The world of NFTs is growing, and the communities are growing with it. Learn how to use a Discord account and get involved in NFT communities right away!
KEY POINTS
- NFT projects benefit from an active and strong Discord community. Becoming a knowledgeable Discord user is a great way to support your favorite project.
- Safety is important! The internet requires constant awareness and caution to stay safe. Learning about Discord is an amazing way to stay safe while joining NFT communities.
- Most NFT Discord servers have similar layouts - a read only information category, and categories to interact in. These usually include channels specific for chatting, community, marketplace, entertainment, and more.
- Discord is a great way to see an NFT project’s community up close and personal, and makes it super easy to get involved. From project research to project marketing, Discord is a great resource.
Discord is a text and voice chatting application. NFT projects from PFP NFTs to DAOs use it to grow and strengthen their communities. NFT enthusiasts use it to keep up with projects they’re invested in, chat with community members, and find new information on upcoming projects.
Discord is a great tool for gauging the strength of an NFT project’s community. It also gives great insight on the leadership skills of the project founders, and shows how they interact with their community on a more personal level.
This guide will cover setting up a Discord account for a new user, and we’ll also cover some tips that the long-time Discord users will benefit from too.
Create Your Discord Account
Discord is super easy to set up! Start by going to Discord.com or searching for it on the App store or Google Play store.
Go ahead and sign up with an email and password. Note that you can change your username at any time. Once you’re in, you’ll be viewing the Discord homepage. It’s pretty empty right now, but soon you’ll have a sidebar filled with different servers to check out!
The main parts of this page to note are located in the sidebar on the far left side. This sidebar is where all of the servers you join will live, similar to bookmarked tabs. Looking below the home button, you will see a "+" icon, labeled "Add a Server." Clicking that icon will bring up the "Create a server" page, where you can also "Join a Server."
A Note on Discord Terminology
Discord has its own terminology which can be a bit confusing at first, but can quickly be grasped.
A Discord "Server" is really just the community space itself.
"Channels" are within a Server. Channels act as a way to organize conversations within the Server.
Below this is a search icon, labeled "Explore Public Servers." This is a way for you to search through public Discord servers that are set to be open for anyone to join, no invite link required.
Most NFT projects have private Discord servers. This is to keep the community free of spam, and focused on the goals of the project.
A private server means that you need an invite link to join. The invite link may be publicly available, but you will need to share an active invite link to give access to the server. On the other hand, a public server can be joined by anyone simply by searching for the server, no invite link required.
When a private Discord server removes the ability for its members to create invites, that is considered a "closed invite" server.
Before we get started on joining servers, we need to make sure we’re aware of how to stay safe while using Discord.
Discord Safety Settings
Safety first! Good internet safety habits should always be first priority when you are using an unfamiliar application. Those new to an application may fall prey to scammers who have more experience. Discord is no exception to this, but the developers have made it easy to stay safe.
These settings are widely accepted to greatly benefit those who are new to NFT Discord communities.
Go to the settings cogwheel next to your username, near the bottom left of your screen.
The Discord Cog Wheel can be found at the bottom left of the screen
The first page you will see is the My Account tab.
Two-Factor Authentication is a login verification method that you have probably encountered before. It is recommended that you enable it.
The third page down is the Privacy & Safety tab. Look at the Server Privacy Defaults section.
Disable the Allow direct messages from server members option. This is very important, please ignore all unsolicited direct messages. You can manually override this setting later on for individual servers by right clicking a server in your sidebar, and selecting “Privacy Settings.”
It is best to turn off Direct Messages in Discord
Staying safe online is very important with NFTs. Learning how to use Discord is the first step to staying safe in NFT communities. Let’s dive right in!
Joining a Discord Server
The most common way to join a Discord is by using a Discord server’s link. These are often posted in Twitter bios, on project sites, and sometimes a link will be posted in a Discord server.
Clicking an invite link will show you the server’s invite page, where you will be asked to confirm to accept the invite.
Once you join a server, you will usually be greeted with a verification method. NFT servers use these methods for spam prevention and security. Common verification methods include checking a box that you agree to follow the server’s rules, and a designated rules channel where you click on an emoji to verify your agreement.
Now that you’re in a Discord server, it’s time to familiarize yourself with everything you see.
Categories and Channels
The sidebar of a Discord server has a few different parts. A server’s sidebar will typically have channels separated by categories.
Discord uses "channels" to help direct discussion into various topics.
