I have been moderating the Steemit Travelers' discord together with my co-mods, @livinguktaiwan & @hungry-nomad, and the admins, @for91days & @jpphotography, for a few months now. We have observed a common behavior among newcomers - they want access to the Post Promotion channel right away.
The server was founded by the admins @for91days and @jpphotography to serve as a place for travelers in Steemit to connect. Access to the Post Promotion channel is just a bonus.
Rules, rules, rules..but no one likes rules
Most discord servers have rules to fight spammers. These are either pinned on the channel or there's a separate channel just for these guides (because some miss the pinned messages sometimes). If only everyone had self-discipline not to spam then maybe there will be no need for rules. But as you have witnessed in other servers, that's not the case.
In the Steemit Traveler discord for instance, one cannot just drop a post and leave. A certain rank has to be achieved. That's the easiest way to know that you are active in the community before promoting your post.
So I'm sorry kids, we have to have rules, otherwise the channels will be spam-fested.
Okay, we're all adults here but we still need to maintain such rules NOT because we're power trippers, but because we want you to have the best community experience free of spam (or worse, phishing links!)
You now have access to Post Promotion channel, now what?
Once members achieve a certain rank, they can now access the channel where they can drop their post and maybe get an upvote and even a comment. Yipee!
However, I have noticed that some never went back to the community. There are several channels to chat or leave a message but they only go back to the #postpromotion channel.
Engagement is not a one-time event. Building connections and engagement rarely happen after you reach level 3 in Discord. Connections are like relationships, you have to build it and go back to it. If you leave it, then the bond will weaken.
Post Promotion and/or Community? Let's Do Both!
I am guilty of being inactive in some servers as well. I am a member of several Discord servers and I can only be active in a few. We're only human with work and life (plus Steem life), and there are only 24 hours in a day.
However,if you want to promote your post in a server or a community, I hope you take time check out on the members of the server. There are people there too, there's a community. There's the #general channel where you can talk about any topic, there's the #travel_chat where you can talk about travel, there's #photography channel if you want to talk about cameras and stuff. The list goes on on what you can talk about.
It does not have to be everyday, but I hope you make your presence known from time to time. If you don't know anyone, then maybe it's time to ask who they are. There's an #introduceyourself channel and you can ask about them over at the #general.
If the channels are dead, leave a message. I suggest to not to just "Hi" or "Hello" (then leave) because these rarely get a response. Tell them what you're up to, ask a question, respond to a previous topic... there's a lot to get the conversation going.
Let's keep the conversation going.
Lastly, we encourage you to use the post promotion. This is a great way to know and support other travel content creators too but be reminded of what this server (community!) is all about. As @for91days said at the #general channel earlier today:
"The main purpose of our server is to connect with other travelers which will get you further on the long run."
Think about those highlighted wise words.
So, I'll see you at the discord! Spammers are not welcome though :D
PS. This is the home of #Travelfeed so if you're already a contributor or would like to contribute awesome travel content, we welcome you to join our Discord!
