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33 Comments

Should we have a discord channel for indie hackers?

One missing feature of Indiehackers is sending direct messages to fellow creators. So should we have a discord channel for Indiehackers ?

  1. 10

    we'll be rolling out an official DM feature soon, so this isn't necessary

    1. 1

      Yea the DM feature would be a tremendous value add.
      I've taken so many convos to Twitter DM just because couldn't DM people here.

    2. 1

      Any ETA/timeline on when this can be possible. In addition Discord allows for chats via channels i.e a separate one for Growth etc. which is again a more personalized form of communication missing in Indiehackers

      1. 1

        There are groups on IH for every topic - growth, idea validation etc.

        1. 1

          Yes that is the problem I mentioned. They are forum type but they don't have a chat component where users can discuss real-time

          1. 1

            okay
            Of course, it doesn't make sense for the IH team to do it, they would be giving up all the traffic that this site gets.

            But I think we will see plenty of splinter groups on Slack and Discord for this particular use case. It depends on the community managers then, on how can they grow them meaningfully

    3. 1

      But looking forward to that DM feature though 💪👊🚀

  2. 2

    And move away all people from here to Discord xD

    1. 1

      I don't think that would happen.
      Besides, people are already moving conversations from IH to Twitter, which I don't think is a bad thing either. I think the connection between IH and Twitter is synergistic.

    2. 1

      Lol, that wasn't the intention

  3. 2

    👍 I would love a IH discord channel.

  4. 2

    Hi Anil, keep me in the loop on the initiative.
    There might be a couple of other alternatives, one I know is a slack channel from Indie Worldwide.

    1. 1

      Can you share the link to the slack channel please if possible. It would be helpful for other indiehackers as well

      1. 2

        Thanks @SantiagoM for sharing this – I just signed up.

        https://indieworldwide.co – enter your email and you will get a link to the Slack channel.

  5. 2

    Personally I dislike Discord for this purpose. It's really hard to DM on them imo.

    If folks wanted a voice chat room though it feels like it'd be a cool add-on.

    1. 1

      Do you think Slack is a better alternative for DMs?

      1. 2

        Personally yeah, but see my other suggestions below

    2. 1

      Any reason you felt so ? As discord is primarily used as a communication channel via chat

      1. 1

        My biggest frustration is that the channels are harder to maintain/more chaotic, and that it takes at least three clicks to be able to DM someone (you have to right click+message instead of just left clicking to push it out).

        For slack you just hit their name and it opens the DM channel.

        I'd say something like Matrix Elements (https://element.io/) might be a cool solution for IH. Have never used it though

        1. 1

          I haven't compared the experience factor but the major roadblock to creating/maintaining a community is the popularity of a platform. So it is far more easier to maintain one on Discord/Slack than a relatively unknown platform I feel

  6. 1

    Everything has its discord channel nowadays and since many people already use discord for other communities it wouldn't be that good for such people. A DM feature should be enough I'd say. Many comments mention the need for DM'ing. A discord channel isn't for DM'ing. It's just like this community but where the discussion move lightning fast. You can send DMs yes but you'll also destroy IH :)

    Plus funnelling all the discussions to a discord group where discussions come and go rapidly defeats the purpose of a community. Way harder to follow, navigate, and jump into a discussion.

  7. 1

    Discord is a must but it only makes sense if it’s official group. Vue, Laravel everyone has got an official discord group.

  8. 1

    Why should people send DM to fellow creators? What problem are you trying to solve?

    1. 1

      The potential to reach prospective clients and obviously support for each other in any format like product launches

      DM is a much more personal way to connect than via a public discussion

      1. 2

        It might be harsh. If reaching prospective clients is your primary objective, go build your own Discord or whatever. IH seems like not a right fit for you.

        1. 2

          The idea is not to build a separate product itself. The idea to have the indiehacker community being present on Discord as well as that is another form of communication medium which is more personal to connect with other indie hackers

          1. 2

            I agree, that it would solve a need.
            Especially for people getting started.

            it can be intimidating finding people to try your product, and peer-to-peer support while not scalable is definitively an option to get the first 100 users.

            1. 1

              Yes and one more thing to add is the producthunt community is a much more valuable community as it consists of a lot of decision makers. So it would be great to have a way to reach out to necessary people

              In addition experts sharing knowledge via AMA can have personal discussions as well which is not possible in a public forum

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