What is Discord? – Discord is a social forum space or ‘server’ designed for groups of people to gather and form their own network. It features lots of separate channels (such as ‘social’ or ‘announcements’ or ‘share your pet pictures’) where members can write text, have conversations and share media. There are also voice channels where members can meet and speak to each other over webcams.
It can be downloaded to your computer’s desktop for free, and you can also add it to smartphones and tablets. It can seem a bit overwhelming at first, so here is a bit of guidance about what you’ll see on the Narratives of Neurodiversity Network’s Discord server:
Navigation The server’s channels are listed on the left hand side next to hashtag symbols. You can click on any of these to view the content. You can post messages in most of these channels by typing in the text box and pressing enter. Some channels, like code-of-conduct and welcome, have been disabled for messages (you will not be able to post here, but you can comment on these pages in the #deleted-channel channel). If the channel name is highlighted as bold text, it means there are new messages in there that you haven’t yet seen.
Writing Text You can make text Bold or make it italics or strikethrough using the menu that appears when you highlight the words. You can reply to an individual message by moving your cursor to that message and pressing reply. You can also add emojis and reactions to other messages. There is a limit of 2000 characters per message. This is an inbuilt limitation set by Discord and we can’t change it
Hiding Text You can use the hiding text function to replace a block of text with a black square. This can be used for sensitive content or to cover spoilers for cultural narratives. To do this, type the text and then before you press enter, highlight the section you want to hide. A pop-up window will appear where you can click on the eye symbol (the last one) to make the black block appear. If you want to see content behind a black square, just click on it to reveal.
Voice Channels Some of the channels are voice channels. These are indicated by the speaker symbol. Click on these channels to automatically join the chat. Your basic chat functions are listed next to your username at the bottom left of the page. You can mute the chat by clicking the headphones symbol or mute your own microphone by clicking the microphone symbol. Click the Settings cog to access further audio and chat settings.
Uploading Files You can add images, PDF files, word files, and other material by using the plus symbol at the front of the message box. You can also add GIFs using the GIF button at the top right of the message box. Please ensure you only upload material that is suitable to be shared (nothing explicit or extreme or offensive)
Changing your Profile To change your icon and profile, click the settings cog wheel on the panel at the bottom left with your username (next to the microphone and headphones symbol). In here you can change lots of settings, and you can upload an image to change your icon (edited)
Inviting New Members Feel free to invite people to join the network. Simply click on the ‘Narratives of Neurodiversity Network’ drop-down menu at the top left of the screen then click ‘Invite People’. This will generate a link which you can copy and share. These links are set to expire after seven days, but you can create a permanent link. Just click on ‘Edit Invite Link’ (in blue beneath the link itself) and then follow the instructions to change it to ‘Never Expire’ and ‘No Limit’.
The Narratives of Neurodiversity Network 