Over 20 years later, and Willow’s words are still true! Here at Elysian Fields, we’ve always tried to keep up with the times, including keeping up with the main social media trends. For the last four years, we’ve had a vibrant discussion group on Facebook; however, Facebook has decreased in usability over the last couple years. It has continued to have issues which cause some significant hassle for the Mods and for our membership, and which we finally had to admit might never resolve. (We aren’t even going to get into the madness of Facebook’s algorithms.)
So, the Mods took a solid look around and started discussing the future of our social media here on EF. Then we started exploring some alternatives. Which leads us to now:
For the last couple weeks, the EF Mods have been beta-testing a customized and (if we do say so ourselves) rather spiffy Discord server with a small population of EF Facebook group members—all of whom have helped the server become even spiffier. We truly can’t thank them enough for their bravery and enthusiasm in beta-testing with us!
Which means, as of today…. the Elysian Fields Discord server is open to the entire EF community!
If you’re familiar with Discord already, this post probably requires little other explanation (but stick around anyway, because we have some important details about the server below).
If you’re NOT familiar with Discord, imagine that all the best parts of 90’s chat rooms have been reinvisioned with modern sensibilities, neat options, and zero dial-up.
Trust us, it’s fun.
However, we also know that change can be hard and sometimes scary, which is why the Mods have been working very, very hard to ensure that every single member who joins the server has the support they need to gain their new platform legs. When you enter the server, you’ll notice an entire category labeled “UC Sunnydale Orientation.” That category is filled with helpful information, plus a student helpdesk staffed by some stellar “Orientation Leaders” who will be around to answer all your questions and help guide people’s interactions around the server.
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If you don’t yet have a discord account, you can sign up for one at https://discord.com/register . (Discord also has detailed sign-up instructions at https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033931551-Getting-Started if you’d like them.)
Once you have a Discord account, you can join the server using the following link: https://discord.gg/5r9suMGRQY
IMPORTANT: Please read all of the server rules and review the channels map before interacting! You MUST have your server name set to your EF penname or you will not be admitted into the server. Instructions on how to change your server name are written out in the #rules channel.
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So, what’s happening to the other social media accounts?
The FB page will remain as an official announcement platform, but the FB discussion group will be archived on March 15. So, if you’re currently a member of that group, you’ll still be able to view all the posts and comments after that date, but no one will be able to add posts or comments, and no new members will be admitted. We’re choosing to archive the group instead of deleting it because there’s a lot of history in that group which we want to preserve.
The EF LiveJournal account will also be closed on March 15.
As we move forward, you’ll notice that the social media icons on the EF homepage will update to reflect these changes.
And that’s all for now!
If you have any questions, please let us know below. We look forward to exploring Discord with you!
--The Mods on January 22, 2022 05:19am 18 Comments
It's telling me the link is invalid or has expired?
It’s telling me the same thing
never mind, when i copy/pasted it added a few characters. got it!
Just joined myself.
I just checked the link, everything should be good now!
Got it!
"imagine that all the best parts of 90’s chat rooms have been reinvisioned with modern sensibilities, neat options, and zero dial-up."
Honestly, this line is scaring the heck out of me because I am unaware of ANY good parts to a 90s Chat room. This is making my tummy go all queasy. Crossing my fingers that I can handle this.
I just joined, and I am excited!
@passion4spike: we promise it's as welcoming as all other EF spaces! And we have a full team of Orientation Leaders around to help you get settled in.
The Discord is terrific. So much better than FB.
Sad about LJ, though. It's been my fandom home for a very long time. My first bumbling attempts at writing fic were there.
@GillO: EF has not been active on LJ for about 4 years, so this is just formalizing the inactivity.
And if you're into doing writing sprints, the sprint channel on Discord has been hopping! :)
I love discord! but I’m more of a lurker in big servers, I’ll go now that is still a small community and see if I can handle it when it grows
Just FYI, saying that Discord has "all the best parts of 90s chat rooms" is likely to be more frightening than reassuring to those of us who knew nothing about chat rooms in the 90s. Ha ha. However, I seem to be learning my way around what, ATM, seems to be an unnecessarily complicated place, so we'll see. I suspect I will find one or two areas on it where I'm able/willing to spend time keeping up and stick to those few areas (threads?). On the other hand, I was dragged kicking and screaming into LJ in 2005 and am now quite at home there (and DW), so who knows? I'm not sorry to have one less FB group to follow, to be sure, but having to go to even another place to keep up with EF might be one time-consuming link too far. Giving it a shot, though. I may end up doing more occasional lurking than actual participating. But kudos to the mods and their helpers for putting so much time and effort to giving the fandom a place to be.
I was so anxious about learning to use Discord because I had no idea what it was, but I LOVE it! So much easier to navigate and organize discussions than FB. Love the switch! Thanks for putting this together, mods!
I can't get past reading the rules, so now what do I do? Keep in mind that I'm mostly addlepated at the moment, so use small words and explain fully, otherwise I won't understand the instructions. Thanks!
@Niamh: you're good now -- I messaged you! You were just in an invite queue until the Mods formally admitted you.
I am BEYOND excited for this! If you need/want ANY help in moderating the Discord site, please reach out!