Discord seems to be really popular, a lot of devs now offer private Discord channels for their supporters. Is this important to you, do you really like the option of having a dedicated Discord channel? Does it make a difference for you?
I've never used the voice feature in discord. Last time I spoke in voice chat was Vent when I was still playing world of warcraft ages ago. Err no that's a lie. I was playing ARK while i was still in early access and didn't realize it had a built in voice feature, anyway normally when I game while at work I'll wear some headphones but I had taken them off to bitch at an employee, I was loud enough that even though the mic was a foot away my entire clan could hear me ripping into my assistant at the time. Last time anyone in a game has heard my voice.I grew up with forums, dunno what these anxiety-inducing voice apps are for.
This is a good point! What about using the Patreon or Kickstarter pages themselves as a place for supporters to comment on updates from the author?If you run a project fueled by crowdfunding, personally I think it's mandatory. The least you can do is give your supporters / potential supporters / people interested in your project a platform to give feedback and ask questions.
But I might be a little biased, since I've met a lot of great people through those very servers. And because I love lurking around.
It might be sufficient, but I don't think it's as inviting or effective as an open discord server. Patreon pages never had, and will never have communities as active as discord servers, where people can just jump in and talk about whatever in designated channels. Not to mention you have to be a member in the first place to even become a part of those communities. I've seen people join the servers as regular users, lurk around, chat with others, and over time become supporters themselves. Now, I don't have a tested statistic, but I do believe having an open discord community has a lot to do with it in some cases.What about using the Patreon or Kickstarter pages themselves as a place for supporters to comment on updates from the author?