Discord Server - Being Promoted by Duolingo - Are You Going There?

[Dodoa]

Yeah, I don't think so. I like discord and I'm active in a couple of servers there, but I only use it for very specific settings. Small communities or friend-groups (no more than 20-50 people, depending on how active they are) who I mostly know in real life and share specific interests with (e.g my Dungeons & Dragons campaign, my theatre group, a local activist group I'm a part of etc.). In that case it's like a WhatsApp (or similar) group with additional sub-categories so important information (like dates where something is happenig) doesn't get swallowed by chatting and so different topics can have their own space. Plus voice and video chats for hanging out in during pandemic times. That's what discord is great for in my opinion. In my experience, what it is terrible for are huge groups of people I don't know personally, which is exactly what this one sounds like. They just get way too busy, even if there are so many sub-channels as to be completely confusing for anyone new coming in.

[HeyMarlana]

In my opinion, Discord servers are okay if you want to host a class or something. So if a group wants to get together for German chat, they can all meet in one channel. But if that's the case, why not just have your own server for that so random people don't go in? But even then.. who moderates that?

[Corinnebelle]

There is an unofficial Duolingo Discord server for learners of any language where people can chat and practice. Many of our forum regulars and moderators are members. It’s free for anyone to join.

Why's an unofficial Discord server being touted on the Forum-Announcement-FAQ page? If it has the Duolingo mods why is it unofficial? Or did they all revolunteer? Is this like a staff pet project, somehow official by being on the page, but unofficial for liabilities?

[01tmJ8kb]

It's very confusing. There's also the well-established Official Unofficial Duolingo Discord which has many more members and seems to have trade-marked its name. I have not ventured into Discord territory so cannot comment on their relative merits.

[CaitNicRun]

There is an unofficial Duolingo Discord server for learners of any language where people can chat and practice. Many of our forum regulars and moderators are members. It’s free for anyone to join.

Why's an unofficial Discord server being touted on the Forum-Announcement-FAQ page? If it has the Duolingo mods why is it unofficial? Or did they all revolunteer? Is this like a staff pet project, somehow official by being on the page, but unofficial for liabilities?

Of course can't see the comment now, but MallCop "7 of Phoenixes"(not their real handle),snarked in a reply that the Discord was a Duo official project, and Duome was run by a "former Mod". Implying Discord would be better. Or that's how it read at the time.

I know I was surprised for the same reasons--why use Discord if they can host it themselves?

Nothing makes sense.

[Seiryuu]

I use Discord somewhat often, but I don't think the format is appropriate for learning and asking questions about languages. As it's real-time, someone asking a question can get lost in later replies that have nothing to do with it. Discord's managed to mitigate it somewhat by introducing the Threads feature a few months back, but in my opinion that can become unwieldy, with users not knowing what keywords to use to see if their question had been answered before. With forums the search function is much easier to use and there's a structure that Discord can't perfectly replicate.

The biggest issue I see is the volume of users. I'm part of some very big servers, and on those there are at least 2 people typing every second. There can be around 70 posts a minute if everyone's feeling chatty.

[Amlir]

It is a very delicate matter, to create, even a small conference, in which people will talk and feel comfortable. To immediately take up such a project with discord...i don't think it will work. People are embarrassed to speak in person, even with those, whose language they know. For such things, you need a strong interest in conversational practice and patience for those, who study and overcome shyness.
I want to assemble a company of such people. Only my version, not discord, but games, whether it's Minecraft, Among us or Tanks for example. I think, that passing something together, can relax people. I consider openness to be the most important task in conversational practice. Because of timidity, many do not even begin to talk.
This discord project...I think if a miracle happens and suitable people find each other there, maybe it will work. But the probability is negligible .

[EranBarLev]

I tried to register to Discord but I had some technical problem, so I gave up. I doubt if it can be a good substitute for the forum anyway.

[xillegas]

My contribution to this is the Telegram group of Duolingo, everyday/todos los días we post links to duolingo events sessions via Zoom and Google meet to practice English and Spanish. Also, sometimes we chat about random topics in English or Spanish with people from other countries / También solemos chatear de vez en cuando de algún tema o tópico en Inglés o Español para practicar los idiomas con personas de otros países.
https://t.me/duo_en_es
¡Están invitados!