[Tweeters] Washington Birding Discord Server

[Mason Maron]

Hello, everyone!

I have an interesting development in the world of birding communication to
share with you all. As I watched many of our fellow birding communities in
the Eastern US develop new group communications in the form of discord
servers, I figured it might be worth giving it a try ourselves. A discord
server is essentially a large online community that features smaller, more
specific chats, allowing users in the server to utilize whichever chats
they want to and ignore the ones they do not. Think of it as a hub for
local bird discussion, rarity sharing, bird identification, and much more.

I am aware many of the birders here feel that current communication methods
are good and there is no reason to change them or abandon old ways. I
completely understand that sentiment, and want to reassure everyone that
I'm not suggesting you all leave behind listservs, Facebook groups, or
similar communities. In fact, I think that continuing to use these
resources is important for the birding community as a whole. That said, I
believe I don't just speak for myself when I say it can often be tricky
trying to keep track of all the individual sources of information coming in
about birds in the state, especially when there are so many eBird alerts,
listserv emails, regional WhatsApp groups, Facebook ID groups, and who
knows what else. I  hope that this server will perform similarly to how it
has in some states like Ohio and Michigan and allow for a more unified way
for birders to access and interact with the community in Washington State.

Realistically, I see this as sort of a test run. Join the server whether
you're optimistic or apprehensive about it and see how it goes; maybe it
will be great and maybe we'll find out it just isn't going to work out, but
at least we will have tried something new in an effort to improve
everyone's experience. The link to join is here:
https://discord.gg/VhfwsJessW. You just make a discord account and the rest
should fall into place, but feel free to reach out and ask me questions if
you have any. I hope to see you all there and look forward to seeing how it
goes!

Good birding,
Mason Maron
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