Discord - A new place for us to chat

[M.Steiner]

Problems with people using our IRC guide have to do with the guide focusing on the archaic mIRC client and a script that hasn't been in development since 2009. NNScript won't even run on semi-modern versions of mIRC. If you present people with a guide from 2004, of course they are going to have trouble getting things set up.

Thought it was worth pointing out that our IRC guide for mIRC & NNScript includes a bundle of the two which have been tried and tested, are hosted on the STR site and are the same files I've been using to reinstall it for myself for years. You're right about newer versions of mIRC not working well (or at all) with NNScript though, which is why we hosted those older files on the site and linked them in the guide for people as I knew they were guaranteed to work. The guide was also fully updated by Anny & I when we redesigned the site to keep it up to date and try cut it down a bit/make it easier for people. Even with that and the browser-based IRC page we have on the site too, Oz still had trouble actually getting on there. He's not alone there.

If you'd like to provide a guide for Hexchat or some other client then we could always put that up on the site instead, if you would prefer. The only reason the guide we have up is for mIRC is because that's the only client I've ever used and have experience with to write a guide for. Whatever the case though, it's still much easier to get someone in Discord by linking them straight to our channel, imo. That person doesn't need to be familiar with Discord to be able to do that and they can be in there within seconds just by clicking that link. IRC? Will someone unfamiliar with IRC know how to connect to #STR on irc.maxgaming.net without following a guide? and with so many different clients out there to pick from too?... There's so many hoops for people to jump through with IRC and when it's an old & declining format as well.... Discord makes us far more accessible to people and if you look around other current & popular gaming places like Twitch, Discord is what they're all starting to use.

Existing people will go where they want though so to each their own. If some of you are happier on IRC after trying Discord then I ain't one to stop you

[Made a few edits]

[M.Steiner]

I've added this to the first too but to trigger a new post notice so some of you don't miss it - We now have a more convenient link to give to people when inviting them to our channel.

If you're looking to invite someone into Discord, rather than generating an instant invite link for them (like https://discord.gg/0iscxurX8fkWaodg which is set to not expire), you can simply give them shatteredstar.org/discord. This will redirect them to the exact same place, just with a link that is much easier to remember and pass out to people

The Discord widget can also be found on our site via Community > Join us in Discord too.


Thanks, Anny!

[Thunderbird]

A few years back, I put together a portable HexChat installation (at the time it was X-Chat WDK) for a site I was involved with that required no installation and would connect one to the site's IRC channel upon startup. I don't think I still have that stuff around (and it's probably outdated anyway), but I could probably wrangle a similar package for HexChat. I never actually got a good test on that package though, as the IRC channel in question was practically a ghost town (even more so than #STR, it was usually only used if the site itself was down).