So, if you remember how forums used to be a few weeks ago, we used to have it so that posts would get automatically archived after 24 hours of inactivity. Then Discord removed that option and made it 7 days by default.
Personally, I think that a lot of question threads die a lot earlier than after 7 days of inactivity, so having them stay open for so long kinda promotes clutter in my eyes and makes it hard to see new and unanswered posts, so once bots get support, we'll probably implement our own archiving solution. Does anyone else perhaps have any thoughts on this?
#Welcome, FAQ, READ ME
red stratus
heady cliff
So, if you remember how forums used to be a few weeks ago, we used to have it so...
This would only be a good solution, if the archived posts are also listed in serach results.
Also you should give feedback to Discord and point out, why 7 days, for a question and answer forum post, to archive, is to much time. Perhaps they add the option again.
red stratus
As of today, bot commands work in forum threads. Enjoy bonking people with >faq. 
sweet girder
Based
red stratus
Hey everyone! Discord recently gave us access to 
forum channels, which allow for more organized conversations about certain topics, and we're testing it by looking at how people use it and whether it would help make our current #questions channels better. We've summarized the most important points in the FAQ below, please carefully read the following information if you are interested in testing with us. 
_ _
What are forum channels?
Forum channels are a feature that's currently in development. A handful of servers were given early access to help test it out, and we're one of them. You can read more about it here: https://discord.com/blog/a-note-on-upcoming-community-experiments
If you're familiar with Discord's threads, forums essentially act as an easy to navigate collection of threads about a certain topic.
What are you looking to learn by doing this test?
In the past, we've received requests to use threads to help structure our #questions channel better, which has been on our radar for some time now. When this experiment showed up, we thought it might be worth giving it a shot. Some of the things we'd like to learn are:
Does the forum format make it easier for learners to ask questions? Does it make you worry less about your question potentially being overlooked?
Do volunteers that answer question have an easier time finding questions that interest them, and answering them without there being multiple parallel conversations that just get in the way.
How do people use the forum feature? Are the question titles descriptive enough, do the first posts contain all the required information?
Whether users like the feature in general and see themselves using it in the future.
** What should I do here?**
Ideally, ask and answer questions like you would in #questions. If you want to know something, make a new post and ask away! Or look through the existing posts to see if there's anyone who could use your help.
⚠️ We realize that a new feature might be exciting, but please don't create joke posts, troll or break the rules in any way. Since this is a voluntary test and not a standard part of the server, we will be removing anyone who acts maliciously. ⚠️
It's fine to do serious testing though. The posts we don't want are the kind that just contain spam and completely irrelevant content, e.g., posts that just say "test" without asking an actual question.
So how do I ask a question?
We assume you already have the necessary permissions. Read until the end for information on how to get them.
On desktop, go back to #942470380692590632 and click the Post button at the top of your screen.
On Android, you might see a plus button when you open #942470380692590632, or when you pull up the channel's threads. Alternatively it's also possible that nothing pops up because mobile support is very much non-existent for this feature. You should use the desktop client for the best experience. As a third option, newer clients will have a Create Post button at the bottom of the channel.
On iOS, you'll see a Create Post button at the bottom of #942470380692590632.
red stratus
_ _
How did you get forums? Can I get them on my server?
We were contacted by Discord since we're a partnered server. The pool of servers that are involved in testing is rather small, and as far as we know, there isn't any way to apply. Others will get the feature if and when it's released to the public.
What will you be doing with our feedback?
Primarily, your feedback will help us learn how people make use forums. We'll be using this knowledge in the future to potentially make them a standard part of the server. In addition, we ourselves are expected to give feedback to Discord about this feature. As such, we may forward your comments to Discord. Your identity won't be revealed to Discord staff, and your comments will be summarized in our own words.
How long will this test last?
We're not entirely sure yet. We're currently planning to run the test for a few weeks and see how things go from there. At the end, the forum might disappear for a while and then be recreated and take the place of our current #questions channels.
