How we use Discord

Intro and background knowledge

Discord is a "instant messaging social platform" that was originally developed for online gaming. However, it can easily be used like Slack or Microsoft Teams as an informal messaging platform for bigger groups of people & organizations. You can use Discord in your web browser, with a desktop app and with the app on your mobile device.

Discord terminology

SERVER: Servers are the spaces on Discord. They are made by specific communities and friend groups, e.g. oikos. The oikos servers we use are invitation-only, meaning you need to have the invitation link to join. Currently, there are three servers run by oikos International:

Server	Who you can find there	Managed by
oikos community server	many oikees from all kinds of different chapters, the oikos International team & alumni & friends of oikos	IT team (Peter)
oikos International team server	oikos International team including volunteers, the house facilitators, some project groups	IT team (Peter)
oikos LEAP server	the current LEAP co-hort	Alexandra

Everyone working for the oikos International team is required to sign-up to Discord and join our oikos International team server using the following link: https://discord.gg/qRQYWhyNAx Beyond, everyone should also join the oikos community server which can be joined via this link: https://discord.gg/jSMrNwsB5R

CHANNELS: Discord servers are organized into text and voice channels, which are usually dedicated to specific topics & purposes. In text channels, users can post messages, upload files, and share images for others to see at any time. For now, we mainly use text channels. In voice channels, users can connect through a voice or video call in real time, and can share their screen with others. Channels can be public or private, meaning they are either visible for anyone on the server or just for a selected group of people. This allows to use the server also as a space to have private sub-circle discussions without bothering the rest of the team.

CATEGORIES: A category clusters several channels under one roof. Similar to channels, they can be either public or private.

Example: The IT team uses a private category called "IT TEAM" that is only visible to them. They have their own channels dedicated to different purposes in order to work & communicate well with each other.

THREADS: A Discord Thread is simply a branched conversation in a channel that doesn't show up in the main chat. The purpose of a thread is to make sure anyone can discuss a topic in detail without cluttering a server's channel. Read more about threads in this Discord FAQ.

Best practices for using threads

• Either create the thread starting from a message that was already sent to a channel OR simply start a thread right away when you know the topic will lead to more discussion in the channel.

• Choose a thread title that summarizes the topic well.

• Make sure to set the "hide after inactivity" time to your preferred time period (1h, 24h, 3 days, 1 week).

Roles