Your documentation is excellent. Your GitHub is active. But developers want real-time help. They're asking questions in Discord or Slack—yours or someone else's.
Building a technical community on Discord or Slack gives developers immediate help, creates peer learning, and builds product loyalty. Here's how to do it right.
Discord vs. Slack: Which Platform?
Discord
Best for:
- Open source projects
- Developer tools with broad audience
- Gaming, Web3, or consumer-developer products
- Communities of thousands
Strengths:
- Free for unlimited users
- Voice channels for office hours
- Better for public communities
- Younger developer demographic
Examples: Supabase, Deno, Remix, Prisma
Slack
Best for:
- Enterprise B2B products
- Private customer communities
- Premium support channels
- Professional/corporate developers
Strengths:
- Better threading
- Enterprise-friendly
- Integrates with work tools
- More professional feel
Examples: LaunchDarkly customer Slack, HashiCorp user groups
Hybrid approach:
Public Discord for general community Private Slack for paying customers
Serve both audiences.
Community Structure: Channels That Work
Anti-pattern: Too many channels
#general
#introductions
#announcements
#questions
#help
#support
#development
#api-questions
#sdk-help
#deployment
#feature-requests
#bugs
#python
#javascript
#go
...
50+ channels. No one knows where to ask questions.
Better: Start simple, add as needed
Essential channels:
#announcements (read-only) Product updates, new features, maintenance.
#general Casual chat, introductions, off-topic.
#help All questions start here. Most active channel.
#show-and-tell Members share what they built. Celebrates community.
#feedback Feature requests, bug reports, product feedback.
Stage 2 (500+ members) - Add:
#beginners Safe space for basic questions.
#advanced Deep technical discussions.
Language-specific channels: #python, #javascript (if relevant)
Stage 3 (2000+ members) - Add:
Topic-specific: #authentication, #deployment, #apis
Regional: #europe, #asia (if international community)
Start with 5 channels. Don't exceed 15 without good reason.
Community Moderation: Setting the Tone
Community guidelines (post prominently):
Welcome to [Product] Community!
✅ Do:
- Ask questions (no question is too basic)
- Help others when you can
- Share what you're building
- Be respectful and patient
❌ Don't:
- DM team members (ask in public channels)
- Spam or self-promote
- Share API keys or secrets
- Demand help or responses
We're here to help! Please be patient - we're in different timezones.
Short, clear, friendly.
Active moderation:
Respond to first-time posters quickly:
"Welcome! Thanks for the question. Let me help..."
Sets tone: this community is responsive.
Move off-topic discussions:
"Great discussion, but let's move this to #general so #help stays focused."
Keeps channels organized.
Delete spam immediately:
Crypto scams, self-promotion, spam. Delete and ban without warning.
Handle disagreements:
Developers will debate. That's okay. Shut down personal attacks immediately.
"Let's keep this technical and respectful."
Getting Developers to Join
Add community link everywhere:
Documentation: "Need help? Join our Discord →"
GitHub README: Discord badge with member count
Product dashboard: "Join our community" banner
Error messages: "Get help in Discord: [link]"
Email onboarding: Include Discord invite
Make it frictionless:
Persistent invite link: discord.gg/yourproduct (doesn't expire)
No verification gates: Don't require email verification or approval. Instant join.
Welcome message: Auto-post welcome with links to #help and #announcements.
Keeping Community Active
Daily team presence:
Minimum commitment: 1 team member checks channels 2-3x daily.
Better: Team members in community throughout workday.
Developers notice when communities are ghost towns.
Response time SLA (informal):
Target:
- Urgent questions: <2 hours
- General questions: <24 hours
- Feature requests: Acknowledge within 48 hours
Don't leave questions unanswered for days.
Community champions:
Identify helpful members:
Developers who:
- Answer questions regularly
- Post helpful content
- Welcome newcomers
Recognize them:
- Special role/badge in Discord
- Shout-out in #announcements
- Early access to features
- Swag
Example: Supabase has "Supporter" role for helpful community members.
Regular programming:
Weekly events:
#ask-me-anything with engineering team (monthly) Developers ask about roadmap, architecture, technical decisions.
Office hours (weekly voice channel) Team available in voice chat for real-time help.
Community calls (monthly) Showcase community projects, product updates, Q&A.
Show-and-tell Friday: Encourage sharing weekend projects.
Regular doesn't mean every day. Weekly or monthly consistency matters more.
Handling Questions Effectively
Don't just answer—teach:
Weak answer: "Change line 47 to this: [code]"
Strong answer: "The error happens because [explanation]. Here's how to fix:
[code with comments]
This pattern works because [reasoning]. Docs: [link]"
Teaches, doesn't just solve.
Link to documentation:
Every answer should include doc link.
"Here's how to do it: [answer] Full docs: [link]"
Helps future searchers find docs.
Ask clarifying questions:
"What language/framework are you using?" "Can you share the error message?" "What have you tried so far?"
Better answers come from understanding context.
Tag for follow-up:
"Did this fix it for you?"
Ensures question was actually resolved.
Community Content Strategy
Curate great content:
Pin excellent answers:
When someone posts great explanation, pin it to channel.
