Wikipedia:Discord

Community portal

This help page is a how-to guide.

It explains concepts or processes used by the Wikipedia community. It is not one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, and may reflect varying levels of consensus.

Discord is a freeware chat application available for PC and mobile platforms. A Discord server contains both text and voice channels used for real-time discussions and to share other forms of media between the members of that server.

In 2016, an unofficial Wikimedia Discord server was setup for Wikipedians who were already using Discord at the time. This Discord server is moderated by several English Wikipedia administrators. Conduct is expected to follow the IRC conduct rules. The server requires accounts to have a verified email in order to chat. Channels exist for several WikiProjects, as well as several general topic channels.

The server can be reached through an invite link by clicking the button below:

Join Server

How is Wikimedia Community Discord related to Wikipedia?

The Wikimedia Community Discord is not owned or controlled by the Wikimedia Foundation. It is a project run by volunteers of their own accord. The server was setup by users of Wikipedia as a place for Wikipedians who already used Discord or prefer it to using IRC to chat and share information. They are casual, and users should be aware that conversations held in Discord may be read by anyone who joins the server.

Usage

Discord is free to download on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android and can be used in most Internet Browsers without downloading. The server is joined by utilizing the invitation link above. Once joined, the user can simply return to the Discord site, or open the client of their choice. Users may add the {{User Discord}} or {{Wikipedia:Discord/Userbox}} userbox to their user page if they would like to show they are a member.

Text chat

Discord provides text channels that users can use to communicate through typing. These channels support various forms of markup and embedding, such as showing thumbnails for pictures, syntax highlighting for code fragments, or simply display emotes. Most of these features, such as embedding, can be disabled in the user preferences.

A key difference between Discord and IRC is that the former provides a back log of chat. This can be handy for jumping into already-in-progress conversations, but also means that anything said is recorded in the history. Users should be aware that because only a few users are online at a given time, does not mean users who log in later will not see their message. However unlike IRC, users can ask questions in a channel and get an answer hours or days later from another user.

Unlike IRC, Discord does not show IP or hostname for users as they join servers and channels. As such, there is no host masking or cloaks to be setup.

Voice chat

Voice channels are also available, allowing users to communicate directly through voice. Users can rely on push-to-talk, where they must press a key while speaking, or voice detection, which will automatically broadcast when the user speaks. Users should be aware that anyone in the same channel will hear them. Voice channels have no specific assigned topics, unlike text channels. Users who have been inactive for 15 minutes are automatically moved to an AFK channel and muted.

Voice channels are not active unless the user specifically joins one. They are purely optional and have no impact on ability to use text channels.

Channels

Discussion channels

Channels currently exist for the following topics or sites. New channels for other Wikimedia sites can be created on request by members of those projects, though they will need to ensure their project or site is aware of the channel by posting the information locally on that project or site.

#info - A read only channel with notices such as basic rules and a link back to this document
#administration - A private channel for Discord moderators, administrators and stewards for discussion of issues related to moderation of the server
#logger - A private channel for moderators, administrators and stewards where a bot posts server alerts such as joins, leaves, message edits and message deletes. This exists purely for the benefit of server moderation and short comings in Discord's audit log.
#general - A general channel for any topic related to Wikimedia.
#technical - For technical topics, including Mediawiki, Lua, templates, edit filters, AWB, etc.
#offtopic - A channel for off-topic discussions. You can mute this channel if you desire.

Site channels

#english-wikipedia - For topics specific to English Wikipedia
#commons - For topics specific to Commons
#meta - Topics including Metawiki, global Wikimedia, Stewards or crosswiki issues.
#wikidata - Discussions about Wikidata. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Wikidata, not English Wikipedia.

English WikiProject channels

Channels currently exist for the following English WikiProjects:

#wpanimanga - WikiProject Anime and manga
#wpbiology - WikiProject Biology and sub-projects
#wpcomics - WikiProject Webcomics, WikiProject Comics, and related sub-projects
#wpmusic - WikiProject Music, WikiProject Songs, and WikiProject Albums
#wpspaceflight - WikiProject Spaceflight
#wpvg - WikiProject Video Games

New channels can be created on request by WikiProject members, once it has been discussed by that project and the members show interest.

Feed channels

This channels are read-only feeds, dependent on WikiBot. They are semi-experimental at this time.

#enwiki-new-page-feed - New page feed from mainspace. Patrolled edits are excluded.

Group notifications

Notification methods are currently setup to allow for alerting certain user groups that there is an important issue on Wiki that needs assistance. These tags should only be used for cases that need immediate attention. Include the tag in your message in order to cause a notification.

@EnglishAdmins - This mention will cause a notification to English Wikipedia Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
@CommonsAdmins - This mention will cause a notification to Commons Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
@Stewards - This mention will cause a notification to Stewards who are signed up to receive the alerts.

Moderators

The current moderators are as follows. All moderators are currently Stewards or English Wikipedia administrators. If a situation related to the Discord server requires immediate attention from a moderator, you can notify the group by prepending your message with @Moderators. This should only be done for issues pertaining directly to the Discord server itself, not issues on wiki.

ferret (server operator)

Userboxes

{{User Discord}}, which outputs:

#

This user chats on the Wikimedia Community Discord server.

{{Wikipedia:Discord/Userbox}}, which outputs:

Come chat with us on the Wikimedia Community Discord server!

There is also a top icon for use: {{Discord topicon}}