Using Discord

The Basics

So, what is Discord? Why Discord?
Discord is a chat app, like Slack or Skype, that is mainly used for gaming but has also be adopted by other communities – like ours! Erin, our Creator, thought it would be a good place to chat about clue solving outside of YouTube comments, and the rest is history. It isn’t perfect, but the text and voice channels are great for hunting and hanging out alike! A discord “group” is called a server, and the different “rooms” in it are called channels.

Where can I use Discord?
If you find yourself enjoying hanging out in Tuataria, you may want to access it outside of your browser. Good news: you can do that! There are Android and iOS apps, as well as desktop versions. We’ve noticed that voice chat tends to work better in the application version, so if you have trouble on that front in the browser version, you might want to try downloading the app.

Getting Around

What are “pins”?
Messages in a channel can be ‘pinned’ by modmins. Checking pins in #general or other channels you frequent is recommended if you haven’t been to Tuataria in a while. They may be related to the hunt, a Tuataria project, an inside joke, or generally exciting or interesting news, and are usually temporary (from an hour to a few days). You can click on a pin to scroll to it and view the context around it. The pins can be found at the top right corner: on desktop it’s a pushpin symbol, and on mobile it’s under the “…” menu.

What are categories/folders?
Discord recently added categories, which hold different channels and let you collapse or open the categories to save space. When a category is collapsed, you’ll only see a channel if there are unread messages in it – when it’s open, you’ll see all the channels. You can also right click/press and hold on a channel to mute it, so you’ll never get an unread notification for that channel (and you can hide muted channels on desktop and android).

An "open" category with muted channels unhidden

An “open” category with muted channels unhidden

The same category "open" with muted channels hidden.

The same category “open” with muted channels hidden

The same category "collapsed" and showing unread messages

The same category “collapsed” and showing unread messages

The same category "collapsed" with no unread messages

The same category “collapsed” with no unread messages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do I style my text posts?
Discord uses Markdown for text formatting and effects. You can also a quick reminder by using s;markdown in #steves_tree. The most useful ones are:

  • Italics: *text here* OR _text here_
  • Bold: **text here**
  • Strike-through: ~~text here~~

How do I use emojis?
On desktop and in the latest versions of the Discord mobile app, you can click on the face in the bottom right corner of the text box. In older app versions you may have to start typing :emojiname: to see a list and select one to use.
Discord has a lot of the traditional emoji you’d find anywhere, but in addition to that, it allows for 50 custom emoji per server. We’ve made enthusiastic use of this feature, and new ones are created constantly. They range from Nerdfighteria-wide in-jokes to very spontaneous ones that only live for a few hours.

How do I react with emojis? On mobile?
To react to a message, hover over the message on the right side and click on the smiley face. On the latest version of the Discord mobile apps, hold down on a message and choose “Add Reaction.” You can also click on an existing reaction to quickly add another of that same emoji.

What’s a DM? How do I DM?
DM stands for Direct Message. You can DM people a few ways. If you click on a username, you can choose “Send Message.” You can also click on the circle at the top of your list of servers on the top left and search for a username there.

Voice Chat

What is “voice”?
Most of our conversations use text chat, but there are also voice channels for actual talking! You can talk and/or listen to other Tuatarians in any of our voice channels. Connect to a voice channel by clicking on the name of the voice channel. You can control when you talk and/or listen by clicking on the microphone and headphone icons. If there is a red line through the icon, then it’s turned off. You can use the text channel with the same name as your connected voice channel to participate in the conversation through text. For example if you’ve connected to voice_1, the text channel is #voice_1. Also read our Voice Etiquette guidelines.

What’s “Push to Talk” (PTT)?
Push to Talk is a setting that keeps you muted unless you hold down one particular key (you get to decide which key you use). We encourage people to use PTT if there is background noise, or if you are likely to have conversations with IRL people, especially during Cluesday when a lot of people are on voice.

How do I know who is in voice chat?
The list of people in voice chat appears below the channel name, and when a person is speaking, their circle will light up green. Once you’ve been around a while, you start to be able to identify voices without it. If you can’t tell, it’s always okay to ask too!

What is “matting”?
Matting is when your mic cuts out and loses some of your words (named after Matt, of course). Sometimes, this happens for no reason; or it’s an issue of mic sensitivity, which can be adjusted in settings; and sometimes, closing and reopening Discord is enough to fix it. If someone is matting, feel free to tell them (politely, of course!) after they finish speaking.