Duet3D has teamed up with Team Gloomy to change the current "Team Gloomy" discord server into one for RepRapFirmware, DWC, DSF and associated projects:
https://discord.gg/uS97Qs7
There are a number of reasons for this, but at its core its to address the misconception that RRF is only for Duet3D hardware. As an opensource project it is broader than Duet3D the company. There has been a lot of discussions recently about opensource within the 3d printing community. I am not going to attempt to address that here and now, however this step underscores the project goes beyond any company or individual.
We have long hosted discussion and support for the Team Gloomy port of RRF on this forum (and the whole community has benefited from @jay_s_uk, @gloomyandy, @Falcounet and others support and contributions).
I had personally resisted a move to Discord for two broad reasons:
- I think forums are superior for more detailed technical support as the conversation is organised, easier to respond to in long form, search engine indexed and available as a reference for people with a similar issue.
- Discord is another walled garden, they are not publicly indexed and we could lose the community built there if Discord shuts, or becomes enshittified like other social media platforms.
That said, the community is already there in a large part (both a lot of RRF users, and the wider 3d printing hobbyist community). Also Discord has recently introduced forum like channels with organised posts which go some way to address point #1. Discord bots allow for automation of functionally and could in theory be used to cross post with the forum (if someone know more about this please let me know!) , that in turn goes part way to address point #2.
I do not want Discord to move discussion away from the forum, however it already has to some extent. By working officially with Team Gloomy on discord it avoids further unnecessary splintering of the community. (something that would happen if Duet3D started its own public discord server).
We will keep the forum running for the foreseeable future and continue to provide support there, as well as a place for the community to post if they choose to do so.