi-exclusive to the people listed under them. In addition to the main channel (which has its name changed on a regular basis), there are multiple channels in the server that pertain to different sections of the social forums (#circus and the now-retired #games channels tie into different aspects of Circus Maximus), pertain to popular old IRC channels (#weeb and #skillstone), or serve to redirect spam from main channel (mainly #botspam). Various server activities are commonly ongoing, whether it is a themed music night, a game of Kunc, a group watch of a movie, people chilling and listening to music on the music bot, games of Gartic, and various other things that go on on the server, and ultimately both the server and its policy surrounding user bans and activities being very much ruled by mass opinion and the initiative of the regulars as opposed to primarily consisting of moderator decisions.

#GP

This server ultimately serves two purposes: to receive help and support with writing and editing the written aspects of analyses, from spelling and grammar to prose, and as a means of socializing with other members of the community of people who write the various analyses and articles that get uploaded to the site and its social media platforms. Just like with any good internet community there is a strong meme culture within the server. It also houses Smogon's number one mascot (fleurdyleurse) as he rocks what is objectively the greatest alias on the site: bee47.

OU C&C

Do not be deceived by the server's lack of presence in the Smogon server's directory, as it is no less official and can be found via the OU Analyses subforum. This server serves primarily as a communication platform between writers of OU analyses and the OU quality control team. It acts as an important tool for writers because it means that quality control can help them look over analyses to iron out everything in real time as opposed to posting a full check in the thread, and it is also generally useful for writers to ask questions about both the writing process and for help with the content which they choose to include. That being said, you will often find the QC team voice chatting in private as they ladder, and the server itself also has a wild side—led by users such as p2, the server's top memelord—which leads to a meme culture so powerful that it constantly leaks out of its containment channel into #general. Enter if you dare!

Tier-specific servers

These act as places which can improve intra-community relations within a tier by acting as a melting pot in which players of a tier can socialize, and in some respects they are similar to their respective rooms on Pokémon Showdown!, albeit with it pertaining to the forum community as opposed to the Pokémon Showdown! community. They also function as a place in which players can discuss the tier they are playing and ask for help when building by providing an alternative location to ask questions. While the cultures of the servers vary from tier to tier, they are ultimately all primarily discussion devices, and they are set up as such.

#smeargle

This is the official server for Smeargle's Studio. Here, artists and aspiring artists gather in a laid-back environment in which they can discuss what Smeargle's Studio is all about: art! People commonly share artwork they have recently done or are currently working on, allowing them to receive feedback or praise for their work, and there is also a very strong sense of community here, with lots of casual chat both about art and about other things that help reinforce the general laid-back atmosphere of the server. User groups are very simple in here, with the only ones present being distributed to holders of the Artist badge and to the section leader, with its status generally taking a back seat to the general sense of equality between members within the server regardless of rank either in terms of forum moderation or in terms of badgeholders.

Smogon Tournaments

As the name implies, this is the official Discord server for Smogon tournaments. For the most part, this is just a place in which tourbros and other tournament players socialize in live chat when they aren't on the Smogtours Pokémon Showdown! server. There is a lot of regular social chat that goes here, but ultimately its meme culture is just as prevalent—debatably more so than the simple social elements. There is a channel which is relevant to every official tournament as well as ones for general chat and unofficial tournaments.

Conclusion

Now that you've learned the tools of the trade get out there and make a name for yourself by chatting away to your heart's desire and maybe even earn a badge if you're dedicated enough. Just make sure you follow the guidelines in this article while getting acquainted with fellow Discord users and good things will come to you.

HTML by Kris.

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