About the DS|CAFE Coworking Discord

I like working with other busy people in the room to help stay motivated and inspired. The DS|CAFE Discord grew from that, starting first as an extension of this blog. Over the years it’s evolved into a virtual coworking experiment designed to provide “the right level of distraction” you need to have a productive project-filled day.

What is it For?

Hanging out and working on stuff together is more fun than working alone!

This community is a friendly and thoughtful space for mature people getting some work done. You can be working on anything, from computer programming and graphic design to cleaning your living room or learning how to bake a cake. We like hearing about what you’re doing and how it’s going, and there are rooms where you can post pictures of your progress and celebrate your achievements. You can also use this space for accountability or finding inspiration.

We are mindful of different work styles and personalities, and have divided our virtual space into sections where you can settle-in. If you like to see and hear people in a timed environment, check out the POMODORO section’s workalong-audio room. If you just want to hear the sounds of people without seeing video, the Noisy Work and Quiet Work rooms might be more your speed. If you don’t see anyone in a room, hop in it and maybe someone will join you!

What are the People Like?

I think our participants tend to be inquisitive project-minded people who love sharing what they are learning and makin. Regulars like to check-in a few times a day to report on their status and see what other people are up to. Come and go as you please, read and share as much as you like to have a good day! That said, our community benefits and grows from everyone who participates!

There is a diverse range of interests and nationalities here, and people experiment with new ways of working together in our text discussion topic rooms, where you can pose questions and share your experiences and expertise. If you are interested in a topic or have something you think would be cool to share, go ahead and bring it up or post a link in #linkshare; this is how we get to know each other. It’s important to me that this space is a safe place to share our geeky interests without judgement.

Our Main Chat Areas

When you first connect to the server, you’ll notice a lot of rooms, but here’s the BASICS:

• Our general #chat, where you can introduce yourself and ask questions after you read our #welcome-guide for an overview of our operations. These channels are located in our WATERCOOLER/SOCIAL group, with some auxiliary rooms for sharing non-work media.
• #chat has a  no media posting restriction; you can post freely in #linkshare and refer people to it instead. You can alternatively wrap links like <https://davidseah.com> which will not auto-expand into a giant image that disrupts the chat flow.
• The #welcome-guide channel has more information about the server and its rooms. Definitely read through it!
• Each room description (top of the screen next to the channel name) also tells you what the room is about, including any specific guidelines.

Again, for more detailed information read the #welcome-guide once you sign-in!

Chat Room Guidelines

Here is a short version of our Chat Room Guidelines. For the full one read the #welcome-guide!

• Remember this is a PUBLIC discord! – What you post here can be read by anyone who joins. Therefore, be conscientious about posting personal information about yourself or other people without full knowledge and consent. If you want to repost something with attribution, ask permission first!
• Practice Tolerance and Inclusivity – Be aware that we have a diverse range of members: Christian ministers, atheist, technical people, artists, gamers, businesspeople, LGBTQ+, etc. of all ages from all around the world. All are welcome to discuss our shared interests and common humanity in a tolerant and kindly manner.
• Maintain a Positive Environment – This is a supportive, thoughtful forum where people can be themselves. Be mindful of making sweeping arguments or observations. You can use qualifiers such as “in my experience” as a way to qualify the scope of your observations without compromising the strength of your opinion. Idle disparagement made in a joking manner can still create conflict; remember text-only chat does not convey your emotional intent very well.
• Links go in #linkshare to minimize distraction – Our main rule is not to post photos or video links (any media link) in the #chat and #work_doing rooms. Please post those in #linkshare. You may post links that are relevant to the current topic if you wrap the link in , which prevents the link from auto-expanding in the chat text.
• Signal that you are Venting –Having a bad day and want to vent? Preface your post with VENT, which tells everyone that you are just blowing off steam and this is not your normal state :-)
• Lurkers welcome! – Lurking is completely OK if that’s what you need to be productive! We will greet you and ask where you’re located when you first join the server; after that we will leave you alone :smiley: If you would like to get to know us, just join #chat and ask a question like “hi! where is everyone from?” or “what are you working on?” and see what happens!

For Up-to-Date Information, Sign In

The chat room’s supporting tools (i.e. shared documents, member ranks) are described in the #welcome_guide channel. The latest version of this document is also located there.

You can access the chat room from a web browser or mobile device! You’ll need to create a user account on Discord. Follow this link to start the signup process and join the coworking chat: https://davidseah.com/discord

Join the DS|CAFE!

» Join davidseah.com/join-ds-cowork

Discord is a modern chat designed for communities. It is somewhat similar to Slack in appearance and operation. If you don’t already have a Discord account (free), you will be asked to create one.

If you have trouble connecting to the server via the link, try logging into Discord at https://discord.com, login, and then ADD SERVER using this invite code:

bPAJEPR