I found a bug, I have some feedback
Note that forums are still very new and they don't work very well on mobile. That's a known issue and there's no need to report problems that occur on mobile. Other than that, we'd love to hear anything you have to say to us. You can use this post if you'd like to publicly give your thoughts about the feature and our way of using it. Alternatively, you can also DM me your feedback if you'd prefer to remain (semi) anonymous.
Something else?
This post is open for your questions and feedback. Let us know if anything's unclear, and we'll assist you.
How do I sign up to test and get posting permissions?
If you're interested in testing with us, just go ahead and ask a question. We previously had signup requirements, but now forums are open to everyone.
Still, by posting you acknowledge that you have understood that this is a voluntary test, that you should follow the rules of the server, and not use the forums to create posts that are: jokes, off-topic or otherwise meaningless. Breaking the rules in any way will result in your removal from the channel, since this is an experiment and not an essential part of the server just yet.
potent sierra
It says this post is open for feedback, so here's one for the feature in general: I think it would be cool if we could sort by "not answered" or sth that returns the threads sorted by recent creation && no answers yet, to find the unanswered questions easily
That would also apply to other forums on other Discord servers and help to get rid of overlooking questions, especially when there are many threads
inner dagger
_ _
**How did you get forums? Can I get them on my server?**
We were contacted b...
I'd like to suggest categories or labels that can be filtered by. For example, it might help knowing if the question is about Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation, or something else. Filtering is an added bonus.
white elm
I don't really know the scope of the capabilities of this feature as of yet, but it would be nice if frequently asked/particularly well-answered questions could be archived in another channel as a sort-of pseudo-FAQ. It would be nice for the times that there are no natives actively answering questions due to time zones or w/e.
cunning zephyr
I'd like to suggest categories or labels that can be filtered by. For example, i...
Yeah, that might not be such a bad idea.
valid horizon
For me it seems like as if it does its job. People can open a forum post, ask their questions and others can join and answer them. The questions will be more organised and less likely to get overlooked.
Thanks to the title, helpful members can easily see what questions are currently asked and whether they would like to answer them or not. Another positive aspect is that parallel conversations are more unlikely to occur.
It seems that the title has enough space for basic questions. However users might not always explain their question properly in it.
I would like to see the feature getting used in the future. It seems to be very helpful for both learners and people who answer questions.
A few additional wishes:
🔸 Categories for users to post a question.
🔸 Searching for titles/categories, so users can easily find already answered questions.
🔸 Sort for (un)answered posts.
balmy steeple
For me it seems like as if it does its job. People can open a forum post, ask th...
a slight disadvantage in #questions is that the questionaire often gets bogged down by others when writing a large text
answerers are more likely to answer a short question than a long one, especially one that isnt formatted the best
and the „distance“ in chat between long answers and long questions (because the time it takes to type) discourage those sorts of longer questions
the forum set up here largely prevents this, just another advantage
gaunt falcon
Searching for titles/categories, so users can easily find already answered questions.
Ohne das finde ich ein Forum langfristig etwas nutzlos, da man nicht leicht nach ähnlichen Fragen suchen kann, und die Fragen werden daher immer wieder gestellt.
gaunt falcon
Kann man irgendwie die Ansicht ändern? Zum Beispiel möchte ich nur die Titel sehen.
Zum Beispiel möchte ich hier nur den Autor und den Titel der Post sehen
red stratus
Not atm, but I can forward the feedback. Could you go into a bit more detail as to why. These are Discord's guidelines for suggestions atm.
gaunt falcon
Okay, ich schreibe es mal auf Englisch, damit du es einfach kopieren kannst.
If a forum has a lot of activity and a lot of threads, it would be useful to make it possible to reduce the amount of information given about a thread in the main forum view so more threads could fit on the screen. This would be especially useful on small screens. For example, if I am scanning the titles of threads relevant to my interest, I might not want to have to mentally filter out the preview of the first post and the last message, so I would simply hide them.
