TSS Discord (and possibly more) - Any plans or updates?

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Inspired by a status update I made recently and the replies. (Fits squarely in Member Feedback and not Bug Reports.)

I remember there was talk of an official Sonic Stadium Discord a while back, but it doesn't seem to have been created yet. Is it still being planned? Also, does TSS have any plans on branching out to even more platforms, such as Twitch? It also looks like the YouTube channel hasn't got any uploads in a year.

Basically I'm saying that, as much as I appreciate the News section having more frequent updates, I feel like TSS branching into more kinds of web media would be interesting. Especially the Discord since it was mentioned already.

[Solister]

I don't think I'm the best person to talk about this, but as long as I use Discord on a daily basis, it's definitely something which once now and then it crosses my head:

We do have a(n unofficial) Discord server, which apparently already died once, but I'm not sure about the backstory. However, (I don't recall correctly), since I joined it, it already was pretty dead and no one used it aside talking when the website was down:

Unlicensed courtesy of @Teoskaven and @Ryannumber1gamer, as well of myself.

But yeah, I second that request on creating an official server or simply using the unofficial one more, though I can't think about many other activities which can't be done here in the Message Board. The only other server I really use is about a specific electronic music label.

About the other platforms, I'm quite unsure. I'm heretical not subscribed on the TSS YT channel. (I follow their FB page tho, but it's been a while since now I just spent my time at Reddit). Still, Twitch is a platform I got more familiar with since quarantine (Thanks to massive incentivization of that same discord of electronic music), and yeah, thinking about it now, it could be cool to see someone playing a Sonic game and reunite some people and just keep chatting. However, we already do have a stream platform, Motobug, (Which sorry I don't know how's the owner to mention here) and this likely would just break it or decrease the "popularity" of both.

So TLDR, I think I'm just more favorable to a revival/new discord server, I don't have an opinion on YT and Twitch could be cool, but also useless if we already have Motobug.

[Wraith]

I feel like any reliable group of members can just make a discord and maintain it. That doesn't have to be something that's totally in the staff's hands and it'd mostly be community driven anyway. The modding tools on Discord are easy to use so it's just down to finding someone who won't ban all the Sonic Boom fans or something

 

Just...draw attention to whichever one everyone's using more often in the status updates. I didn't even know there was an unofficial one.

[Zaysho]

As far as I know, Dread is still planning an official server for the site and has probably been testing it, but I'm not personally involved in it so I have no idea when the rollout would be. My best guess it would be to coincide with other anniversary things that have been mentioned publicly before but I'm honestly not sure.

EDIT: I think it's also worth noting, as Chris pointed out here, is that while true anyone can start up a Discord server for the community, there are issues where say the creator decides to give it up and leaves they'd still have access to it (so it's a potential security risk even if the chance is minimal) or we'd otherwise just be stuck with another server going dead trying to shift hands on it. If at least it's managed on the backend by Dread then there won't be any issues should he appoint someone and then they eventually leave for whatever reason.

[Dreadknux]

We do have a Discord server prepped and ready - we're just road testing it for staff at the moment, but I'd love to invite people who are interested in helping us grow it as we look to officially launch it.

My main concern with stuff like this is getting overrun with spam etc, and my real-life commitments mean I can't be as present on something like Discord as much as I'd like to, to moderate that stuff (and I'd rather not put that burden on SSMB staff who already do an amazing job with the forums as-is and may not be interested in having more stuff to look after)... But, if there's to be a TSS/SSMB Discord at all, I'd like to launch a proper one instead of letting someone else do it.

If people are interested in helping me get this off the ground, send me a DM here or on Discord (Dreadknux#3657) and I'll look to invite you to the server.