Discord is a free voice, video, and text messaging app that’s used by people to talk and hang out with their communities and friends. For Web3, it is a platform where founders, creators, artists, crypto users, and other community members interact with each other daily. Each individual Discord you join is called a server and within the server, there are categories with #s called channels. These channels can be formed around topics, interests, and project goals to name a few — creating mini chat rooms that will help organize the flow of discussion in a server.
What The NFT
Using Discord for NFTs
How to stay safe when using Discord for NFTs.
General Discord Info
People use Discord as it is the preferred messaging platform for most web3 projects including NFTs. The servers of the projects are where valuable information is stored and shared to members, and it is also where the community members interact and form bonds. If you’re thinking about buying a Not Your Bro piece, you would want to get to know the community first by joining the server. Once you’re inside, you will be able to chat with other members and talk about what they like about the art of NYB, what they like about the project, what made them join the NFT space, etc. If you don’t want to chat, you can simply observe the culture of the community and read all the valuable information available in its channels to get a feel of the project.
Within Discord, you also have the ability to privately message people which is commonly referred to as a “DM” — short for direct message. Although this feature is useful, this is also how a lot get scammed in Web3. It is best to never click on links on DMs from people you do not know! A project’s team members will also never DM you first.
Discord can be accessed as an application through a browser on your PC or Mac, or on your mobile device. To get started register for an account at: https://discord.com/register.
After you sign up for Discord, it is time to join your first server. The first screen that pops up will ask you to create a Discord server, or you can click towards the bottom where it displays “Have an invite already?” and this is where you paste or type the invitation link to the project. You can also visit the project’s social media pages to join using their server’s vanity link. Only use official links found in the project’s social media pages!
General Safety Tips
Similar to the spam mail you hate, you’ll often get Direct Messages when joining servers from other members of its community.
It is strongly suggested that you disable “Allow direct messages from server members” found in Privacy Settings.
This helps you avoid contact by potential malicious entities and essentially allows you the choice of who you engage with, because direct message engagement then requires a mutual “Added Friend” status.
Always make sure you are clicking the right link . Most project discord servers will feature a channel called Official Links. This is always the place to check and contains the only links you want to use!
Clicking on the wrong link could spell disaster for your assets so you always want to take extra caution including disabling direct messages unless both parties have added each other as friends on discord.
When a collection runs a stealth mint, it is basically a surprise. They can drop at any moment without a previously scheduled date and time being announced to its members, and generally run as a first come first served basis. This is probably the least common method of launching a project and more than likely a scam.
When a discord gets hacked, the best thing to do is not panic.
Usually the signs are a spamming of announcements which tag all members claiming that the project is minting and providing a link to connect your wallet that varies from the ones found in official links (posted at an earlier date).
Another indication to look for is when an authorised account such as an administrator or moderator starts spamming links in the chat and disables access to other team members.
DO NOT CONNECT YOUR WALLET IF YOU FEEL DISCORD IS HACKED AND LEAVE THE DISCORD FOR EXTRA SAFETY.
Once the project’s team get the situation under control you may then rejoin.