Auch eine Idee:
It would be on the whole useful to make the post previews more customisible. For example, by allowing the authors of the post to mark the post with a tag, emoji, or whatever. For our case on the German server, this could used by users who pose questions to mark their questions as answered with a ✅.
Man kann schon meine erste Idee mit Nachrichten tun (ich weiß gerade nicht, wie die Einstellung heißt). Es wäre sowas ähnliches in der Richtung, aber fürs Forum.
inner dagger
If it hasn't been mentioned yet, the ability to react to a forum thread with emoji would be nice.
red stratus
It's been brought up, but staff asked for use-case examples, so I can forward yours if you have one.
inner dagger
It's been brought up, but staff asked for use-case examples, so I can forward yo...
Since we're a learning server, user engagement would be the use case. Something like reacting with 👍 or 👎 to gauge how well a question/post did.
tacit marsh
Since we're a learning server, user engagement would be the use case. Something ...
please, no
unless you wanna do sth like voting in stackoverflow in order to choose the best answer
just for the sake of like vs dislike, i don't think it's a good idea
I believe the important thing is for users to find good answers, to avoid repeating threads/topics with the same question, and not make a forum look like facebook or instagram 'just because it's what they do there'
inner dagger
It could be more than that, though I don't mind if it isn't added.
wispy lodge
I asked to participate, as related to the testing thing, but I'm not sure if I'll submit any posts any time soon. I hope this is not a problem.
red stratus
Not at all. We'd love for the forum to see some activity so we can understand how people use it, but we can't force questions into your head. Either way you have the necessary permissions if any questions come up. 
severe terrace
Hallo, thank you for this initiative, aber ich denke that it will help more the "helpers" than the "questioners". so can the "Questions" und "Questions-2" coexist with this "questions-forum" ? it's better to have the two of them
sick musk
Hallo, thank you for this initiative, aber ich denke that it will help more the ...
What exactly you think will be better with the channels we have in comparison with the new feature?
severe terrace
with the channels we have : we can ask some quick questions that dont really fit in a title, and most of time we have quick answers. but with the forum, we will maybe find a difficulty to find an appropriate title. The forum can be helpful for grammar questions tho.
red stratus
Can you give an example of a question for which you can't think of even a simple title like "quick grammar question" or similar?
hushed pier
Is there any limit on the number of questions one can ask per day in the forum?
vocal furnace
As long as you're using it responsibly, no.
red stratus
Yeah, we'd love to see people try it out and hear what they think so by all means, as long as you're asking actual questions and not creating posts that just say "hi" or "test", feel free to make as many as you want.
wicked jasper
Can you give an example of a question for which you can't think of even a simple...
if I got right what you asked here, I might have an example. These days I wanted to know who a celeb guy was and I didn't post it here in the forum because I don't see anyone ever feeling even half the idea of searching an image here. Usually, I've been having doubts like "what did they say in this audio at 37s?".
red stratus
These days I wanted to know who a celeb guy was
Well that's probably not something you'd post in #questions either. #942470380692590632 is meant to test out an alternative for #questions, and the only fitting questions are language-related ones.
I've been having doubts like "what did they say in this audio at 37s?".
And could you tell us what it is about forums that makes you not want to post something like that in them?
wispy lodge
@red stratus skirt du altes goblin
Would be cool to have FAQ threads in here but it seems a bit too optimistic that this can replace the question channels
I don't only learn from asking questions myself in there but also from watching others ask questions
hushed pier
I partially agree with that, as I myself have also learned from other people's questions here...but that has only happened, as I was about to write a question or was waiting for my answer, saw someone else's question and thought it was a good question. Whereas here with the forum, I think it would be easier to basically check more questions, than having to swim through seas of texts.
wicked jasper
> These days I wanted to know who a celeb guy was
Well that's probably not somet...
1st -> yeah, maybe I should've posted it in #archived-culture-study-visa now that I think "im Nachhinein".
