Discord. A free to use voice/text/video communication resource that came out in 2015, which has completely dominated the communication market for nerds and their communities. I communicated using Discord more than I text on my phone, which used to be the one and only way to message. But now, with customization servers and channels within those servers, its much easier to send a quick PM than a text, and with all the personality the resource has it feels more like a website forum than clunky texting. But that’s just, like, my opinion.

For the second big project of the semester, which discussed how information is stored and monitored on the internet. And one big example that came up was Wikipedia. An inconceivably large and, even better, completely free service, there is a lot of confusion about how information gets put and organized on the site. So, we were tasked with designing and filling out a Wikipedia page on a chosen social media/similar type program. Me and my partner’s was, of course, Discord.

https://2020-interface-analysis.fandom.com/wiki/Discord

Above is a link to the example Discord (we weren’t good enough to replace the actual Discord wiki page) Wikipedia. I’d rather just give a link to the whole thing, rather than a bunch of screenshots My partner and I included information on the history, design, functionality, benefits, downsides, and user base of Discord. We really wanted to cover all of the bases we could think of, and being avid users of it we thought of a lot of content.

Discord is a resource used by the traditionally more “nerdy” people, and as we all know nerds are huge nerds. We aren’t popular (although times are changing), and anything we associate with is typically uncool. Video games, comics, fantasy settings, laser swords, and Discord. So, while we used it all the time, most people hardly know what it is. That was the biggest goal of the Wiki, was providing what it was and why it had grown so popular among nerds.

When revising and looking for something to add, I looked to existing Wikipedia articles about games, programs, and resources similar to Discord. And in almost all of them was a section on how the program was received. And not only the raw numbers of people that use it, but the opinions of those who use/used it. So, I spoke on how there is fear among parents and people who don’t understand the program about what can be shown on Discord, and how under aged kids might have access to adult content. People, I think, enjoy reception sections because it gives them an idea of the opinions of others, and influences their decision to use the product or not.