I was active on a Discordless site for a bit, and will probably return to one eventually, but the site in question was more of a general RP forum, where most people there did 1-on-1 private RP (there were a few group RPs) — it’s still really active. The site in question ran on a newer forum software which held features that some of the most common free forum host software lacks — mainly drafts and the ability to sort private messages into folders. The PM folders in particular were useful for OoC discussion/plotting, and were honestly much better for me than doing any sort of plotting on Discord. It was also really easy to use on mobile.

Of course, I don’t expect anyone to have to pay premium for a forum software to run a Discordless site, and I think say, jcink or alternatives will work for a Discordless site. One of the most important things is making sure that the site’s layout is responsively designed, so people can check the site and even most on it while on mobile, and not using the built-in Jcink mobile.

Having Cbox but having it something you can toggle off has always been my preference. Maybe a second Cbox to post links to open threads, or having an automatically-populated open thread listing on the header or sidebar of the forum? Anyways, sorry if I’m stating the obvious here! But I have thought a bit about how to run a site without Discord before, and did brainstorm a few ideas last year a bit.

I feel like a downside, besides the fact that a lot is done on Discord nowadays, is that...so many people are used to Discord tags now and rely on them to stay updated whenever they owe posts. Even I have to admit that it’s a bit easier on my bad memory to check if I owe anyone anything using Discord. It may be hard to pull people in but there are people who do want Discordless sites, so it’s worth trying for such a niche. I know that I, personally, would like to see it.

love me those ideas!! i did check cbox premium stuff again and having multiple channels is nice. i can't believe there's no cheaper option for that though besides cbox. you'd think it'd be more common with all the technology... but if ever, i have considered just sticking to a regular cbox.

I thought about members having their own boards. The jcink PM is very outdated so I thought it might help if there would be personal forums for people to also use as a plotter and organize their stuffs in one place.

It's hard bc I have also been in sites where it was successful with discord. I also enjoy my time in it, honestly. I'm a chatterbox. But it is exhausting and I also enjoy the vibe of just big chilling in forums and taking things slowly. It's hard because I do see the great value in both of them but you can really only choose one...

Oh yeah, I can see having different forums be a decent solution to that? If only there was a way to make that process automatic, but I definitely support the idea behind it. Maybe even having a fun points redeem for styling member-specific boards, or just having that available from the start.

Yeah, Cbox being expensive is a shame and a big reason why Discord is much preferred I think, especially because Discord has more features still I think? I’m still grumpy about Discord's usernames change and such. z.z

And I agree, the speed of conversations on any instant messaging service is sometimes exhausting for me too, and I feel like ideas can get lost really easily — and not even always because anyone means bad, it’s just the way instant messaging services are designed, for endless chatter. I had this issue with MSN as well and other messaging services. It is a great place to chat and just casually share memes and such, but I love forums still especially for long form conversation and will go to bat for them endlessly.

i've started not to like discord esp. after the multitude of bad rp experiences i've had over the past year or two. a lot of information gets lost, people get spoken over / ignored, drama can start and spiral out of control easier, it is harder to lurk before you join, distracts from roleplaying, etc. and for someone like me, i find it can be intimidating and overwhelming. esp in larger communities.

i miss not having discord servers for those reasons. i can't deny it is convenient and makes some things a lot easier. but i could do without it.

well I am Old^TM and started rping on forum back in the days when it was just a cbox for casual chatting, and then plotters or PMs for any actual plotting. You knew it was a Big Deal when someone added you on msn or aim, like or man we're getting serious. The OOC forum is where the community actually met and interacted with each other, and that was just The Way up until recently (and i mean you know, within the last ~10 years).

So I'd be fine on a site without a discord attached to it LOL To me, discord is just a glorified cbox anyway so?? Take me back to the Paradise City where the grass was green and the girls were pretty-

I am fine with both mediums as I believe both have their benefits and boons. I think discord-less sites oddly have a greater sense of community a majority of the time as people are usually using private messages & plotters to plot. Allowing for no interruptions and a more direct experience. It also, at least for me, has a really relaxing environment since I won't be hearing notifications popping off.

That being said, nowadays, I prefer Discord-ed sites. I like being tagged to all my threads in one convenient place since usually I am on more than one site. Furthermore, a nice tagging channel lets me order all my replies since I tend to reply in the order I receive them. These are positives I can benefit from, since despite my earlier compliments to Discord-less, I really struggle with anxiety and insecurity. I can write whole plotter ideas, then delete them believing nobody could ever like my idea. I feel Discord can act as a ground to help me step into a community without overwhelming or overthinking things about people. It gives me an odd umbrella of comfort since I can go to different channels, participate in conversations I decide to and integrate into the community; which in turn gives me enough confidence to say "You know what? X is really nice and I really want to plot with them and have an idea for something."

Thus, for me it is more of an 'I know what I'm like' thing. While this does not always work, I just find Discord, even if I don't communicate much with the community, better for myself since I can organize.

I'm OldTM myself (and I feel like half of pixel are too) but I don't agree the discord is just a glorified cbox. A Cbox will take you to the site. It kind of puts your mind about the site and it kind of encourages you to browse around than staring at pure chat. And if you don't want to interact with the site, you leave it along with the chat. In discord, you can't exactly just leave it behind unless you're joining a server using a unique account. You can ignore it, but it's kind of a mental vibe thing? It sounds dumb, but as long as it's there, it's kind of still taking up space in your mind. Even when putting it away in a box, it can just feel like... you're connected to too many things. Social media, basically. 





Yeah, I feel this a lot. It's convenient. It's honestly been fun too. Lots of good memes in the places I've been. But I feel like it does take away the pace of roleplaying, too. I might actually go discordless, or at least merely use discord to connect people if they wanna DM?

I do think a cbox of some sort is still necessary. So either I purchase that, or organize the server to focus less on gen chat lol. I don't hate gen chat but I think it's nicer to have your community be mostly built on the forums...



i wrote my responses above before reading this and yeah! you said what i said. it does feel like discordless sites have a stronger sense of community.

As for alerts, I do know people like to use discord to keep track of that. But at the same time, do people not know about their notifcations? Because that's what I remember was so badly requested back then for Jcink. And now that discord is around, did people just forget about it?

Discord really is useful but *shakes fist* where can we find the balance...

I mean, I can just close the Discord app when I don't wanna look at it?? And just be on the site?? I'm not sure what mental vibe it is you're talking about here, nor what social media has to do with it? Discord is not Twitter, it's a chat messenger, functionally no different than Skype. Like yeah, I'll check Discord periodically throughout the day but my life is not tethered to it, ya know? Anyway if I really wanted to, I could go into my server right now and take out every single channel except for gen chat, and bam, it's the same as the cbox now.

And that's just the secret, ya know? Don't think of it as it's own beast, just think of it as another part of a whole. That's just how I treat it anyway -shrug- I just don't see the huge importance on being on Discord 24/7 in order to get a thread? Or connect with people? I mean, that's a bonus for sure! But I just think there's more than one way to build a community aside from sitting in a chat room all day.