2nd -> because this forum works better for questions that are in a FAQ format as far as I reckon it. No one would ever search for "audio/video 37s". This form seems great for asking questions like "Was wäre der Unterschied zwischen Befund und Ergebnis? Mir scheinen sie dasselbe zu bedeuten."
red stratus
But no one would probably ever search for it in #questions either, nor do they have to. When you ask a question, you're mostly doing it for your own sake, not to help others. >faq entries exist for that purpose.
In my opinion, the post format that #942470380692590632 really just gives questions more visibility (since answered ones can be archived and hidden, and unanswered ones stay up and visible), they allow for easier navigation through questions since the title gives your a rough idea of what's going on and you don't have to scroll through a bunch of messages to see where a question starts, they're self-contained and can't be interrupted by other questions, and it's very easy for people who answer questions to look through the list and see that a post has 0 answers whereas a question that gets lost in #questions is just lost for good unless the person repost it.
And to address Konrad's concern, all questions asked in the forum are still public and viewable by anyone like they would be in #questions, so there's nothing stopping you from checking existing or old questions out. The only minor downside I see is that you can't just directly post a message but have to take a few seconds to think of a fitting title.
So overall, I'm personally very much convinced that the forum format is superior to a channel in pretty much every way. So for me, it would be pretty cool if someone who disagrees tried to pick my arguments apart and present a case for why #questions might be better after all, so I can get a proper understanding of what's keeping people away from forums and what it is that they don't like.
wicked jasper
But no one would probably ever search for it in <#221709483284496394> either, no...
as of now I keep using rather #questions bc I'm used to it, and since a certain time I've been going in "Suche", top right corner, and searching for the keywords I'm about to ask before posting it (There's quite a lot answered there already in all these years). I liked your reasoning, however, and next time I will give a try here, Arrem. (:
gaunt falcon
@red stratus
The only minor downside I see is that you can't just directly post a message but have to take a few seconds to think of a fitting title.
ich würde das gerade nicht als einen "minor" Nachteil bezeichnen. Dieses Feature ist ziemlich neu und unbekannt. Auch wenn es nicht viel ist, braucht man trotzdem etwas Zeit und Mühe, sich einen vernünftigen Titel auszudenken und mit der neuen Ansicht umzugehen. Ich würde diese zusätzliche erforderte Bemühung nicht unterschätzen: Eine Frage in einem Kanal zu stellen ist einfach und gewohnt und man würde das entweder in #general oder gar tun, statt sich mit den Forums auseinanderzusetzen.
Ich würde also eine Zeit lang #questions behalten, nachdem das Feature "fertig" ist, bis Forums weiter verbreitet und bekannt ist.
Vielleicht könnte man erstmal#questions-2 sperren, mit einer Nachricht, dass man seine Frage in #942470380692590632 stellen kann?
sleek stump
it's a nice addition to the channels, especially when you want more than one answer - however, the way i see it:
- if you'd want to use a forum, there are plenty of options around for that already. a lot of people do want to ask in a chat because they prefer the direct interaction. if they'd want a forum, they'd use a forum. they join a chat because they want a chat.
- there are already a lot of people who feel frightened to ask questions in public, and a forum makes this even worse as your question will have an even bigger visibility. it scares many people away. the nature of the very active chat already does that already, it scares timid people.
- it makes the entry barrier for very basic questions pretty high.
