Discord is a freemium and proprietary chat room program available for web browsers, Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS. A Discord server contains both text and voice channels used for discussions and to share other forms of media between the members of that server. Discord is similar to WP:IRC in that it provides live chat capabilities with other Wikipedians.

In 2016, an unofficial Wikimedia Discord server was founded for Wikipedians who already used the platform. This Discord server is moderated by several English Wikipedia administrators. Conduct is expected to follow the guidelines below. Accounts must have a verified email to chat on the server. Optionally, editors may link Discord to their Wikipedia account, enabling users to view their Wikipedia username. Channels exist for specific purposes, such as individual WikiProjects, and for more broad areas, like the English Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

The server can be reached through an invite link by clicking the Join Server button below. The link may at times be disabled:

The Wikimedia Community Discord is neither owned nor controlled by the Wikimedia Foundation. It is run by volunteers of their own accord. The server was set up by users of Wikipedia as a place for Wikipedians who already used Discord, or who prefer that platform over IRC to chat and share information. They are casual, and users should be aware that conversations held in Discord may be read by anyone who joins the server.

First and foremost, the server is for discussions relevant to Wikipedia and related projects. Each channel has a general topic to follow, such as #english-wikipedia focusing on English Wikipedia, and #commons focusing on Commons. Wikimedia supports free speech but some statements can be disruptive and are usually inappropriate in channels. The channel #offtopic exists for discussions that are not solely focused on project work.

Keep in mind the public nature of Discord and the fact that the chat history is available to anyone that joins. Critiques of other users should be discussed in private message with them if possible, rather than risking publicly embarrassing them. Try to put yourself in their position to see whether or not what you say may offend.

Most importantly, Wikipedia:Civility is considered to apply to Discord.

General behaviours to avoid:

1. Insulting others or swearing excessively.
2. Canvassing for votes in WP:RFA, WP:AFD, WP:DRV, etc., or for article nominations or reviews.
3. Organising, engaging in, or advocating harassment of others – whomever they may be.
4. "Outing" others by publishing personal information about them or linking to sites or repositories that do, or otherwise extensively discussing private matters or subjects unrelated to Wikipedia.
5. Making graphic descriptions, solicitations, or promotions of sexuality, violence, or illegal drugs. "Not Safe for Work" content is off-limits period. If you have any doubts, ask a moderator privately.
6. Spamming links or the same phrases repeatedly, either all at once or over time.
7. Operating bots that send messages or are operated through typing in the channel without the explicit permission of the moderators.
8. Using nicknames that mislead or confuse others about who you are. Nicknames are a form of expression, but it should be clear to chatters who you are at all times, such as suffixing your normal name in parenthesis.
9. Posting large gifs or memes with no context or relation to the discussion purpose of a channel.
10. Excessively pinging moderators or admins for non-critical issues, either as a group or individuals. Please be considerate of alerting individuals of issues that aren't emergencies as they may be sleeping, at work, etc.
11. Anything that may violate the Discord Guidelines or Terms of Service. Users who cross this line may be removed without any warning, depending on the severity. Keep in mind that while Wikipedia and Commons and the like are "NOTCENSORED", this is not the case for Discord, whose own Guidelines and Terms of Service take precedence. Many topics should not be linked or embedded, such as "not safe for work" content or piracy, and should be avoided. Make sure to read the Discord Guidelines and Terms of Service.

These guidelines are not exhaustive. Please use common sense when using the server. Moderators may use their discretion to remove and ban users from the server for any reason.

Ban appeals

Make a simple post at WT:DISCORD with your Discord username and that you would like to appeal. Do not go into details. The moderators will discuss your case and, if warranted, one of them will DM you (sending a friend request first, if necessary) to start the appeal. Do not use the talk pages of individual moderators. Moderators are not interested in whether you were previously warned or saw your warnings. This is only for bans where you have no way to contact a moderator otherwise. For any other moderation actions where you can still reach moderators, do not post on site.

Discord is a free-to-download application on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android, and can be used in most web browsers without downloading as well. The server is joined by utilizing the invitation link above. Once joined, the user can simply return to the Discord site, or open the client of their choice.

Text chat

Discord provides text channels that users can use to communicate through typing. These channels support various forms of markup and embedding, such as showing thumbnails for pictures, syntax highlighting for code fragments, or simply display emotes. Most of these features, such as embedding, can be disabled in the user preferences.

