Optimal "introductions" channel design
Why have one? and using an auto-threadmaker bot in this and other channels
The Discord introductions channel. A channel where community members share information about themselves to find others with common interests. Commonly named “introductions” “intros” or “introduce yourself”.
Do you need one? No. Many Discord servers don’t have it.
Here are the reasons you SHOULD have one
Server launch is a crucial time to build initial community bonds. These bonds form the early culture. Good culture retains community members.
It’s a scouting ground to see which members have the potential to be Greeters and Moderators. It’s a natural space for members to welcome each other and start conversations.
Introduction channels are essential for cozy communities. But if your community is destined for massive scale, then it can make sense to phase it out (it would become too difficult to keep up with).
Design considerations
Problem 1: Members just saying hi and not sharing any information about themselves
Create an introduction template. Pin it.
For the template, include “how you found out about our game” “favorite games” and “hobbies” at the minimum
Add more fields based on your specific community
Add space for members to share more if they are comfortable doing so
It’s a good idea to prompt members not to share their age if they are under 18
Members may ignore the pinned template, or simply not see it (especially on mobile, where “pinned messages” are navigationally “buried”). You can consider using a bot that auto-refreshes the template as the newest post in the channel (deleting the older post every time). I think this is a little over-the-top, but a solution nonetheless if you want to minimize the chance of a low quality intro.
Problem 2: Member wants to scroll through the introductions channel to find people with similar interests. But it’s hard because too many welcome messages and side conversations spring up. Forum channels are not a good solution because of viewability – thread previews cut off text early, so you’d need to click each forum thread to see each full intro.
Make it a text channel and use a bot that automatically creates a new text-channel thread when a member introduces themselves (See below)
Credit to the team at Loftia for the idea. Loftia’s introductions channel is extremely clean and pleasant to scroll through. Loftia’s bot also has a nice welcome message that concludes with a randomly(?) generated conversation-starting question.
These threads provide an organized space to welcome new members. They are the ideal place for sprouting side conversations about a member’s interests.
This setup is recommended for video-sharing channels too, since you can’t play videos out of a forum channel preview.
Gallery-view forum channels for fan-art and cosplay channels is a common option, but taller images get vertically cut off in single-image previews and wider images get horizontally cut off in double-image previews. You can consider the text-channel setup for them too if you don’t want this trade-off.
If you reach a point where you receive a high volume of fan-art (or want to ensure it’s appropriate), you can filter fan-art through a submission process - showcasing them in a text channel where only moderators can post. Maybe you don’t even want threads at all, and only want members to spam emoji reacts.