overland bound discord server?

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Maverick9110E

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Loving Discord, but mostly for places that don't have a forum, having to keep up with a forum AND a discord server would be rough. I'd love it for emergencies though for people out on the trail.
 

Prerunner1982

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Great idea in my book. Forums are old tech when compared to discord imo.
May be old tech but it's a good way to retain searchable information for future use. Social media and/or chat servers aren't so great at that, but are great for connecting with people on a more real time level.
A forum I use to be on often had a chat window at the top of the forum. You could do both, browse the forum for info/questions and chat with other users..it was a good time.

Also..welcome from Navina, Oklahoma.

You are in the Southwest Region. Check out the Southwest Region sub-forum for local information and involvement opportunities.
Here is the link to the forum calendar and Meet-Up event page: Overland Bound Meetups
Or to check out what other members are planning go here: Overland Trip Planning

I am the SW Region Member Rep so if you have any questions let me know. @Iwata77 is another area Member Rep based in Tulsa.
 

Prerunner1982

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How about a Zello OB channel?
I had previously made a suggestion about adding a zello PTT type aspect to the new OB1 app, not sure that it was considered though.
 
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Rath

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I love discord, but it's a totally different thing than what is going on here with the forums. Things are way more organized in a forum setting, for large communities like this one. where a category has forums, and those forums have their own specific topics you can create/post in. wheras on discord, you have categories, then channels, and everything is just all in that one channel. rather than having multiple seperate conversations like you do in a forum, its just one large ongoing one.

discord has its uses for sure, replacing forums isnt one of them imo

that being said, I do have a few servers setup, but empty, for Overlanding related topics. I just haven't decided to open them/try and advertise them yet, and I may not.
 

freedomomelet

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Fantastic, I was just thinking about this today....asking for a discord OB server; glad someone already started the convo. I do have several servers that I have set up for adventure discussions with friends from college, etc. We primarily use discord to stay in touch with friends that have moved far away. Looking through the comments here and have some thoughts for adding a server.
  1. A discord server should not replace the forum, but supplement it. It's a different communication tool. There simply isn't a good place to do voice chat when you want to just talk with someone on a topic. Sometimes a voice chat/conference call is quicker than waiting for a forum reply. This has advantages for regional meetup discussions, etc.
  2. In the remote/online/WFH COVID world, discord has become a huge asset to myself and friends that are still wanting to see each other, game, BS, plan future trips, etc.
  3. Discord mobile is great and easy to use for quick discussions/calls and posts.
I fully support a request to add an official OB discord server. You can limit the text channels to keep content on the forum, and add several voice channel topics for whatever.

If yall would like to try it out, I welcome you to my trial server for this. This link expires in 24hrs.
 

El-Dracho

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At first glance, I may be able to understand this idea, but it has decisive disadvantages from my point of view. For one thing, there are so many communication platforms and the like that you simply lose track of all the groups, and this splitting up is not exactly conducive to a community. A big disadvantage of these chats is that there is an exchange, but if you are looking for information after a certain time, it is difficult or impossible to find, because there is no good filing structure. Exactly this structure we have in this great forum!

And what more do we want, we have a really great forum with a lot of work and knowledge in it and a megacool OverlandBound App. We can share and retrieve information, write and receive messages to other members, plan and communicate events (RallyPoint function and calendar), there are even map functions and much more!

I think that's far more than many other communities have and a really good standard! And I am sure there will be much more to come. Check out the latest IG post on the OB app for example, it goes on and on with new ideas and new innovative features.
 

uncompromise

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One of the biggest mistakes a community can make is to fragment communication across disparate platforms. Different technologies are appropriate for different applications, and the biggest drawback of one-to-many instant message platforms is that they are not designed for retaining and searching for information. I agree that the current OB app is not yet smooth, but I would encourage finding a way to help build value within the community stack by working with the OB team. For instance, being able to have 1:1 or 1:many instant chat might be a useful feature for this community, and it’s a pretty easy thing to build (this is a problem that has been solved multiple times over). Breaking that functionality into a completely separate system will fragment the community, and contribute to the platform fatigue i’m sure we’re all experiencing during extended lockdowns and curfews the world over.
 

North Shore Scout

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yall are amazing!! this does remind me of one of my hobby websites that had a java chat program built into the website. it was costing a pretty penny a month to run that website and the biggest cost was that chat program. it was a memory hog! after they got rid of that program and used discord to chat on.... the website was gone in a month... all their posts with pictures, informationals and links could all be handled on discord itself.

so long and short of it.... discord isnt good for offroad peeps for a very simpler reason. WE NEED TO ENJOY OUTDOORS MORE THAN ON THE COMPUTER!! if you have a need. make a post in the forum. put the phone down. go jump in the lake! (not in winter time unless you are a trained minnesotain... and doing it for a charity!!) not only is this quicker but it also probably helps with data bandwidth. discord updates a lot and this can drain your data plan. where as if you make a post on a forum. its more text based and would probably use a lot less data in the long run!

so thank yall for talking about this! now put your phone down and go outside!!
 
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Rath

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There are already several off-road themed discords, granted they're small compared to some servers, I run the biggest one I've seen so far with around 200 members.

Having one dedicated to strictly overlanding would be tough to have active, in all honesty. It's a small niche group of people who don't really use discord I've found.
 

Jim SoG

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I will say OB will want this thing monitored and to comply with the same standards as fb and here, and I am not sure they will even allow this, I think "permission" needs to be gained before any launching of OB Discord......

Not trying to shoot it down, just trying to heed warnings and get things done the right way......

Email Corrie@overlandbound.com

I will see what I can find out as well for you.
Jim