A key difference between Discord and IRC is that the former provides a back log of chat. This can be handy for jumping into already-in-progress conversations, but also means that anything said is recorded in the history. Users should be aware that because only a few users are online at a given time, it does not mean users who log in later will not see their message. However, unlike IRC, users can ask questions in a channel and get an answer hours or days later from another user.

Unlike IRC, Discord does not show IPs or hostnames for users as they join servers and channels. As such, there is no host masking or cloaks to be setup.

Voice chat

Voice channels are also available, allowing users to communicate directly through voice. Users can rely on push-to-talk, where they must press a key while speaking, or voice detection, which will automatically broadcast when the user speaks. Users should be aware that anyone in the same channel will hear them. Voice channels have no specific assigned topics, unlike text channels. Users who have been inactive for 15 minutes are automatically moved to an AFK channel and muted.

Voice channels are not active unless the user specifically joins one. They are purely optional and have no impact on ability to use text channels. Each voice channel has an accompanying text channel for communication between those who do not have a microphone or do not wish to speak.

Sign up

If you don't already have a Discord account, you will need to create (or "claim") one by providing a username, date of birth, email address, and password. Temporary accounts (username and DoB only) are not able to post to the Wikimedia server. Your user name and server-specific nickname can be changed, you are not locked in to your original choice of name.

Authentication

You can authenticate in Discord to your on-wiki user name. Follow the instructions provided by WikiAuthBot when you join, by sending the /auth command in any channel. Authentication provides the "Authenticated Users" role, which allows us to know who you are on wiki (and is sometimes used for anti-raid/spam measures). You are not required to authenticate, but for server moderation purposes some permissions may require it, including sending messages to many channels.

Pronouns and languages

Some users put their pronouns in their nickname. This is done for reasons similar to those listed here, and helps prevent incorrect pronouns being used for them. You are not required to put your pronouns in your nickname.

You may select roles to display your Pronouns and Languages from the Channels & Roles selection. These are implemented as roles that will appear on your profile, and can be changed at any time.

Events

All authenticated Sysops and Stewards are allowed to create and manage events on the server to bring awareness to various Wikimedia, WMF, and Wikipedia related events. Any authenticated user who is involved in such events or in coordinating various committees, working groups, etc, may contact a Server Admin for the "Event Coordinator" role. See the list of moderators below to see which are Server Admins.

Channels currently exist for the following topics or sites. New channels for other Wikimedia sites, projects or efforts can be created on request by members of those projects. The requestor should approach their project or site first to see if there is a consensus for using Discord, as they need to link back to this document from their project space so that their community is aware the channel exists. Generally, there is an expectation that the site or project is generating discussion so that an empty disused channel is not created.

New users will see a selection of default channels, and can use the Channel & Roles selection to opt-in to more channels, or to unfollow those they do not care about.

• #info – A read-only channel with notices such as basic rules and a link back to this document. Users are advised not to unfollow or mute this channel as any changes or updates to rules will be posted here. This channel is part of the Server Guide.
• #wikiauthlog – A read-only channel that reports when a user has authenticated with WikiAuthBot
• #botcommands – A channel for running bot commands, such as WikiAuthBot's /whois

Administration channels

These channels are available to Discord moderators, project administrators (sysops), and stewards for discussion of issues related to moderation of the server.

• #administration – General moderation discussion.
• #mod-forum – Forum used to organize threads about moderation issues.
• #pick-your-admin-roles – This channel offers options for Sysops and Stewards (Known in server as "green names" informally) to decide which roles they are in for mentions/pings.
• #logger – The Logger bot posts server alerts such as joins, leaves, message edits and message deletes here. This exists purely for the benefit of server moderation and shortcomings in Discord's audit log.
• #automod – Discord's built-in AutoMod posts alerts for problematic phrases, such as racial slurs, here. This exists purely for the benefit of server moderation.

Discussion channels

• #general – A general channel for any topic related to Wikimedia. This is also the welcome channel and is available to unauthenticated users. This is a default channel.
• #technical – A forum channel for technical topics, including MediaWiki, Lua, templates, edit filters, AWB, etc. Quick questions can be asked in the pinned General Technical Discussion post. This is a default channel.
• #offtopic – A channel for off-topic discussions. You can mute this channel if you desire.

