There is an unofficial Discord server, run by some pretty neat folks. Here’s the link to join:
Come on over and join the fun.
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What is Discord? Sounds interesting but I’ve never heard of it.
Hard to describe, but it’s a type of text chat server mainly built for gaming/media things, but people make servers for websites, friend circles, wikis, etc.
The server is always on, so you don’t miss what other people have said. This makes it great for those of us who just pop in and out when we have a few moments.
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will definitely check this out when i’m not at work :)
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I encourage Y’all to check it out! Almost 70 people overall have joined the iNat Unofficial Discord Server. It’s a great place to chat about nature and help each other out with Id’s.
~Sam
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Hi! I run the discord server discussed here. The idea of it was initially to have a place to discuss iNat among the members of a young birders server. We’ve expanded upon that however. The idea is that we can discuss our observations, trips, memes, etc, and overall be a little more laid-back and goofier than the forum. Also thanks to @tanyuu for shouting this out!
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I highly recommend joining - it’s a fantastic community!
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The discord server is great, especially since it’s more informal, and sometimes that is really needed.
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I’m not sure how to edit the original post, but I wanted to note that the invite link has since changed: https://discord.gg/eCD4WvT
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I don’t get it. Is it a live chat, or another forum? Why is it called something disconcerting like discord? Isn’t that what this forum is for? Why are there projects that say Discord?
Discord is a social chat/voice service originally designed for use by videogamers. It has since expanded to be used by many different communities, as it has lots of features not found most places.
The iNaturalist Discord “server” is a collection of group and voice chats where all members of the server can participate. It’s separate from this forum, and unofficial, although it has been used by iNat staff in the past for eg presentations.
Moderators and the ability to individually control channels, as well as bots, keep it from getting too chaotic. That said, it’s much more casual and skews much younger than the folks here.
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I am a member of it but still do not quite get it. I appreciate the need for it but I don’t really understand the navigation of it. Plus I really don’t understand how to follow and contribute.
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Each individual channel in the server is a stream of conversation. If there is a conversation currently occurring you can participate if it’s interesting, or ignore it. If there’s isn’t a live conversation (which is the case in most channels at most times), you can start a new one by saying something or posting an observation link or whatever.
It’s like a room with many circles of people in conversation where you can participate in a conversation, or start a new one if it’s stalled, or if the conversation in your circle of people is boring you can move to another circle.
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Yeah, it’s set up a lot like chat rooms of olden days, ie late 90’s or early 00’s. Instead of it being one big chatroom there’s different ones organized into folders, set up by the mods.
Unlike most old chatrooms, however, whenever you enter into the room, you’ll see everything that’s been said, regardless of whether or not you were logged in. You don’t have to be in the room to see what’s been talked about. It’s very much a ‘come in when you want’ vibe, so the forum vibe isn’t too far from the truth, in that way.
For example, if you just want to show off a new frog species you did an observation of, go down to the tab that says ‘vertebrates’ and select the ‘herps’ channel, and show it off. You can ignore or browse any channels at your leisure, and even right click a channel to mute it.
There used to be fewer channels, but like iNat, there’s a lot of people who have a lot of different things they want to chat about. Having a channel devoted to a subject allows for chat about it without it being lost in spam. So, the Herps channel is going to be moving at a more reasonable pace than the general channel.
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Same, it’s almost completely over my head. Also it drives me bonkers that a lot of people use a different name there than they do on iNat or this forum. I am never going to be able to keep track of who is who.
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Does it work okay with an iPhone online (instead of app)?
I keep clicking things that look like they could be clicked, but no reaction.
Is there a how to or guide?
I did have a very nice welcome chat with a new iNat user SC , a birder from eBird.
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There is a mobile-friendly app, as well as a desktop app. The website can work too, but it’s not quite as sleek.
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Check out the Guide for Participants link in the #welcome channel.
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Oh, so like IRC lol… but voice too? So, like a party line chat but also live text chat, lol. Yes, now that you mention it, I did hear video gamers use it a lot. Early 90’s before forums, you used Usenet groups for discussions, and for live chat, IRC.
Yep, there’s a lot of similarities!
Thankfully the voice channels are separate and must be joined in order to talk on them, so no worries about finding yourself being talked to. 
it’s been a neat way for people to go through and go on IDing sprees together, do talks/presentations, or just hang out.