Discord

What is Discord?

Discord is a chat platform. If you've used something like Slack or Microsoft Teams at work, you'll find Discord similar. Individual communities can create their own “servers” which they have full control over, similar to a “forum”, and invite other users to it.

You can be a member of multiple servers at one time. Servers are shown in the Discord app as icons in the sidebar. The icon for the 12th New West server looks like our necker.

Joining the Discord

The 12th New West Discord server is private, meaning that you need an invitation link to join. If you need an invitation, ask another Scouter in your section, a member of the Group Committee, or email discord@newwestscouts.ca.

Before you can join the Discord, you need a Discord account. If you don't already have one, you'll be prompted to create one when you join the server.

Discord has apps for mobile and desktop, and a web client. Visit https://discord.com to download Discord for your preferred platforms.

When you join Discord, you'll be prompted to choose a username. This is your default username on all servers that you join; however, you can change your display name on a per-server basis. One of the rules of the 12th New Westminster server is that everyone must use their real name in some form; it can be your full name, Scouter Jane, or John D. To change your name on the 12th New West server:

• On mobile: tap the "you" icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap Edit Profile. Tap Server Profiles at the top of the screen, and then change your Server Nickname.
• On desktop: click your name at the bottom of the screen, under the channel list. Click Edit Profile. Click Server Profiles at the top of the screen, and then change your Server Nickname.

Server Rules

The rules for the server as of 2025-03-09 are as follows. The current rules are always available in the Server Guide, located at the top of the channel list.

NOTE: There are youth members present in the server (e.g. Venturers). The two-scouter rule applies at all times, including in online communication.

1. You must be an active member of the 12th New Westminster Scout Group
2. You For adult Scouters: the Scouts Canada Code of Conduct and all other Scouts Canada policies are in effect at all times. This includes the two-Scouter rule; you must not have one-on-one contact with a youth member on this server.
3. For all members: remember the Scout Law: A Scout is helpful and trustworthy, kind and cheerful, considerate and clean, and wise in the use of all resources.
4. Use your real name as your server nickname so we can know the real you. If you don't change your name the moderation team may be forced to remove you from the server. We encourage including your pronouns in your server nickname.
5. If you see something against the rules or something that makes you feel unsafe, let the admins know. We want this server to be a welcoming space!

User Roles

When you join the server, you will be walked through an on-boarding process that will ask you some questions, including what section(s) you are a member of. Your answers to these questions will determine what "roles" you have in the server. Roles serve a couple of purposes:

• Roles can control access to private channels, and be used to grant certain privileges.
• You can "mention" all users with the same role, such as "@Pack A Scouters". When you do this, all users with that role will receive a notification.

Categories and Channels

A Discord server can be organized into channels to keep discussions on-topic and organized. Similar channels can be grouped into "categories".

Channels can be public, meaning that anyone can see and post in them, or private, which only users with certain roles can access.

Section Categories and Channels

Each section has a Category (Colony A, Pack B, Troop A, etc). Within each section category, there are two default channels

• The section "lobby" (e.g. #colony-a-lobby, etc). These are public channels that anyone can post in. The intent is for these to act as way for Scouters in other sections to talk to a specific section.
• A private #general channel, restricted to the appropriate section role (e.g. the Pack B #general channel is only visible to people with the "Pack B Scouter" role.

Anyone with the "Scouter" role can create new channels, so create as many as you like for whatever purposes you need; for example, if you have an upcoming camp, create a channel just for that camp, and archive it when done.

Other Categories and Channels

In addition to the section categories, there are a few others:

• Group Committee: this has a #general channel for regular Group Committee discussion, and a #gc-meetings "voice" channel. Voice channels are channels where members can talk via voice, video, and screen sharing. The #gc-meetings channel can be used to host online Group Committee meetings.
• Scouters' Club: restricted to those with the "Scouter" role. This has #the-campfire, a general chat channel, and #pics, a "forum" type channel where you can create individual posts and attach media such as pictures and videos.
• Group Events: this is where we can create channels for whole-group events, like Hyack, all-section camps, etc
• Administration: channels related to the server itself, including one for #introductions, #suggestions, and #support

Notifications

Discord offers pretty fine-grained control over your notifications. You can change your notification settings per-channel and per-category. For a more WhatsApp/Signal/group chat experience, you can enable notifications for every message in certain categories or channels.