Create #resources channel:
Collect:
- Best community-created tutorials
- Helpful Stack Overflow answers
- Blog posts from community
- Video walkthroughs
Weekly highlights:
Share in #announcements:
- Most interesting question this week
- Cool projects shared in #show-and-tell
- New contributors to thank
User-generated content:
Encourage sharing:
"Built something with [product]? Share in #show-and-tell!"
Highlight community projects:
Feature in newsletter, blog, social media.
"Check out what @developer built →"
Motivates others to share.
Search-friendly:
Enable Discord search/indexing:
Developers searching "[product] + [error]" should find Discord conversations.
Discord threads can be indexed by Google.
Measuring Community Health
Metrics that matter:
Active users: Daily active users (DAU) and monthly active users (MAU)
Growing DAU = healthy community
Message volume:
Messages per day, especially in #help.
Declining messages = dying community
Response rate:
% of questions that get answered
Target: >90%
Response time:
Average time from question to first response
Target: <2 hours during business hours
Member retention:
% of new members active after 30 days
Target: >40%
Quality indicators:
Community answers %: What % of questions answered by community vs. team?
Goal: 50%+ community-answered shows healthy peer help
User-generated content: Projects shared, tutorials created, contributions.
Return contributors: How many members answer >3 questions/month?
Discord/Slack-Specific Features
Discord:
Voice channels: "Office Hours" voice channel for real-time help.
Forum channels: Better for Q&A than regular channels. Questions stay organized.
Roles: Assign roles for contributors, customers, team members.
Bots:
- Welcome bot for new members
- Moderation bot for spam
- FAQ bot for common questions
Slack:
Threads: Force threading in #help to keep conversations organized.
Slack Connect: Invite customers into private channels.
Workflows: Auto-post welcome message, remind about guidelines.
Slack apps: Integrate with support ticket system, CRM.
Common Community Mistakes
Mistake 1: Building too early
Launch Discord with 10 users. It's a ghost town. Looks bad to newcomers.
Fix: Wait until you have 100+ engaged users. Start with smaller forum/GitHub Discussions.
Mistake 2: Team-only answers
Only team members answer questions. Community lurks passively.
Fix: Encourage community answers. Hold back sometimes to let community respond first.
Mistake 3: Letting spam fester
Crypto scams, self-promotion, off-topic spam accumulates.
Fix: Active moderation. Delete spam within hours. Ban repeat offenders.
Mistake 4: Inconsistent presence
Team very active for 2 weeks. Then absent for a month.
Fix: Sustainable commitment. Better to commit 1 hour/day than 8 hours/week sporadically.
Mistake 5: No onboarding
New members join, see wall of text, leave.
Fix: Welcome message, clear #start-here channel, ask new members to introduce themselves.
Building Community Culture
Culture you want:
Helpful, not elitist: No "RTFM" responses. Patient with beginners.
Collaborative, not competitive: Developers help each other, share knowledge.
Technical, not salesy: Focus on solving problems, not selling product.
Setting the tone:
Model behavior:
Team members set example. Be helpful, patient, technical.
Recognize good behavior:
"Thanks @developer for that excellent explanation!"
Public recognition encourages more helpful behavior.
Gently correct bad behavior:
"Hey, let's keep this welcoming. Remember @newbie is learning."
Don't let toxic behavior slide.
Community Examples Done Well
Supabase Discord:
- 30K+ members
- Extremely active
- Fast response times
- Strong community helping community
- Regular team presence
Remix Discord:
- Active voice office hours
- Deep technical discussions
- Core team very engaged
- Welcoming to beginners
Next.js Discord:
- Massive community (70K+)
- Well-organized channels
- Strong moderation
- Community answers majority of questions
Railway Discord:
- Small but very active
- Tight-knit community
- Developers help each other deploy
- Team deeply involved
From Community to Customers
Community → Trial → Customer funnel:
In community:
Developers get help, solve problems, build projects.
Soft product mentions:
"Here's how to solve this with [product]..."
Not pushy, but shows product value.
Community members become advocates:
When peers ask "what tool should I use?"
Active community members recommend your product.
Track community → customer:
Tag users who:
- Join community before signing up (community-driven)
- Join after signing up (product-driven)
Measure:
- Time from community join to trial signup
- Community engagement → conversion rate
- Community users vs. non-community users retention
Community members typically have:
- 30-50% higher trial→paid conversion
- 2-3x longer retention
- Higher expansion revenue
Community members are better customers.
When to Shut Down a Community
Warning signs:
- <10 messages per day
- 95%+ messages from team
- No community-answered questions
- Declining membership
Failed communities hurt more than help:
Dead community signals weak product. Better to have no community than dead community.
Alternatives:
- Shut down Discord, focus on GitHub Discussions
- Merge with larger related community
- Shift focus to email newsletter + office hours
- Rebuild when you have critical mass
Getting Started
Month 1:
- Choose platform (Discord or Slack)
- Create 5 core channels
- Invite 50 most engaged users
- Commit team presence (1 hour/day)
Month 2:
- Establish response time expectations
- Recognize helpful community members
- Start weekly/monthly programming
- Promote community in product
Month 3:
- Measure key metrics
- Iterate on channel structure
- Launch champion program if engagement strong
- Expand promotion
Month 6:
- Community should be partly self-sustaining
- 30-50% community-answered questions
- Regular contributors emerging
- Culture established
Building technical communities takes daily effort. But when they work, they become your best support channel and your strongest growth driver.
Developers trust communities more than marketing. Build a place where they help each other succeed.