NewHaven.IO is moving to Discord! Come join us!

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Henry Quinn

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Dec 20, 2022, 5:42:27 PM12/20/22

to newhaven.io

Hey everyone!

We're coming up on a new year and wanted to let you know about a big change happening for New Haven IO! On January 14, 2023 we'll be moving our group's online communications from Slack to a new Discord server.

We have our Discord server set up and ready to go in case you'd like to join us early! You can find us over at: https://discord.gg/gM3zkw9MvP

Folks in our community have been talking about the pros/cons of moving to Discord for _a while_. It led to [this RFC](https://github.com/newhavenio/playbooks/issues/1) in November of 2021, [this PR](https://github.com/newhavenio/playbooks/pull/2) in August 2022, and plenty of other discussions on Slack amongst our admins and users over the past year or so.

Our decision to make this switch boils down to a few things:

We've heard from a bunch of people that they'd be more apt to stay active in IO if we were on a chat platform that they already enjoy using in their free time and doesn't remind them too much of work.
Slack is built as a tool for workplaces, not communities. Discord has more built-in tools to help with moderation, voice chatting, and event planning that all come bundled in for free - since their focus is on helping communities grow.
And frankly, our Slack engagement has been dwindling, and now's a better opportunity than ever to make this kind of switch.

Our Migration Plan:

January 14, 2023 - Officially make the jump from Slack to Discord. We'll update the website to include a Discord invite link and set up Slackbot to periodically let stragglers & lurkers know that they can find us over on Discord (and provide them with an invite link).
January through June, 2023 - Periodically send out emails to our various contact lists, reminding folks about the switch (and providing them with an invite link).
July 01, 2023 - Deactivate our Slack workspace.

New Haven IO wouldn't be the incredible local tech group it is if it weren't for all of you contributing your perspectives and experiences. We truly can't thank you enough for being part of IO and we hope you'll make the jump to Discord to continue helping us grow our local tech scene.