Join us on Discord!

[Field Van Zee]

Dear friends of BLIS,

(Cross-posted to blis-discuss.)

Last year, prior to our 2021 BLIS Retreat, we created a Discord server as a place for members of the BLIS community to gather and connect. It was not meant to replace tools like GitHub and email, but rather fill a gap that most of us (myself included) didn't even realize existed. Anyone who has fallen into a near-live back-and-forth between two or more people (via GitHub or email) probably understands what I'm referring to.

We had lots of people sign up in advance of last year's Retreat, and while many of them do not use the Discord server on a regular basis, it serves as a great way for people to stay plugged into the chatter between BLIS developers and others. It has also facilitated an unknowable number of private one-on-one and group communications as well as impromptu video/voice chats and screen sharing. Thus, it's clear we've established a new hub of activity and collaboration for the community, and if you are not already part of it, we would like to invite you to join us!

I've included an invite link here [1]. Before clicking on the invite link, please first read this short step-by-step guide we put together last year [2].

The invite link will be valid for seven days. But don't worry; if you forget or aren't able to read this message until after it expires, reach out to me via email and I'll privately send you a new link. I'll also send out another invite link in advance of this year's BLIS Retreat.

In the future we may post a permanent invite somewhere (such as on GitHub, via the README.md file), but in the interests of minimizing exposure to spammers, scammers, and the like, I'm taking an interim step for now (hence the targeted message to blis-devel/blis-discuss and expiration after seven days).

Thanks for being a part of the BLIS ecosystem. See you on Discord!

Regards,
Field

[1] https://discord.gg/FFtGhCBB
[2] https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/flame/BLISRetreat2021/Discord.html