A server’s most important channels are usually in the top category. These can include but aren’t limited to channels such as rules, announcements, links, roadmap, mint details, and faq.
NFT servers will sometimes have a whitelist information channel, with instructions on how to get whitelisted.
If you do not see many channels in a Discord server you have recently joined, you may need to verify yourself by reacting to an emoji in the rules channel, or accepting a rules list that the server prompts with a pop-up.
The channels in a server’s top information category are usually “read only.” This means that server staff can post messages to these channels, but average server members can’t.
Further down the server’s sidebar, you will usually find the channels you can type and speak in.
Discord features both text chatting and voice chatting. Typically, there is a main “general” text chatting channel, and a few channels that are topic specific. You can check the description of any channel by looking at the top of the Discord window while you’re in the channel. (On mobile, slide over to the right sidebar, and look at the top.) It’s important to be aware of the channel specific rules while using any new Discord server, as many servers have rules to keep discussion on topic and safe.
On the right side of the Discord window, you will see the member list. Take note of the people at the top of the member list, they are typically the project’s founders and development team. Bots are commonly seen near the top as well, so members can quickly note the server’s verified bots.
To see more information on a user, click on them. You will see their profile, which includes any server roles they may have.
What are roles?
Discord servers use "roles" as a way to group server members. These are similar to ranks or member tags. Roles can change the color of your name in the server, change your positioning on the right sidebar, and even grant server specific permissions.
Some NFT servers include a "roles" channel, where you can opt into applying roles to yourself. Roles in NFT servers are a way for members to be part of groups within the community. These roles allow server staff to notify certain groups of updates, grant access to specific channels, and see at a glance who is in what group.
A server’s roles channel will be a read only channel, where you can click on emoji that match the roles you want to apply to yourself. Sometimes these roles will allow you to see or chat in areas of the server that you might not have access to without roles.
A similar example of this is a special channel for the holders of a project’s NFT. They’ll often have a channel that is "hidden" from the regular server members. This channel usually requires you to verify yourself as a holder by connecting your wallet to your Discord account. Always do your own research to verify the integrity of any bot or application asking to connect to your wallet.
What are bots?
Verified Discord Bots will have a checkmark next to their name. NFT servers typically use them to track user activity, manage roles, and moderate channels.
Example of verified bots in a Discord server
Beware: A common scam is for someone to impersonate a Discord Bot, and send a direct message to you, asking you to verify your credentials. Always use direct messages with caution.
It is highly recommended to keep direct messages disabled as a new Discord user, if you must turn them on, just do so temporarily. Discord bots do occasionally send direct messages. You can verify the authenticity of a direct message from a Discord bot by clicking on the bot’s username in your conversation window, and looking for the verified bot checkmark on the profile preview. All legitimate Discord bots will have the verified bot checkmark.
Finding NFT Discord Servers
An easy way to find Discord server links to projects is to use Rarity Sniper. It is a well-known NFT rarity and collection ranking website. Once you’re on the site, head to the "NFT Drops Calendar." This page shows NFT collections that have upcoming mints. Most collections have a link to their Discord server featured here, click those links and accept the invites to check out the servers!
Always remember to do your own research and stay safe while using Discord for finding new NFT projects. There are lots of scams, most of them related to direct messages. Stay calm, and use your best judgment.
Let’s get chatting!
- Once you’re in a server, find the rules channel. Read the rules and react to them by clicking the emoji (if necessary) so you feel comfortable and confident joining in on the discussion.
- Find the conversation! Once you finish looking over the information category, the next category down is usually where the discussion is located. Check the first channel there, and check its description. Common indicators are "general chat," "main chat," "discussion," and "chat." Sometimes NFT servers have theming that may make this chat a bit harder to find, click around and check channel descriptions!
- Say hello! NFT Discord communities are really fun to get involved in. A simple "hi" or "gm" in a chat will usually get a response. To directly reply to others, right click their message and select "Reply". By default, this will send them a notification that you replied. If you’d rather not send them a notification, just click the "@" sign on the right side of the message bar to disable it.
Final Thoughts
NFTs projects are using Discord to help grow, promote, and strengthen their communities.
We have an amazing opportunity to get involved, participate firsthand in the projects we want to see go to the moon.
The levels of depth and resources you’ll find in some of these NFT communities can be life changing.
Discord is an application that really shows how large the NFT world actually is. It will only grow as it adapts to the needs of the NFT community.
Make some friends, learn something new, hop into a community, or create your own!
