Promoting game community discord in respective forum

[Phizex]

Hi there,
I'm thinking of setting up an unofficial Discord server for the whole Nostale private server scene.

I'd set up a Discord bot that would let players rate each server. Each server admin would have their own category where they can post news, ask for suggestions, and so on.


There'd also be a section to help people set up private servers.

Could we advertise the server on elitepvpers? There's nothing in the rules about this, but before I spend a few days working on the infrastructure, I'd like to confirm that sharing the invitation link will be allowed.

Of course, we could give some elitepvpers moderators full access to the server if needed.

I've tried contacting , who's a moderator of our forum, but I don't blame him for not answering. I wouldn't answer either, to be honest

I'm asking because I don't see any rules related to that, but I also saw some other Discord server link invites being removed. I just want to check and confirm that it will be allowed.

[Alphatester123]

There is no rule against that instead everyone share his own discord server.

[Phizex]

Originally Posted by Alphatester123

There is no rule against that instead everyone share his own discord server.

This is not 100% correct.
There is a rule regarding the promotion of Discord servers:

from here
4. Serious Violations
3.1 Promoting Discord servers is only allowed in conjunction with offers on elitepvpers (e.g. private server presentations or support of services).

This is why I ask the question.
My thread would contain a discord link, and it wouldn't be directly a private server promotion. At least I wouldn't be the founder of any of the servers being promoted there (though any server founder who had their own section there would still have admin rights for their own section).
There is also an aspect of the channels that is related to helping people set up their own servers (the guide, as well as a search-help channel where people can ask questions related to this aspect).
This part of the server is not covered in the rules, and I want to know the final answer before I spend a day or two working on a discord bot that will meet the needs of rating the servers, as well as simply figuring out what the server structure should look like.

On a discord server I would also include a download links to popular sources (Nostale has two main types - OpenNos, as well as Vanosilla). Of course both are open source and hosted on github.

[Luke]

Hi,

yes, that is forbidden by our rules, we only allow service related advertisements or for pservers.

[Phizex]

Originally Posted by Luke

Hi,

yes, that is forbidden by our rules, we only allow service related advertisements or for pservers.

Thank you for your reply.
Crowley replied to me in a private message and he gave me his point of view.

Since your answer is most likely related to him asking you about it, I would like to give you my point of view as well. Perhaps this will somehow change your mind.
My response to Crowley's message:

Thank you for your reply.

My original goal was to make something similar to the thread you sent, but with the big difference in terms of feedback.

I wanted to make a discord server because it would be a much easier way to allow real players of those servers to post their reviews about the server and keep everything clean.

A thread like this would do that:
- only allow the thread owner to leave a real review about the server (unless I would modify the thread and add new feedback daily, but I still think it would be difficult to manage)
- and sooner or later the thread will be full of spam

I understand why it's only allowed to promote Discord servers that are related to private servers or offer services, but I don't think that's good enough for the NosTale community.
You should already know that more than half of the servers are a clear cash grab. And even if other members write posts in the threads, they are removed or members looking for the server just check the first post.


I believe this kind of server would be useful for the community.
Me and my friend would make a discord bot, which would allow leaving a rating for each server promoted there. Each rating would be posted in the channel of that server and only the owner would have a chance to "open a thread" related to that message and if for example the feedback was negative, they would have a chance to give the reviewer their point of view.

At the same time we would make it clear - there would be two types of servers:
- trusted (those servers which are really old and people already know those servers are not just a jump for cash)
- untrusted (each new server added to the list. they would be able to promote to "trusted" tier after being online for X months and after having a decent amount of reviews)


I, as a potential owner of this discord server, am completely unrelated to any server, and to be honest, I never will be. I am just a private server lover who has tried every server worth testing.

My only goal in creating this discord would be to create a place that will help players choose the right server to play on instead of wasting money on the next cashgrab in the community.
I would also like to start a discussion like I did in this thread:

which could potentially help create really good servers in the future.


Maybe it would be possible to make a list on elitepvpers, as well as discord servers promoted on that list. I could "redirect" the feedback from the server to the appropriate part of the thread, so each server would have their feedback in one place.

However, if there is no chance of getting the green light for this project, I completely understand and accept that. In that case, you can also close the thread.

[Nick]

First of all, it's cool that you've already put so much thought into it. We like the intention behind it and we appreciate that you want to get our green light first instead of going ahead without it.

As Crowley has communicated your idea internally, there has already been an exchange of opinions on this - together with the administration and other decision-makers. However, the tendency is already very clearly in the direction that we cannot support your project.

To name a few important arguments (can't go into much detail):

• From our point of view, unofficial is never really unofficial, as our name and our platform are nevertheless associated with such things, especially by less experienced users. In certain constellations, we allow such user-managed lists or collections, but we're never really happy with them. It would also be linked to certain requirements that we don't see fulfilled here.
  
• We don't want to shift any user activity to the outside and if we do, we have to be the last ones to pull the lever, which would then have an official touch again (complicated, right?).
  
• We don't see much added value for the players here. If you don't read posts, you won't join a Discord server and read up before you invest money. Ultimately, donations are also voluntary and not necessary to be able to play on the servers.

I hope that makes sense.


Finally, I'd ask you to keep private messages confidential. Before you publish anything from it, you should have permission to do so.

#closed