i know you could argue: "Why the heck are people even stating the question: 'How do say X", or "What is the genitive???" when they could simply google this?", but that is not the question at hand. A chat is meant to lower the entry barrier to interact
If anything, you don't need a HIGHER entry barrier but a LOWER one, e.g. by offering a curator-system where people of the community offer to answer questions one on one in a private chat, staying true to the community guidelines you're setting on the server. maybe something that makes questions anonymous, so people feel less scared by pretty active #questions channel
paper sequoia
This message from @sleek stump made me think. I really like the forum option, since it is a nice learning space when you come later and whole discussion is in the one place
I agree with @sleek stump that such form definitely isn't for someone who is anxious about asking questions
So, I think the best way is if we have both
I definitely don't have time nor patience to sort out through bunch of various questions which are often shallow or accompanying fluff, since I'm more interested in deeper ones about whys and such, exactly what started occurring in those separate threads
So I just don't visit question chats, and have them muted, because that was easier than to be overwhelmed or having FOMO 😂
Forum archive I've definitely read and see a lot of value in it
So, I hope this experiment isn't in order to decide for just one, but just to see how to make them work along side with each other :)
And one difference between forum structure here vs other forums - on other forums you don't have these folks who help here and in whose answer you may be interested in :)
red stratus
For now, our only plan and purpose for this test is to see how people use the forums. Discord gave us access to this feature early, and while it would be a shame to see it get cancelled, they're making no promises that it'll actually ever be released publicly at this point, and that'll depend on how these closed tests go. We'll think about how we actually want to use them long-term later when the feature is actually released, supported by bots, etc.
Also we're still waiting for forums to be feature-complete. Currently they're not well-supported on mobile, and some important features have been confirmed but are still unimplemented. So we'll definitely be running full-scale tests in the future to determine if/how we want to use forums when they're released.
paper sequoia
Yeah, on mobile I can only read, no permission to post even though I'm in tester group
I hope it will stay as a feature, it definitely brings good stuff for more bookworm oriented people :)
gaunt falcon
Es gibt nun 👍 auf einer Post, aber wie kann man es nutzen? Wenn ich drauf klicke, wird die Post aufgemacht.
red stratus
It looks at the first message's reactions. Not quite sure if it takes the top one or the first one or whatever idk.
gaunt falcon
It looks at the first message's reactions. Not quite sure if it takes the top on...
es scheint, das neuste Emoji zu nehmen, zumindest wenn es mehrere Emojis mit der gleichen Anzahl gibt.
red stratus
Today's updates:
• The reactions in the main channel only show up assuming there are some to begin with, no more 0 👍 everywhere.
• At the top of the channel there's a like button to add a heart emoji to the first post.
• OP has an OP flair next to their name.
• There's a prompt to reply if there are no replies.
Pretty neat, I like how they're actually listening to feedback and implementing things rather quickly with forums. 
red stratus
Today's update:
Tags have started rolling out. 😩 There's no way to add them to posts yet, but we can already create them, so I hope the rest of it will come soon. 
On that note if you have ideas for other things we could put in there, let me know.
gaunt falcon
Kann man nach Tags suchen oder haben sie das vor?
red stratus
I assume there'll be an option to filter by tags, since why even have them otherwise tbh, though we haven't heard anything from the devs yet, so idk for sure.
inner dagger
Hey, Discord had the same idea I did!
sweet girder
so is the feature public now?
red stratus
Not quite. Since we saw no abuse during early testing, we decided to close the signups and just allow everyone to post in the forums, so far that's been working great and a lot more people have been using them.
However, on Discord's site forums remain in active development, and on our side we're still running the testing phase and not committing to anything.
red stratus
Hello cute forum users. The discord UX team asked us to share a survey with you to help them understand usage around forums.
Hi members of German Learning and Discussion!
We hope you've been enjoying trying out Forum Channels. Discord staff need YOUR help with a survey on your experience using them so far. Whether or not you are an active member of German Learning and Discussion, we hope that you will fill this survey out! Your input is greatly valued, and will help shape Forum Channels as a feature.
https://forms.gle/nMEq31aTmykZPA2VA
If you have any questions, please reach out to @red stratus.
Thanks so much!
Your responses will not be shared with us and will only be available to Discord staff. It would be super cool if you filled the form out, especially if you used the forums already. Also you don't have to do this, but just so we can gauge participation, it would be neat if you reacted with ✏️ to this message if you've filled out the survey.
hushed pier
just noticed sth. made a post in the question forum, title and the body message. left hand side shows both the title and the body message of my post, but right hand side just shows the title of my post.
red stratus
So weird. 
