Hello All,

I haven't posted much in the last two years, but I have been reading posts off and on, especially when searching for information. The thought occurred to me that we could host live events to present information, screen sharing, and voice chat to help each with more detailed problems that might be difficult elsewhere.

So I would love to have your feedback on using Discord as place for English speaking Marklinists to connect IRL in text and with voice chat, as a complementary location to create community and set up events from time to time. I have found this to be wonderful platform to communicate informally with family and friends in other groups I am involved with. I have also found it far more private than facebook and allows for far better community dynamics than most of those platforms.

My first post there indicates that it is only a complement to this forum as a place to chat:

"...Its a *Marklin and European Model Train Enthusiasts* Discord server, not to duplicate existing Forums elsewhere but only to add to them by giving the chance for group chats about issues and posting of immediate video or real-time chatting, live steaming or in voice chat. Any thoughts or contributions are welcome! ..."

If anyone is interested and already used Discord here is the invitation link:
It can only be used 100 times until replaced.
https://discord.gg/yQC2UvmZr6

Some of you may find this useful.

Cheers,
Mark Five

Edited by user 21 March 2022 18:23:30(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I am not a fan of Discord.

Have a read of this -> https://cybernews.com/pr...ips-that-you-should-use/

Thanks for your feedback XXUP.
I suppose its not far from any online platform these days, when its free we become the product and they collect user data. Its not perfect for sure, but if using it as a public platform to stream and share say a Roc-Rail screen then I am ok with that. They seem to have addressed some of those issues, and when people misuse any platform of that size for nefarious purposes, then its somewhat understandable thats when authorities start asking for records, much as they do with facebook.

So for public posts, which is basically what we do on the forum, its all public and data collection isnt a concern to me personally. I have found that Discord still is an excellent way to share some of that information in real time, as in a streaming broadcast to a select group of people. Granted your alert to the caveat is warranted if people use PMs. Some discord server groups discourage the use of PMs altogether. However, I would leave that up to the discretion of the each user.

I find it far more user friendly than Twitch, but Twitch streaming seems to be more reliable for broadcasting. Some Discord users use Twitch in tandem with voice chat and that functions quite well.

- Mark Five

Cool as it sounds I think it would be hard due to time zones and language barriers. However, maybe a quarterly or monthly discord meeting for an area if that is possible? I haven't used discord so I'm not sure if my suggestion would work. Certainly worth looking into I think.

Yes, I think it would be great to connect more with other guys in Canada personally.

The other thing I think would be great is to attract younger people interested in the tech side of Marklin MMR since Discord is enormously popular within the gaming and tech community, especially younger people.

This forum has provided great information for many years and I dont see any need to look elsewhere. As for difficulty using the software from various different providers why not go to their forum for information which you wouold expect they would provide.