SourceCred Discord Plugin

[decentralion]

@wchargin

There’s also a totally separate sense in which it’s nice to have a “cred-free zone”: it creates an environment without any weird transactional dynamics. I can freely use a :+1: reaction to indicate that I agree with a comment, or to vote in an ad hoc poll, or to simply convey that I’ve seen the message and don’t have anything to add, without having to think too much about what exactly I mean and what the ramifications of this are. I try not to give too much thought to these things, anyway, but they’re always there to some degree—and I know that others have felt this, too.

Of the concerns you raised in the post, this is the one I can’t directly address. Having cred minting on the Discord may change the vibe. (Why didn’t anyone my message? It was so valuable? etc.)

That said, this isn’t really an issue that’s specific to having a Discord plugin–it’s a tension at the very heart of SourceCred as a social system. By turning SourceCred off in our Discord, we’re avoiding a rich source of dogfooding. As the people building SourceCred, I think we have a responsibility to lean fully into the paradigm, even in instances where it may be uncomfortable.

Suppose that having a Discord plugin really does create social problems for us, or harm our community. If so, it is right and proper that we discover this first–and try to understand how to improve it, or what boundaries should be set. If we don’t do this ourselves, but still create a plugin system that invites a Discord plugin, then we are inviting others to follow where we don’t lead.