Site channels

• #english-wikipedia – For topics specific to English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.
• #commons – For topics specific to Commons. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Commons, not English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.
• #meta – Topics including Metawiki, global Wikimedia, Stewards or crosswiki issues. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Meta, not English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.
• #wikidata – Discussions about Wikidata. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Wikidata, not English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.
• #simple-english-wikipedia – For topics specific to the Simple English Wikipedia and Simple English Wiktionary projects. Notice: In this channel, WikiBot replies with links to Simple English Wikipedia, not English Wikipedia. This is a default channel.

WikiProject channels

Channels currently exist for the following WikiProjects as well as some other Project space areas:

• #team-b-vital - A collaborative effort to bring Stub and Start class Vital articles up to a B class if possible, similar to WP:Articles for Improvement. See Wikipedia:Discord/Team-B-Vital for more details.
• #wpanimanga – WikiProject Anime and manga
• #wpbiology – WikiProject Biology and sub-projects
• #wpcci – Wikipedia:Contributor copyright investigations and Wikipedia:WikiProject Copyright Cleanup
• #wpengineering – Wikipedia:WikiProject Engineering and descendant projects, Wikipedia:WikiProject Highways, and related infrastructure projects.
• #wpgoce – Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors and similar effort.
• #wplgbt – Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBT studies and related.
• #wpmusic – WikiProject Music, WikiProject Songs, and WikiProject Albums, and related musical projects
• #wpspaceflight – WikiProject Spaceflight
• #wpsport – WikiProject Sports and its many sub-projects
• #wpvg – WikiProject Video Games

New channels can be created on request by WikiProject members, once it has been discussed by that project and the members show interest.

The server currently has these bots that help in various ways.

• Logger – Responsible for the #logger channel mentioned above. Records various server alerts for server moderation purposes.
• WikiAuthBot – Responsible for assisting users with identifying their Wikipedia name and marking them as an Authenticated User. In any channel, send the command /auth and the bot will private message you with instructions. You must be able to receive messages for this to work. This relies on OAuth.
• WikiBot – Responsible for adding helpful links when users post Wikilink and Template syntax. For example, if you post [[WP:Discord]], WikiBot will reply with an actual link to the page.
• Reaction – Reaction is a bot responsible for building and maintaining role selection categories. It is responsible for the Role Selection category of channels.

Notification methods are currently setup to allow for alerting certain user groups that there is an important issue on Wiki that needs assistance. These tags should only be used for cases that need immediate attention. Include the tag in your message in order to cause a notification.

• @Stewards – This mention will cause a notification to Stewards who are signed up to receive the alerts.
• @EnglishAdminsAlert – This mention will cause a notification to English Wikipedia Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
• @CommonsAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to Commons Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
• @WikidataAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to Wikidata Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
• @SimpleEnglishAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to Simple English Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
• @MetaAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to Meta Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.
• @EnglishWikiversityAdmins – This mention will cause a notification to English Wikiversity Administrators who are signed up to receive the alerts.

The current moderators are as follows. All moderators are currently stewards or English Wikipedia administrators. If a situation related to the Discord server requires immediate attention from a moderator, you can notify the group by prepending your message with @Moderators. This should only be done for issues pertaining directly to the Discord server itself, not issues on wiki. Some moderators are additionally Server Admins, with full access to the server.

{{User Discord}} or {{User Discord|account=Username#0000}}, which outputs:

{{User Discord2}} or {{User Discord2|account=username}}, which outputs:

{{Wikipedia:Discord/Userbox}}, which outputs:

{{User:Aoidh/Templates/DiscordUserbox|Username}}, which outputs:

There is also a top icon for use: {{Discord topicon}}

• Several sister projects have Discord servers. See Languages and In other projects in the sidebar, or Project:Discord (Q47303831) on Wikidata.
• Some English Wikipedia-specific projects maintain their own servers:
  • Ultraviolet
  • SWViewer
  • WikiLoop DoubleCheck
  • Wikimedia New York City
  • Wikimedia South Africa
  • WikiProject Tropical cyclones
  • New Pages Patrol (In the banner)
  • Anti-Vandalism Coordination (WP:CUV)
  • Queer Wikimedians
  • The Signpost
• In addition, there is a server for support with MediaWiki. See here for details.

• Wikipedia:IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
• Wikipedia:Mumble (voice chat, defunct)
• Wikipedia:Mailing lists