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Prompted by discussion in chat about flags on How can I change the "Frequently Used" emoji in Discord? for migration to webapps being declined because "discord is a game-specific utility". Relevant discussion starts here: https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/44101486#44101486

The flag is declined because Discord is considered by the decliner to be a game specific utility. However, Discord is also used by many other internet subcultures. I've seen server invite links for Doctor who (and assume that other shows exist as well), furries, artists, movies, memes, erotic fan art, various subreddits, funny images,... To say Discord is a game specific utility means ignoring that all those other communities also use Discord.

Do we consider questions on Discord and using the Discord client (both the web app and the desktop client) to be on-topic?

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  • Discord questions are usually considered on-topic for Super User. (However, there are some exceptions)
    – Stevoisiak
    Commented Apr 19, 2018 at 20:59
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    "Discord is also used by many other internet subcultures...To say [its] a game specific utility means ignoring that all those other communities also use Discord." - PS3s have been used for supercomputing clusters but that doesn't make the PS3 any less of a gaming console. Similar scenario here: Discord is a chat/voice/community utility used primarily by (and targeted towards) gamers. That other non-gaming communities have found uses for it is irrelevant, all that matters is: Can a user on Arqade be knowledgeable and answer questions about it?
    – Robotnik Mod
    Commented Apr 19, 2018 at 23:52

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Discord is not specifically gaming-related. However, it is very heavily used by gamers and referenced in gaming culture.

I would be ok making a rule to explicitly allow Discord questions even though it wouldn't normally fall under our generally strict umbrella.

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    Discord is advertised as a chat for gamers and natively integrates with gaming platforms such as Steam. Even though not gaming itself, it is a gamer tool. The same way Visual Studio is not a programming language but it is a programmers tool which you can ask in StackOverflow.
    – Edu
    Commented Apr 19, 2018 at 19:08
  • My opinion on those gray area subjects come down to asking one question. Would it have it's place on another SE site? In this case it's no, so I would take these questions in.
    – Fredy31 Mod
    Commented Apr 20, 2018 at 19:59
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    @Fredy31 What other sites do is irrelevant to us. We make decisions based on our circumstances, not what other sites do.
    – Frank
    Commented Apr 20, 2018 at 23:07
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Yes, gamers are clearly Discord's target audience

Front and center on Discord's website is this description:

All-in-one voice and text chat for gamers that's free, secure, and works on both your desktop and phone. Stop paying for TeamSpeak servers and hassling with Skype. Simplify your life.

It also includes lots of imagery related to video gaming such as PlayStation controller symbols, a Gameboy cartridge, a Mario ? block, and an Xbox controller. The message is clear: Discord is a tool that has gamers as its target audience.

For comparison, Stack Overflow allows questions about IDEs and other tools for programmers, despite them not being about programming itself. Indeed, there are over 5,000 questions for Notepad++, despite many non-programmers using it daily.

We already accept questions for TeamSpeak and Skype

Given that there are already questions with the tags and , I don't see how questions tagged are any different.

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I am on your side here.

This question should be closed as off-topic and asked on Super-user instead.

Why? Simply.

The question about software should be asked here only if question is also about game. If there is no primary game tag then at least a scope of the question should be strictly affiliated with the games.

Examples to give an idea:

  • how to disable skype autostart? [super-user]
  • how to disable autostart of skype on minecraft dedicated server? [here is ok]
  • how to insert emoji in discord? [super-user]
  • how to add ingame status emoji to all my messages? [here is ok]

The whole point is to clearly split the roles of sites. Otherwise you would be able to ask identical question on many. And if this is allowed, then where are you supposed to search for the information???

The gamers have to go to super-user if they want to rise their "super-user" skills. Isn't that obvious? From other point super users don't have to be gamers, so asking game-specific questions there is bad idea.

The @Thunderforge answer mentioned it's ok to ask about Notepad++. It's ONLY ok when it has SOMETHING to do with software you are developing. That tag exists on multiple sites but it also solves DIFFERENT problems:

  • StackOverflow - problems with source-files or related resource files, e.g. viewing generated by your software files there or using it to prepare input data for your software; you are almost certainly would have to provide a source;
  • Software engineering - more general programming questions, not affiliated with specific language or library, without sources;
  • Super-user - any question what can be answered by non-programmers.

So it's poor excuse for letting pure super-user questions to be asked and answered here.

Another argument is that the answers on such questions here will be poor: the probability what gamer happens to be a IT professional is not too high. So expect casual answers from people who barely using named software. It might be of help of course, but you would get much better answer from super user.

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