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Free Space Dinosaur - One Year In!
Apr. 7th, 2021 12:01 amSo, just under a year ago, I started a Discord Server.
I am my mother's child. I say that lots of times and mean it in lots of ways (that we both dance, find joy in the little things, eschew gender norms in favour of adventure, have ADHD brains that lead to us talking to much and being disorganized...) but in this case I mean that we're both strongly gregarious and outgoing, and would be happiest serving as some degree of social/community hub. I grew up watching mom have movie nights and new years parties and lots of lovely people stopping by, and that shaped a lot of my understanding of Home and family and happiness.
So Free Space Dinosaur (aforementioned server) has been the first really significant social hub that I've been directly in charge of. It's not what I imagined, but house parties haven't been an option for the covidtimes, and is anyone really shocked that I moderate a space based on the written word?
It's a mix of my friends from various sources. Interestingly enough it's not "just the people I'm closest to in the world" --there's at least one person who was basically a stranger when they first joined, and a few more active participants who I only knew sorta-kinda at the start. There's currently about 80 people enrolled, I would guess somewhere in the two dozen range for "post at least semi-regularly". It of course appeals to the people in my life who respond well to text, but that's okay, it's been neat to learn which of my friends this really works for and get to know them better.
The space contains three halves, all of which run with varying levels of activity and intensity. The first half is "ADHD nightmare party" which is for #AccountabilityClub and daily challenges and trying to help each other manage our brains in a fucking pandemic. The second half is just general and more specific chatting (and probably the most active section). The third half is playing games --we started with just Animal Crossing coordination, moved quickly to AmongUs, and more recently have begun playing Parlour Games like botacelli and "the next poster is someone who..."
I'm at least partly indirectly responsible for two other servers. When I said I wanted to move away from Big Talk and just focus on small talk, Brackett stepped up and made Salon of the Sea (where I should poke my nose into more). And as AmongUs became more and more of a thing, Elishka made the Impostlandia server, which is a totally open-invite all-playing-space-murder-all-the-time space.
It has not always been a perfect space - there have been some tensions at some points, and a couple people have been quietly asked to leave as they didn't exactly fit in the space I was trying to create. I hope that there haven't been Other Problems that I've just been too rosy-eyed to see! Mostly, people have seemed willing to treat each other with good faith, to try not and overstep on each other, and to make requests and share and all those good kindergarten communication skills.
And if I haven't made it clear, I am _ridiculously_ robustly happy about the space. I'm happy that people exist and talk to me, and I'm even happier that they exist and talk to each other! I'm happy to see support between friends and strangers, I'm happy to watch games, I'm happy to share photos and struggles and joys. I didn't really have much of a plan when I started, beyond "hey, I think I kinda like Discord, and maybe this can help people get organized". I could not have expected to wind up with a space that felt so cozy to me.
I don't really have long-term goals for the space. I plan to maintain it as long as Discord exists (and I paid for a subscription for this year at least, because I like what they're doing and want to do my part), but I expect the space will change somewhat when the pandemic "ends" and people move back into in-person interactions. Maybe not though --I will always like writing, after all, and I don't think I'm alone.
I do want to "grow" it, by which I mean, I think the pace of the server is pretty much perfect right now but I also have other friends who would be welcome to be a part of that and participate however much or little they want. If you read this journal regularly, you'd probably be welcome There's an invite link back in my first post (which should still be good). All I ask is that you _not_ share that around with other people not on my DW access list.
I might write more tomorrow about lessons learned or how to run a good server or what-have-you, but this is enough for tonight. I am glad to have created a space, and I'm so glad to have found people interested in being a part of it. I love you all dearly <3
~Sor
MOOP!
I am my mother's child. I say that lots of times and mean it in lots of ways (that we both dance, find joy in the little things, eschew gender norms in favour of adventure, have ADHD brains that lead to us talking to much and being disorganized...) but in this case I mean that we're both strongly gregarious and outgoing, and would be happiest serving as some degree of social/community hub. I grew up watching mom have movie nights and new years parties and lots of lovely people stopping by, and that shaped a lot of my understanding of Home and family and happiness.
So Free Space Dinosaur (aforementioned server) has been the first really significant social hub that I've been directly in charge of. It's not what I imagined, but house parties haven't been an option for the covidtimes, and is anyone really shocked that I moderate a space based on the written word?
It's a mix of my friends from various sources. Interestingly enough it's not "just the people I'm closest to in the world" --there's at least one person who was basically a stranger when they first joined, and a few more active participants who I only knew sorta-kinda at the start. There's currently about 80 people enrolled, I would guess somewhere in the two dozen range for "post at least semi-regularly". It of course appeals to the people in my life who respond well to text, but that's okay, it's been neat to learn which of my friends this really works for and get to know them better.
The space contains three halves, all of which run with varying levels of activity and intensity. The first half is "ADHD nightmare party" which is for #AccountabilityClub and daily challenges and trying to help each other manage our brains in a fucking pandemic. The second half is just general and more specific chatting (and probably the most active section). The third half is playing games --we started with just Animal Crossing coordination, moved quickly to AmongUs, and more recently have begun playing Parlour Games like botacelli and "the next poster is someone who..."
I'm at least partly indirectly responsible for two other servers. When I said I wanted to move away from Big Talk and just focus on small talk, Brackett stepped up and made Salon of the Sea (where I should poke my nose into more). And as AmongUs became more and more of a thing, Elishka made the Impostlandia server, which is a totally open-invite all-playing-space-murder-all-the-time space.
It has not always been a perfect space - there have been some tensions at some points, and a couple people have been quietly asked to leave as they didn't exactly fit in the space I was trying to create. I hope that there haven't been Other Problems that I've just been too rosy-eyed to see! Mostly, people have seemed willing to treat each other with good faith, to try not and overstep on each other, and to make requests and share and all those good kindergarten communication skills.
And if I haven't made it clear, I am _ridiculously_ robustly happy about the space. I'm happy that people exist and talk to me, and I'm even happier that they exist and talk to each other! I'm happy to see support between friends and strangers, I'm happy to watch games, I'm happy to share photos and struggles and joys. I didn't really have much of a plan when I started, beyond "hey, I think I kinda like Discord, and maybe this can help people get organized". I could not have expected to wind up with a space that felt so cozy to me.
I don't really have long-term goals for the space. I plan to maintain it as long as Discord exists (and I paid for a subscription for this year at least, because I like what they're doing and want to do my part), but I expect the space will change somewhat when the pandemic "ends" and people move back into in-person interactions. Maybe not though --I will always like writing, after all, and I don't think I'm alone.
I do want to "grow" it, by which I mean, I think the pace of the server is pretty much perfect right now but I also have other friends who would be welcome to be a part of that and participate however much or little they want. If you read this journal regularly, you'd probably be welcome There's an invite link back in my first post (which should still be good). All I ask is that you _not_ share that around with other people not on my DW access list.
I might write more tomorrow about lessons learned or how to run a good server or what-have-you, but this is enough for tonight. I am glad to have created a space, and I'm so glad to have found people interested in being a part of it. I love you all dearly <3
~Sor
MOOP!