Must be one-time thing then. I guess the best we could do is report it to Discord and have them look into it. Could you get us your client version? When you go to your user settings at the bottom left of your screen and scroll to the bottom of the list, you should see something like this.
hushed pier
red stratus
Okay, thanks a bunch.
inner dagger
I love the new 'OP' tag that's been added to forum channels. ^^
red stratus
Hello cute forum users. <:peepylove:727214169086099538> The discord UX team aske...
Shameless pitch but you should consider telling that to Discord. Feedback gives them a chance to improve the forums, and them seeing that people on our server are actually using the forums and are willing to discuss them probably gives us better odds for being selected to participate in future experiments.
red stratus
Discord is asking us to share another survey with you.
Hi members of German Learning and Discussion!
Discord staff need YOUR help with new features. Whether or not you are an active member of German Learning and Discussion, we hope that you will fill this survey out! Once you fill the survey out, you may be selected for a 45-minute (compensated!) interview early this week. Your input is greatly valued, and will help shape the future of Discord's features.
https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6795800/
If you have any questions, please reach out to @red stratus.
Thanks so much!
Staff has said that participants will be compensated with $75 for the 45 minute interview if selected, so if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, go ahead and take the survey.
sweet girder
When should we expect to hear back? I don't check my emails and I don't want to miss it
red stratus
I'm not sure, but I forwarded the question to Discord staff.
Edit:
the interviews have already passed, if they were selected for an interview, they would've been reached out to by now
sweet girder
I shouldve checked,discord more earlier 😩
sweet girder
Is this supposed to happen?
red stratus
No, but the Android app is heavily underdeveloped and they're aware that it's full of bugs and barely working. It'll be fixed eventually before forums are fully released.
sharp vortex
@Arrem#4798 Update about the Android-Thing:
For me it's working now in some servers, but not here. 😔
valid horizon
Forum channels are now publicly available 
(at least for me)
red stratus
Generally with these features, they start out by slowly rolling out to smaller guilds, so you just got lucky, they're not fully released just yet. 
But it does mean that we're now close to public release.
valid horizon
Yeah, that's what I thought too
sharp vortex
@Arrem#4798 Update about the Android-Thing:
For me it's working now in *some* se...
Update: It works for me now 
I don't know how it is for others, but this seems to be good. :D
gaunt falcon
Bug? Ein Thread mit "2" Nachrichten in der Ansicht aber nur meine ist zu sehen. https://discord.com/channels/221708975698083841/973668192520114238
red stratus
Likely a combination of the OP deleting their initial message and a slight UI bug/stale cache. I just see 1.
gaunt falcon
Discord cache 
sick musk
Was hat es eigentlich hiermit auf sich. Bin ich das bloß, oder ist das ein bekannter Bug?
red stratus
Looks like that for me too, I'll forward it, thanks!
white elm
Looks normal on PC
desert ledge
it is hard and will be getting only harder to get to the top rules, when people are writing here
red stratus
The first message is pinned. Though these days it's mostly irrelevant for most people.
vale surge
Achhh so!!
gaunt falcon
@red stratusWeißt du zufällig, warum man keine Anführungszeichen (") im Titel einer Post nutzen darf?
red stratus
Because Discord said so. They blocked \"#:/@<> from titles, most of them are to avoid ambiguity with links, emoji and mentions. I don't see a particular reason for " to be included but oh well I guess it is.
tidal island
Not sure if anyone has brought this up yet, but I like that forum posts can be tagged (Recommendations, Vocabulary), etc. I haven't seen a way to search or sort by these tags, even when using the search bar. It would be nice if we could.
red stratus
Not sure if anyone has brought this up yet, but I like that forum posts can be t...
Are you on mobile or desktop? Since the feature is still in development, mobile support isn't really great atm, but on desktop you can filter by tags by clicking on them in the sidebar that you can see when you're at the top of the channel.
red stratus
Now on Canary: search existing posts before you post your own. Might help with some repetitive questions like duolingo or exams.
